We are here to finish our reviews about the Elos water test kit, with the one considered the most important test in marine aquarium: The phosphate test.
After seeing in succession dKh, Magnesium, Calcium and Nitrates today is the turn of one of the most important test for aquarium, we have today in our hands the Elos PhosphateHR water test kit.
As you can see from the pictures the test consists of a large box, which it differs from classic Elos water test, containing the paper with explanations, the leaflet, two large glass vials with screw cap, two flacks containing reagents, one liquid reagent and one powder, a syringe, and the classic Elos spoon.
The reagents and the glass vials are contained within a closed plastic bag.
The scale of phosphate detected by the test has the following values: 0 – 0,024 – 0,046 – 0,14 – 0,18 – 0,25 – 0,34 – 0,43, making it particularly useful for marine aquarists than for fresh water that probably would be not less than the last value, and for whom I think could be more suitable the phosphate water test. Remember the importance of maintain a very low level of phosphate for corals, close to zero or undetectable, less than 0,1 for good growth. And under 0,3 to avoid problems with calcification, that above that threshold begin to be stopped for most corals.
The test is very simple and easy.
The two vials has to be filled with 200 ml. of aquarium water, one will serve as a reference and you can put aside.
In the second vial we have to introduce 10 drops of liquid reagent from bottle Reagent 1.
Then we put a measuring cup of 0,4 ml. of the Reagent 2 powder. I normally fill the spoon and lightly knock against the edges of the container. Optionally you can fill up a bit more and then passing over a credit card. In any case, the measuring cup provided is really very practical.
Shake the tube gently for about 3 minutes with the cup tightly closed.
The reading is done as usual from above, holding the test vial over the referenced white card reagent. We have to compare the color we see through the vial with reagent posed on white reference, and the color from the clean water vial posed on the color reference board.
Below we publish the reference card for any download, to check the color matching, although the press may differ from the real one.
I like so much the PhosphateHR water test, probably my favorite together with dKH (read our review), over the time it has proved extremely accurate, easy to make and with a very good repeatability. The color scale is practically perfect, and thanks to intermediate color, the resolution is incredibly high.
As usual I would like to point out that the “dropper” of the liquid reagent is extremely accurate, and drops are almost always identical to themselves. Elos hereby use a calibrated “dropper”, we can’t verify that, but in any case the results is incredible good. Of course sometimes it might happen that a drop is “impregnated” of air and bangs, but my experience bring me back a probability of one drop for box. In any case, before you perform the test, it’s better to shake the reagent bottle.
You can download the instruction manual here: Instruction manual Elos Test PhosphateHR PO4
Conclusions:
The test is expensive because the price is 39,04 euro. With regard to resolution, ease of use and accuracy, I don’t think the price as limiting factor for this test as seen other times for other water test.
Given the quality of the packaging, the advantages that this test has, as the calibrated “dropper” and resolution, I can only recommend this type of water test as one of the best tests on phosphate, and that’s because, at least so far, I use for my aquarium.
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