Reading test numbers on strip

[mona]

#1 My Test strip says KH 0,40,160, 200 and on. But each place I look for ideal show single digit number as examples 5,6, etc. So my question is for ideal at 53.6-89.4 what would mine read?

#2 what is ideal Chlorine? My Test strip has it on there. (Dip&Go)

#3 my Jungle brand Ammonia test strip shows harmful levels even after a 50% water change. I have 20gallons, 1 Betta and 2 plants. Regular water changes. (10% weekly)

[Cory]

You may be running into some issues with degrees of hardness vs ppm or parts per million.

 

As for chlorine, you'd it to be 0 in your aquarium. I can't speak to the jungle brand ammonia strips, some have problems with dechlorinators. In general you'll want it to be at 0. Do you have a second test kit you can confirm with?

Our test strips indicate what parameters you're shooting for on the chart to try and relieve this pain point you're dealing with.  If you post some pictures and more parameters, we can probably help decipher the other kits you have.

[mona]

Sorry it has been a while. I got sick. But I took a reading today and now it says my ammonia level is still Dangerous. I've done a 50 percent water change yesterday when I added driftwood. That I had prepared. The only thing in this tank is 3 brand new plants, 1 Betta and 3 snails. I'm probably not overfeeding because I see his swim bladder so apparently I'm starving him. LoL. I'm starting to wonder if the test strips are bad outta the box. Or is there something else it could be? Also my Alkility has dropped from the highest on the strip sheet to zero. All I did was add the driftwood yesterday. I am in Spokane with Hard water. 

Here are pictures. See my Alkility and Gh both show numbers in the hundreds but everywhere I look it is supposed to read in single to double digits. So I don't know if these are good or bad. When the color matched that 200-300+ box. Let me know if these aren't the pics you meant. The ammonia reading has me baffled as well. 

These pics are not what you meant huh. I see that now. By the way my tank is 20 gallon with whisper iq filter. 

[Dawn T]

Cory's right. The test strips numbers are in PPM (parts per million) measure. The numbers you're finding on a lot of websites are in DEGREES of hardness. To figure out degrees of hardness, just divide the PPM number by 17.6. That applies to both GH and KH.

[mona]

Thank you.