JBL ProAquaTest Lab Marin

JBL ProAquaTest Lab Marin is a complete test case for marine aquariums, supplied with 29 reagents, glass vials and the tools to use them. It covers the values a reef tank is actually run on, including pH, carbonate hardness, calcium and magnesium.

Key Features

• 29 reagents in one case: enough coverage to run a marine tank without buying tests one at a time.
• The values that matter in a reef: JBL lists pH, carbonate hardness, calcium and magnesium among them.
• Comparator block: JBL's comparator sets the sample against a blank of the same water, so the water's own tint does not read as a result.
• Calcium and magnesium together: corals use both, and calcium readings make little sense without the magnesium figure alongside.
• Glass vials and tools included: a complete kit rather than reagents on their own.
• Catch problems before the livestock does: JBL's own argument for it, and it is the right one: water values move before corals show it.

Running A Marine Tank On Numbers

• Test carbonate hardness, calcium and magnesium on a schedule. In a stocked reef they are consumed continuously and have to be replaced.
• Keep magnesium in range first. Calcium and KH are difficult to hold steady when magnesium is low.
• Do not chase pH directly in a marine tank. Get KH right and pH tends to follow.
• Test before you dose anything, and again afterwards. Dosing a reef blind is how a tank gets swung out of range.
• Log it. A reef is managed on the direction of travel more than on any one number.

Getting A Reading You Can Trust

• Read the colour in daylight, against something white, and not through the side of the aquarium.
• Hold the reagent bottle vertical rather than tilted. A drop counted at an angle is not the same size as one counted straight down, and drop tests are counted in drops.
• Take the sample from mid-water, away from the filter outlet, and test it straight away.
• Rinse the vials in tank water before and after, and never with detergent.
• Write the numbers down with the date. One reading tells you where you are; a run of readings tells you which way the tank is going, which is the useful part.

Good To Know

• Reagents have an expiry date and they drift as they age. A test that has been open for years will quietly give you the wrong answer.
• Store the kit closed, cool, out of direct sun and away from children. The reagents are chemicals, not accessories.
• Heat and humidity are hard on reagents. Keep the case indoors rather than in a garage or on a balcony.
• JBL sells these tests both as a complete set and as a reagent refill. If you need the glass vials, syringe and comparator block as well as the reagents, check which one you are ordering.
• Marine salt mixes vary in what they deliver. Test a fresh batch of mixed saltwater as well as the tank, so you know what you are actually adding.