I am interested in any comments/feedback on

1) Seachem Multitest Iron Kit;

and/or

2) Red Sea Freshwater Plant Care Mini Lab (iron and CO2 tests)

I am particularly interested in the ease of use and accuracy of
results.

Thanks for any help provided.

Mitch

On Sat, 05 Apr 2003 18:16:08 -0500, mslfl wrote:

I am interested in any comments/feedback on

1) Seachem Multitest Iron Kit;

and/or

2) Red Sea Freshwater Plant Care Mini Lab (iron and CO2 tests)

I am particularly interested in the ease of use and accuracy of
results.

Thanks for any help provided.

Mitch


Don't worry about testing for iron. It's a waste of time and money.

Semper Fi!

Visit the forums at Aqua Botanic!
http://aquabotanicwetthumb.infopop.cc/#1

Need Nitrate or Potassium for your tank? Go to www.litemanu.com
(Just a happy customer of the above!)

"mslfl" wrote in message
...
I am interested in any comments/feedback on

1) Seachem Multitest Iron Kit;

It's not very useful in a planted tank because it doesn't really tell you
how much iron is available to plants and does not always reflect the amount
of iron you're dosing. Use fast-growing plants as an iron indicator.

and/or

2) Red Sea Freshwater Plant Care Mini Lab (iron and CO2 tests)

This is not really a test kit. Snake oil is a more accurate term for it. The
test tube is probably the most valuable part. AVOID.
__
Alex
pcalex (at) hotpop.com

"Rex Grigg" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 05 Apr 2003 18:16:08 -0500, mslfl wrote:

I am interested in any comments/feedback on

1) Seachem Multitest Iron Kit;

and/or

2) Red Sea Freshwater Plant Care Mini Lab (iron and CO2 tests)

I am particularly interested in the ease of use and accuracy of
results.

Thanks for any help provided.

Mitch


Don't worry about testing for iron. It's a waste of time and money.

Semper Fi!

Visit the forums at Aqua Botanic!
http://aquabotanicwetthumb.infopop.cc/#1

Need Nitrate or Potassium for your tank? Go to www.litemanu.com
(Just a happy customer of the above!)


Isn't the whole idea behind PMDD dependent on testing for iron? I thought
what I read from the krib said to adjust your dosing of PMDD so that you get
the right amount of iron, and everything else will fall in place according
to the recipe.

Here's the link: (scroll down to how to dose PMDD)

http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Fertilizer/pmdd-tim.html

Mitch,

I am a big fan of SeaChem's test kits. They are inexpensive, fairly easy to
use and accurate. What's more, they come with reference solutions so you
can check to see if the kit works. I've heard and read anecdotal evidence
(on the web and at my LFS) that RedSea test kits are inaccurate.

I have the nitrite/nitrate kit, the phosphate kit and the iron kit. All
were only $9 and give 75 tests. Not a bad deal considering what you are
getting.

The test kits come with clear and simple instructions, potent reagents in
tiny bottles, a plastic plate with 6 "bowls" (1ml each), a dropper, a color
scale, and a reference solution. Precision is important when measuring the
ingredients. If you want accurate information you need to be precise with
the ingredients. Makes perfect sense and is not hard to do. The only
downside to the little dished plate is that there is a chance you could
spill it if you move it (versus a capped vial). However, the plate is made
of white plastic, so you always have the same background for comparison, and
the influence of lighting is not as significant as with curved vials.

As for the iron, it's quite easy to use: measure a spoonful of powder and
fill the test dish with water. Iron tests can take long to develop (for
chelated iron). Up to 45 minutes is not suprising. As for whether you need
them or not, if you dose with PMDD, the iron content is taylored to be the
trace indicator. If you measure 0.1 mg/l of iron, then all the other micro
and macro nutrients that are in the PMDD solution are in the correct
concentrations in your water.

I found I was not dosing enough PMDD before I got the test kit. So the
necessity for measuring iron may be questioned by some, if you use PMDD, I
think it's quite necessary, at least to get the dosage right.

Jeff

"mslfl" wrote in message
...
I am interested in any comments/feedback on

1) Seachem Multitest Iron Kit;

and/or

2) Red Sea Freshwater Plant Care Mini Lab (iron and CO2 tests)

I am particularly interested in the ease of use and accuracy of
results.

Thanks for any help provided.

Mitch