Aquarium coop test strips

[Shrimpgang]

So I was listening to a live stream the other day and someone mentioned again if the test strips work in salt and Cory had stated he didn’t really know if they worked well or not in saltwater tanks so I figured why not test this since I keep both fresh and salt tanks. 
 

first I made a gallon of fresh saltwater and got it to specific gravity (1.025) and tested the fresh salt batch to make sure no reading would occur in the newly made saltwater and I would also like to mention that when I tested I would test twice on each reading level on the strips to make sure the reading wouldn’t be a fluke, also waited 5min between each test and that it would indeed be what is says. 

I used neo nitro as my nitrogen source in the one gallon and 1ml of nitrogen supplement in 1 gallon of water was 7ppm nitrate as stated on the back of the bottle. 

first reading would be 7 ppm and got no result on the test which should be right as first test is 10 ppm, added another 1 ml of nitrate so 14ppm nitrate and results were showing 10ppm, another 1ml so 21 ppm and results were still showing 10 which is good not showing 25 yet on the test strip, another 1ml so 28ppm results were showing 25 another 1ml so 35ppm nitrate results were still showing 25 on the test strip, another 1ml was 42 ppm still showing 25 so not reading on the 50 mark yet and another 1ml was 49 ppm of nitrate and still not showing 50 yet added another 1ml of nitrate was 56ppm and results showed 50 and after that I tried to get it to hit the 100 mark but it wouldn’t test any higher than 50 just kept showing 50 on each test after that. 

So from my test I believe these are fairly accurate and work pretty well at reading just nitrate in a saltwater tank, just remember it is a test strip so they are not as good as say Hanna where you can get better results but they work pretty good and close enough for a quick test.  
I will state again when I tested I would test twice when each ml of nitrate was added and would give 10min for mixing time each ml and another 5min between each test. 
 

[Fish Folk]

On 10/12/2021 at 8:21 PM, Shrimpgang said:

So I was listening to a live stream the other day and someone mentioned again if the test strips work in salt and Cory had stated he didn’t really know if they worked well or not in saltwater tanks so I figured why not test this since I keep both fresh and salt tanks. 
 

first I made a gallon of fresh saltwater and got it to specific gravity (1.025) and tested the fresh salt batch to make sure no reading would occur in the newly made saltwater and I would also like to mention that when I tested I would test twice on each reading level on the strips to make sure the reading wouldn’t be a fluke, also waited 5min between each test and that it would indeed be what is says. 

I used neo nitro as my nitrogen source in the one gallon and 1ml of nitrogen supplement in 1 gallon of water was 7ppm nitrate as stated on the back of the bottle. 

first reading would be 7 ppm and got no result on the test which should be right as first test is 10 ppm, added another 1 ml of nitrate so 14ppm nitrate and results were showing 10ppm, another 1ml so 21 ppm and results were still showing 10 which is good not showing 25 yet on the test strip, another 1ml so 28ppm results were showing 25 another 1ml so 35ppm nitrate results were still showing 25 on the test strip, another 1ml was 42 ppm still showing 25 so not reading on the 50 mark yet and another 1ml was 49 ppm of nitrate and still not showing 50 yet added another 1ml of nitrate was 56ppm and results showed 50 and after that I tried to get it to hit the 100 mark but it wouldn’t test any higher than 50 just kept showing 50 on each test after that. 

So from my test I believe these are fairly accurate and work pretty well at reading just nitrate in a saltwater tank, just remember it is a test strip so they are not as good as say Hanna where you can get better results but they work pretty good and close enough for a quick test.  
I will state again when I tested I would test twice when each ml of nitrate was added and would give 10min for mixing time each ml and another 5min between each test. 
 

Nice work! Thanks. You salty folks are chemistry legends. 

[Zenzo]

@Shrimpgang Thanks for doing this rather controlled test. Glad to hear that the test strips are accurate when it comes to testing for nitrates in a saltwater tank. 

[Cory]

Thanks for doing that, I'll be able to reference your testing in a live stream now 😉

[Candi]

On 10/12/2021 at 5:21 PM, Shrimpgang said:

So I was listening to a live stream the other day and someone mentioned again if the test strips work in salt and Cory had stated he didn’t really know if they worked well or not in saltwater tanks so I figured why not test this since I keep both fresh and salt tanks. 
 

first I made a gallon of fresh saltwater and got it to specific gravity (1.025) and tested the fresh salt batch to make sure no reading would occur in the newly made saltwater and I would also like to mention that when I tested I would test twice on each reading level on the strips to make sure the reading wouldn’t be a fluke, also waited 5min between each test and that it would indeed be what is says. 

I used neo nitro as my nitrogen source in the one gallon and 1ml of nitrogen supplement in 1 gallon of water was 7ppm nitrate as stated on the back of the bottle. 

first reading would be 7 ppm and got no result on the test which should be right as first test is 10 ppm, added another 1 ml of nitrate so 14ppm nitrate and results were showing 10ppm, another 1ml so 21 ppm and results were still showing 10 which is good not showing 25 yet on the test strip, another 1ml so 28ppm results were showing 25 another 1ml so 35ppm nitrate results were still showing 25 on the test strip, another 1ml was 42 ppm still showing 25 so not reading on the 50 mark yet and another 1ml was 49 ppm of nitrate and still not showing 50 yet added another 1ml of nitrate was 56ppm and results showed 50 and after that I tried to get it to hit the 100 mark but it wouldn’t test any higher than 50 just kept showing 50 on each test after that. 

So from my test I believe these are fairly accurate and work pretty well at reading just nitrate in a saltwater tank, just remember it is a test strip so they are not as good as say Hanna where you can get better results but they work pretty good and close enough for a quick test.  
I will state again when I tested I would test twice when each ml of nitrate was added and would give 10min for mixing time each ml and another 5min between each test. 
 

Thanks I'll send this frequently asked question in emails your way... kidding...thanks for the info, really.

[Shrimpgang]

No problem everyone I really wanted to know for myself and was curious when I heard it asked pretty frequently, any of my other test kit take about 5 min so happy to figure this out really.