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Giesemann Potassium, Iron and Iodine Professional Test Kits

Giesemann Potassium, Iron and Iodine Professional Test Kits

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Are you an SPS nut looking to optimize the coloration of your corals?

Are you an SPS nut looking to optimize the coloration of your corals? Stay tuned.

There are many factors that contribute to the pigmentation of corals including: light, nutrients, stability and water chemistry. Over the past few years three micro elements have been associated more with coral color than anything else we can test for.

Potassium, Iron and Iodine

In fact, depletion or excessive levels of Potassium, Iron and Iodine have shown negative affects in SPS coral coloration and even health.

As always it is imperative to test before and for the duration of dosing anything to your aquarium. We are working with living and sensitive organisms that can easily be negatively affected by overdose.

Giesemann Aquaristik, well known for their beautiful lighting fixtures have developed a new line of high-accuracy test kits.

Giesemann Aquaristik, well known for their beautiful and ultra high quality lighting fixtures have developed a new line of high-accuracy test kits.

Giesemann Professional Test Kits are designed, manufactured and tested to standards that are unparalleled in this industry.

Giesemann calibrated droppers ensure that EVERY drop administered is exactly the same. You can do 1, 2, 3, 4 times the test and the result will be always the same!

All test kits feature a clearly printed expiration date and lot number!

All Giesemann test kits include multi-language illustrated instructions and professionally calibrated color charts.

All reagent bottles are clearly labeled making every Giesemann test kit easy to understand and use.

Potassium

Potassium is one of the most prevalent elements in natural seawater with similar concentration to Calcium levels around 380-410 g/lt milligrams per liter. Potassium is considered an important element in the reef aquarium and is used by corals, clams and other reef-building invertebrates to form its coral skeleton. Enhanced blue and purple coloration in SPS are often observed when proper levels of potassium are maintained. Potassium does not normally deplete from most systems and can normally be maintained by regular water changes. It is highly suggested to test regularly especially if dosing for potassium.

Low potassium levels typically lead to a reduction of coral growth and fading of SPS colors. Excess potassium levels can lead to browning of corals, burned tips and algae blooms.

Testing Potassium:

1. Rinse the test vial in running water and then rinse the vial several times with aquarium water. Once fully rinsed, fill it with 1 milliliter of aquarium water using one of the three included syringes for increased accuracy.

2. Carefully shake the K-1 reagent bottle before use and add 1ml to the test vial using one of the two remaining syringes then swirl for 10 seconds. A white precipitation will occur.

3. Wait 10 minutes

4. Carefully shake the K-2 A reagent bottle before use and then add 5 drops to the test vial and swirl.

5. Subsequently shake the K-2 B reagent bottle before use and then add 5 drops to the test vial and swirl. The sample should now be a yellow color

6. Mount the plastic tip onto the remaining 1ml syringe

7. Fill syringe with 1ml of KH-3 test fluid. Be sure to keep the tip of the syringe fully submerged when drawing reagent and stop when the lower edge of the black piston reaches the 1ml mark. There will be some air present right blow the piston. This is normal and will not affect the results.

8. Slowly add syringe reagent one drop at a time and swirl the sample after each drop. Continue adding until the sample changes from yellow to blue.

9. Now, let’s figure out how much reagent we used. We can achieve this by subtracting the reading where the piston stopped from 1ml. An example would be If the piston stopped at 0.6ml, that means that we USED 0.4ml of reagent.

10. Multiply the amount of KH-3 used by 250 to obtain you tank’s potassium results or, you can simply use the chart included in the box. In our example, we used 0.6ml of KH3 reagent so our final potassium level is at 400mg/l.

11. Rinse the test vial and the measuring syringe with tap water and store.

Iron

Iron is a minor trace element that is often depleted from systems that utilize refugiums, aggressive protein skimming or heavy activated carbon use. Iron is vital to the survival of many species of invertebrates, phytoplankton, macro-algae and even the symbiotic zooxanthellae that resides within the tissues of SPS and LPS corals. Iron is reported to support red and pink colorations of corals and help prevent bleaching.

Iron concentration should be periodically tested to ensure that its level is maintained at or near 0.15 mg/l.

Overdosing Iron will result in the greening of corals as well as unwanted algae.

Testing Iron:

1. Rinse the test vial in running water and then rinse the vial several times with aquarium water. Once fully rinsed, fill it with 10 milliliters of aquarium water using the included syringe for increased accuracy.

2. Add one level scoop of iron powder using the mini spoon

3. Shake the Fe-2 reagent bottle before use and then add 5 drops to the test vial and swirl for 10 seconds.

4. Wait 10 minute

5. By looking from above, match up the color of the test sample with the included color card to determine your Iron level. It is best to use non-direct lighting.

6. Rinse the test vial and the measuring syringe with tap water and store.

Testing Iodine:

Iodine is extremely important for most reef species including many different types invertebrates, gorgonians, soft corals (especially xenia) and macro algae which will greatly benefit from the addition of Iodine. Supplementing iodine is often suggested to enhance green and blue coloration within SPS corals.

The iodine concentration in a saltwater aquarium should mimic the natural values and range between 0.02 and 0.06 mg/l.