Hplc method for testing aquarium water

[billwann]

Hello

Iam new to this site but figure if any one could answer this they would be here . I have a 20,000 gallon reef tank and want to test my water a bit more accurately than a test kit . I have a few HPLCs and would like to know if anyone working in the public aquarium world could set me in the right direction to find a HPLC method for sea water testing . I have tried the normal routes with no luck .

 

[Anonymous]

Try to PM matt.

Here's his thread:

topic103588.html

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Bill, that is a good question. We don't have access to HPLC or ICPMS on a regular basis; we test most of our parameters weekly with a Hach DR 5000 spectrophotometer. What exactly do you want to test?

 

[billwann]

Hi Matt
I am just trying to test for the basics a bit more accurately and I was thinking about making an online water chemistry analyzer for my system . we have built continuous sampling systems for some of out customers hplcs who want to monitor there process so I figured it would be neat to do this for a reef tank . Have you had any trouble with hypo-bromide form using ozone ?

 

[billwann]

How do you post pictures on here ? Every time i try to upload a JPG it says file not valid . Any ideas ?

 

[Anonymous]

How do you post pictures on here ? Every time i try to upload a JPG it says file not valid . Any ideas ?

That's odd, it should accept jpgs. You could try attaching it in photobucket and linking it here. I want to see photos.

I'll try to answer your larger question tonight, but the Br2 answer is that no, we don't have any problems with it. We dose a very low amount of ozone. I can find out the exact amount too if you need it. We check pre- and post-ozonated water with continuous ORP monitoring and weekly TRO testing of the exhibit.

 

[billwann]

 

[billwann]

These are old pictures form photo bucket , I will add more soon

 

[billwann]

Here is a video of the surge when I was building it .

 

[billwann]

 

[billwann]

 

[billwann]

 

[billwann]

 

[Anonymous]

WOW. That is an impressive setup to get started. Did you build all this yourself?

What's the lighting look like?
Is the automated butterfly valve to dump the contents of the surge tank?
It's tough to tell from the diagram, are the 5 pumps for circulation? It looks like one is dedicated to a heat exchanger.
Have you seen or heard of the Hydrowizard pump yet?
Are those Schuran skimmers?

 

[billwann]

Right now the lighting is 10 1000 watt aqualine buske . The six inch butter fly valve is for the surge . It has a 300 gallon tank located in the second floor of the house , then it has six three inch valve that open randomly to make different waves in the tank .Here is current picture of the controller . I have four return pumps , one heat exchanger pump , one closed loop pump with 9 2 inch motorized ball valves . The skimmer are giant needle wheel skimmers . I built everything for the tank and including the tank from scratch . Setting the acrylic windows was a pain but fun . The calcium reactor is a copy of a schuran one like the ones you have on your system .

 

[billwann]

These are the sumps that are below the tank . you can see the bottom of the tank in the picture .

 

[billwann]

Here are a few of teh tank being built and setting the windows . They are 6 x10 feet and three inches thick .

 

[Anonymous]

Very nice work. Even more impressive that you built most of it yourself. How old is the tank?

We have sent our water out to a lab in the past for testing some of the more exotic ions, but frankly were not very happy with the turnaround time. I have zero experience with either of these devices but will send out some emails and see who can chime in with real experience.

For our purposes, simple titrations for Ca/Alk/Mg are accurate enough (although measuring Mg seems to be particularly prone to error), and we use a Hach DR5000 spectrophotometer for DOC, PO4, NO3. Thermo Orion 5 star meter for conductivity (salinity), pH, and temperature.

 

[billwann]

Thanks . I have been building it for four years , It takes awhile when you do everything yourself . I have had fish in it for 7 months now . Still getting things figured out , my last tank was 1500 gallons so there is a bit of a learning curve . What temp do you run your system at ? Do you have any more picture than what is posted in your thread ?

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks . I have been building it for four years , It takes awhile when you do everything yourself . I have had fish in it for 7 months now . Still getting things figured out , my last tank was 1500 gallons so there is a bit of a learning curve . What temp do you run your system at ? Do you have any more picture than what is posted in your thread ?

Ours is between 77-79. We have a ton of pictures that we need to post in that thread. It took us about 2 years before Acropora would grow so I know what you mean about the learning curve.

You have GAC and GFO reactors? Are you running ozone? And I'm assuming you've read about Joe Yaiullo's 20,000 tank at Atlantis Marine World?