today on brstv we are going to test the test kits
hi I'm Ryan your host of brstv investigates.
A weekly you tube series which explores popular reefing theories, products, methods, what
the manuals are missing with a focus on putting them to the test then rate the theory based
on our scale of reef fantasy to reef certainty.
We are in the middle of building out the BRS labs and starting some longer term in depth
tests but we got some cool things on the horizon.
This week we are going to challenge the theory that reagent refills are cheaper than buying
test kits alone and share some thoughts on each kit along the way.
Since salifert, red sea and hanna make up a vast majority of the saltwater test kit
market and what everyone here uses we are going to limit our the discussion to these
three brands starting with alkalinity.
On the packaging the salifert alkalinity test claims 100-200 tests, The 200 is based on
doing them in low resolution mode which I don't think any of you are going to do so
100 is the number we are going to start with.
However there is only 50ml of reagent and each test requires up to 1 ml of reagent.
Which means there is really only 50 tests in the box.
if you are comfortable with a minimal risk of contamination, saving the unused reagent
and squirting it back into the bottle you can get more tests out of the kit.
For instance at a DKH of 7.7 you only use half a ml of reagent so can quirt the other
half back into the bottle and you could get 100 tests out of the box.
This number goes down significantly the higher you maintain your alkalinity because there
is less left over reagent after each test . There is enough PH indicating dye for the
full 100 tests.
Since everyone maintains a different DKH, for our purposes we are going to assume best
practices, assume you don't reuse reagents and there are 50 tests in the box which at
current prices equates to 32 cents a test.
They don't sell a reagent refill kit, presumably because there isn't much inside the kit other
than reagents.
The red sea kit alkalinity kit claims 75 kits and there is enough reagent to perform that
75 kits , similar to the last kit if you wanted to save the left over reagent and maintained
a 7 DKH in your tank you could get a 150 tests out of this kit.
Most people probably will save the reagent and id say the average reefer will get a bit
over a hundred tests out of this kit However based on best practices and 75 tests they
are 0.46 cents as test which is about 14 cents more than the salifert per test.
However red sea does offer a reagent refill kit which is also 75 tests and only 22 cents
per test which indeed makes red sea significantly lower cost in the long run.
The hanna alkalinity checker is a bit more expensive to start out and only comes with
reagent for 25 tests. which makes them about 1.99 per test to start with but the reagent
refills are pretty affordable at 27 cents a test and the second lowest cost long term
solution.
Few notes on each kit.
I think color change on the salifert from blue to pink is arguably the easiest to see
between the two kits, it's not a huge difference but if I had to say one was easier to read
than the other it would be the salifert.
I will also say the syringe with the salifert kits has more resistance which makes it a
lot easier to drip single drops.
The red sea has a few nice factors.
First it’s a one step test meaning there is nothing to mix with the sample water only
a single reagent where the pH indicating dye is included in the titration reagent.
it also comes with a hard shell plastic box which keeps everything dry and doesn't deteriorate
like thin cardboard.
Instructions are on a water proof lamented card and it also comes with this cool titratior
which allows you to drop and shake with one hand.
I will say while it is cool some people love the titratior and some don’t.
After years of use i just stopped using it and find it easier to use the syringe with
one hand shake with the other so I see less value on the titratior these days
I will also note the main difference between the kit and the refill is the plastic box,
tirtator, jar and instruction card.
If you were particularly frugal you could locate your own test vial and google the results
card.
This would make the reagent refill kit by far the lowest cost per test out there and
one of the best at the same time.
Lastly the checker is actually the only alkalinity testing device I personally use these days.
I test alkalinity almost every day on the brs160 so i need something that finds that
middle ground between quick and affordable.
The checker is absolutely the quickest , digital read out the easiest to read, has one of the
lowest long term costs and meets my accuracy requirements.
Moving on to calcium kits again the salifert lists between 50 and 100 kits, 100 being that
lower accuracy test that I don't think any of you would use.
If you had a normal calcium level of 420 we did find you could reuse reagents and squeak
out 60 tests.
Based on best practices we are looking at 37 cents a test.
Again the red sea kit includes 75 tests however in this case there is no value in saving extra
reagents because there is only enough of the other reagents for 75.
net result is 46 cents a test which is about 11 cents more.
However the refill is again 22 cents and the lowest cost option out there.
The hanna checker is 1.99 a test innately but this time the reagents are significantly
more expensive at 88 cents a test.
again a few notes on all three.
This time I find the color change from red pink to clear blue on salifert kit to be significantly
easier to see than the red to navy blue on the red sea.
I can read either but the change is just more distinct with the salifert.
Again the red sea comes with all the fancy extras but I do have a few other notes.
First the red sea doubles the tank sample size and correspondingly more than doubles
the reagents used which I think is going to make result in more accurate results.
The reagents themselves are also noticeably different which I think could increase accuracy.
The saliferts dry reagent is is crystals where the red seas is more powder like which makes
it a lot easier to get a even spoon full.
The red seas liquid reagent is also thicker and comes in a bottle which is more likely
to produce consistent droplets than the larger salifert bottle.
. I will note that the small sample bottle is pretty hard to clean properly unless you
have a brush or small fingers.
it tends to form a precipitate crust under the lip which is hard to remove and I am sure
can interfere with results.
over all I am a bit more confident in the red seas results even though they are a bit
harder to read.
Again if you don't need all the extras and can locate your own test vial and instructions
sheet you could skip the test kit and buy only the reagent refill to save a few bucks.
As relates to the hanna checker I will just come out and say i personally won't use it.
The dilution steps make it no easier than a test kit, the reagents are the most expensive
and I can't get reliable results because the dilution step is so extreme.
You need to dilute a 1/10 of a ML in 10 ML of RODI water which is a 100/1 dilution.
Given the provided tools its basically impossible to get exactly 1/10 of a ML, the tiniest of
variances will throw the results off drastically.
It can be used a ball park tool or if you can find a reliable way to get exactly 1/10
of a ML it is likely a good option but I find test kits are just easier.
Moving on to magnesium the kits are similar, the salifert test contains a legit 50 tests
as claimed and 39 cents a test.
The red sea kit also contains a legit 75 tests at 46 cents a test which is about 7 cents
more per tests.
few notes on each, the salifert was easier to perform because the steps didn't take as
long and both test came out with identical readings.
The red sea came with all the same extras the other kits come with however I will not
that rather than using power reagents which are harder to measure the red seas are liquid
and there is no question the dropper bottles are more accurate and easier to use than the
droppers salifert uses.
The last piece of all this is the three red sea kits , calcium , alkalinity and magnesium
, we discussed today can be purchased in their reef foundation kit which is drastically lower
cost than purchasing them alone.
it includes 75 of each test for a total of 225 tests at just 26 cents a test.
so if you are in the market for all three this is the hands down the most affordable
high quality option on the market.
So to answer today's question are reagent refills are lower cost in the long run?
I am going to give this a 8 and closer to a reef certainty because the red sea reagent
refills and hanna alkalinity checker reagents are certainly the lowest cost option out there
however if you buy red seas test kit packages the difference is very minimal.
I am sure many of you are wondering what I use for these kits.
as I mentioned before I use the Hanna checker for alkalinity, I currently use the red sea
calcium but after doing this video I forgot how distinct the color change was with the
salifert so I may switch and for magnesium I just trust the reagent measuring and process
more for red sea so that my favorite.
That wraps up today's brs investigates.
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See you next week with BRSTV investigates where we find out, how many tests do you really
get from each brand and do reagent refill kits make testing cheaper in the long run?