API test kit vs tetra strips

[Damsieee]

Hi everybody

so this is my first post 

I have a Cichlid and catfish tank that's 130litres (36 gallons) that I purchased secondhand and moved to my house a week ago. I've been running tests and I'm getting very mixed results on the nitrates results for  the two testkits and don't know which one to follow. 

Looks like the tetra is showing a ppm of 200 and the API is showing around 20ppm 

Is anybody else experiencing similar issues?

Thanks in advance

 

 

[Patrick_G]

Oh, my favorite topic!  😁
With the API kit you have to follow the directions exactly as printed, including shaking the bottle for the recommended amount of time. False negatives are super common so don’t feel bad if you’ve been doing it wrong. 

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Hi @Damsieee welcome to the forum. I have both and would lean towards trusting the liquid tests HOWEVER, you need to make sure you have done the nitrate tests correctly by shaking that 2nd bottle for 30 seconds and then when put in the tube shaken for another minute....if you have not done that the WHOLE TIME YOU'VE OWNED THE KIT it COULD throw off the tests for the life of the bottles. Apparently crystals form in the 2nd bottle that need to be disolved before putting liquid into the tubes. 

Edited November 13, 2021 by xXInkedPhoenixX

[Damsieee]

Thank you so much @xXInkedPhoenixX and @Patrick_Gfor the super fast replies. You were both absolutely right . Luckily I've just purchased the test kit so I'm hoping it didn't affect the accuracy of future uses. 

this poor tank was and still is in pretty bad shape. The water and side of the tanks were completely covered in algae and the anubia is covered in black beard algae.  I guess the previous owner just ran out of time and wasn't keeping up with water changes. I've already performed 2 25 percent water changes since the move on Tuesday but I'm worried about stressing them out even more. I think the tank might be overpopulated as it has 3 adult mbuna  cichlids 2 cuckoo catfish about 10cm long and a  10cm bristlenose Pleco and a 15cm bristlenose pleco. Can I ask your thoughts on whether that's too much? 

thanks again in advance

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

You're welcome! Yes hopefully it wouldn't effect future tests since it's the first crack. 

Honestly, I'm not a BIG fish keeper- all that I have gets no more than 3 inches/7.62cm. I have a 20 gallon tank that has 24 fish in it and it's a very stable tank. In your case it's going to be about needs. That's a lot of fish for a 36. You already have a lot on your plate and I'm sure the fish are already stressed. If I were in your shoes I would concentrate on getting them back to a "healthy" tank which might take a minute. THEN or WHILE you're doing that consider their needs with research on what their ideal situations are and see what you can manage for them. I would take a guess that they will need a bigger tank or someone in the tank can find new homes? I'm hoping the big fish keepers will pipe in on that- or you can make a separate thread for it when you're ready for more answers. 🙂 Maybe you can build their new tank while you try and balance the old one. 

Edited November 13, 2021 by xXInkedPhoenixX

[Flumpweesel]

I don't worry about water changes stressing fish (I've never kept very nervous fish) but iffy water is a bigger stress than a few mins of chaos  and they soon relax when the fresh water comes in.  I tend to do a third of the water most changes but if parameters spike I just do as much as I can to get back on track. 

I thinking of moving to test strips there is to much room for human error in the master test kit which massively diminishes it's accuracy in my opinion.

[quikv6]

I know your question was pertaining to NitrAte, but your Tetra strip (which have been very reliable for me) is showing a significant degree of NitrIte, which can be deadly to fish. Water changes to get that to zero should be priority #1, and that will also help the NitrAte situation.

[Colu]

I would do Daily small water changes and add prime to detoxify any nitrites and nitrates till you get your nitrites to zero and nitrates to less than 40

[Patrick_G]

On 11/13/2021 at 4:06 AM, quikv6 said:

I know your question was pertaining to NitrAte, but your Tetra strip (which have been very reliable for me) is showing a significant degree of NitrIte, which can be deadly to fish. Water changes to get that to zero should be priority #1, and that will also help the NitrAte situation.

Good advice! 

[isaly]

One thing I've noticed. I use the API master kit.

My experience is that the colors of the [solution in the tube] seem to have more 'color' because the swatches on the back page of the booklet are process colors, 2 colors printed one over the other giving an approximation that's printable. I find myself squinting my eyes to find the value (lightness/darkness) and then guess the chroma (color) because it's never right on...somewhere between two adjacent swatches on the page.

Then again, my eyes could be wacko.

I think these results are always going to be approximations because each of us sees color differently — different amounts of or the condition of cone cells in our retinae.

I think the same will be true of the strips.