fridmani1

I received 4 testing kits from Aquarium Water Testing for my birthday. With the trouble I was having with Snails dying I was curious to see if these test showed anything. The results are in and most things look okay expect for few parameters Molybdenum and Stronium.

Has anyone heard of troubles with this value. See the note from AWT on the parmeter.

Also the Free calcium versus total - never heard of this before. I'll have to read more.

The good news is that test results are what I tested before I sent the sample (for CA, Alk, P04, and Mg)

Also encouraging is that since I've been changing out the barrel where I've been cooking the rock the P04 levels are near zero and a few snails I but in the barrel are actually doing great.


Source ID: 150 Gallon

Water Test Summary



Ammonia (NH3-4) ........................Good ......................................... 0.000
Nitrite (NO2)................................Good ......................................... 0.015
Nitrate (NO3)...............................Good.......... ...................................3.3
Phosphate (PO4) ..........................Good ........................................... 0.05
Silica (SiO2-3) ............................. High.............................................. 1.4
Potassium (K) ...............................Low ............................................. 173
Calcium (Ca) see note below .........Low ............................................... 97
Total Calcium (Ca) see note below Good ............................................ 440
Molybdenum (Mo)......................... High.............................................. 0.2
Strontium (Sr) ............................. High............................................ 29.6
Magnesium (Mg) ..........................Good .......................................... 1250
Iodine (I ̄)...................................Good ........................................... 0.04
Copper (Cu++) ............................Good ........................................... 0.03
Alkalinity (meq/L).........................Good ........................................... 3.00




Molybdenum (Mo)
Natural Seawater Value: 0.01 mg/L Acceptable Range: 0.03 to 0.12 mg/L Tested: 0.2 mg/L
(HIGH) Your molybdenum level is too high. Molybdenum is found in many common additives and at highly elevated levels in most salt mixes and so a vast majority of reef tanks demonstrate a level 10 to 50 times higher than natural levels. 0.12 mg/L is the upper toxicity limit for Molybdenum, the point at which negative effects can begin to manifest themselves. You should suspend the use of any additives containing molybdenum. If your level is significantly higher than acceptable you may benefit from a partial water change to reduce this level, though your salt mix may be a contributor to the elevated level itself. Molybdenum is important for the biological processes of bacteria, and may be of some benefit to corals as well. High levels of molybdenum are known to encourage blooms of slime algae or cyanobacteria.




Calcium (Ca)
Natural Seawater Value: 150 mg/L
Acceptable Range: 100 to 300 mg/L*
*These values represent only the amount of free calcium ions present in the samples. According to Randy Holmes-Farley, the total calcium concentration can be 20% to 30% higher.
Tested: 97 mg/L
(LOW) Your calcium level is too low. We recommend using a commercial calcium additive to raise this level. There are several methods for doing this. Calcium is a critical parameter for coral growth in reef aquariums, and chronically low levels will cause coral mortality and loss of coralline algae and other invertebrate species.