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pH Calibration on the Co-op test strips?


NBrucker
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Hello - I'm wondering if anyone else has issues/problems with the pH reading on the ACO test strips? This is my first time using them (previously using Tetra test strips or API Master kit) and I seem to be consistently getting a reading between 6.4 and 6.8, no matter which water I'm testing (distilled, tap, any of my 6 tanks which have varying hardness based on population). I've now used the strips about 20-30 times and always get the same reading, no matter what.

For instance, I've attached a picture below of the strip testing my tap water which looks like ~6.6, which API master kit reads as 7.6-7.8.  (Ignore the other pad readings - I tried to only drip water onto the pH pad to ensure no "bleed".) I then tested some distilled water from my chemist husband's lab to try to calibrate, and both the strip and API read 6.4-6.8. Then I tested my hard water tank which read 7.8-8.0 on API and still reading just around 6.6 on the ACO strips.

 I swish for 3 seconds, then keep horizontal with care not to let any liquid bleed into the next pad, and read at 1 minute (and again at 1.5 minutes just to be sure). The other readings on the ACO test strips seem to correspond well with my API test kit readings, so I don't think this is necessarily a "bad batch" of strips. 

And before the discussion starts, no - I'm not trying to "chase pH" so please not looking for answers telling me to ignore the pH if the fish are happy 🙂  I just would like to be able to get accurate readings in case of problems, like with a recent mass guppy die-off after I removed the driftwood from one of my tanks. Thanks!!! Appreciate this forum so much!IMG_0696.jpg.32d5d01cb41f7d81cdae276b25c73e38.jpg

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On 8/13/2022 at 11:15 AM, face said:

you could try putting some baking soda in a glass of water and testing that just to see if it will change colour under very high ph if they don't than you know there broken.

Thanks - That's what the chemist husband also said 😉 I probably should have added less baking soda to the test below. Now both readings are off the chart. So the ACO test strips are able to read high, but still wondering if anyone else was having trouble with the midrange pH readings? 

IMG_0697.jpg

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Yes, I have had my test strips disagree with my API kit on PH and GH, but I haven’t done calibration tests because the common PH. calibration solutions are at 4,7 and 10ph. The GH test solution  is within the range we use as aquarists but it’s expensive. 


 

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I did just listen to Cory and Dean's livestream from yesterday - Coincidentally, someone asked a similar question and I appreciated their responses. It may just be that there is something in my water that is interfering with the strip reading. I'll just keep happily using my new strips for everything else, and it might just be that the rare times I'm interested in pH, I'll just double check with my API as well. 

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