Water testing system

[Ryan1988]

Hello Everyone, 

I was hoping to get a recommendation on water testing. I've been using the Aquarium co op test strips and I recently bought some more. (Multi and Ammonia) As with the original bottles I have i'm not sure i'm getting accurate results. The test strips have shone 0 ammonia 0 Nitrite and 0 Nitrate. The tank has been up and running for about 3 months now at this point I should be generating nitrate. I also have a green water algae bloom.

Thank you, 

Ryan

[Tony s]

Api master test kit is easily available at petsmart/petco. it's relatively cheap. I often switch back and forth when my readings make no sense. and I believe they're more accurate. but more time consuming. also, a bit more fun. you get to play chemist for a bit.  sera makes liquid drops for kh and ph, which I definitely find more accurate

[Pepere]

Personally I dont have confidence in the ammonia test strips.  I have repeatedly dosed a sample to an expected ammonia level that the API test correlates pretty much while the test strips report either significantly lower levels, or none whatsoever.  Ie 2 ppm per API not being detected on strips at all.

the multi strips are ok for a quick screen…. 
 

her the multi is reporting around 25 ish nitrates.

 

API reporting maybe 30ish to my eye…

 

so Nitrates is ok ish.

I have no idea what the test strip is reporting for gh. It is light purple.  API is reporting 5 degrees of hardness, so around 85 ppm ish…
 

Strips reporting kh of 0.  API reports 2 degrees, or about35 ppm..  My water district reports 2 degrees kh and API and Test strips report same return on tap water…

 

so I am left with not understanding what the strips are reporting for GH, KH reporting lower than 2hat I am pretty sure is in there and PH reporting a bit higher than what I think it is…API reporting 6.0  ph is pretty much close enough for my needs…

 

Nitrate is in the ballpark,  iirc nitrite is pretty close…

 

But I can dip a strip in for 3 seconds and a minute later, have a quick screen of5 parameters to see if anything is grossly out of range…

 

by and large the gh is the same color every time, I would pull out the API if it looked significantly different…

Edited July 17 by Pepere

[Tony s]

On 7/17/2024 at 7:35 PM, Pepere said:

Personally I dont have confidence in the ammonia test strips.

Bentley Pascoe was talking about this last week. Apparently for lower ph values, the test strips are just not accurate. It's in the way that they are testing. while the drops and 1 strip (?) that did a slightly different test remained accurate

[johnnyxxl]

pH has an impact on the ammonia, it becomes more detectable and more harmful in more alkaline water.  

[Tony s]

On 7/17/2024 at 9:53 PM, johnnyxxl said:

pH has an impact on the ammonia, it becomes more detectable and more harmful in more alkaline water. 

This is true of course, but the reagents used in most strips will give a false negative at lower ph. Fortunately, most keepers are not going to have that problem. Just the minority with soft water. 
the opposite is true for gh and kh in high ph. The strips become less sensitive in higher ph

I find better kh and gh results using test drops 

Edited July 18 by Tony s

[Pepere]

Regarding the ammonia test strips, this is the best thread I hve seen on it.

 

 

@modified lung did some testing.  To paraphrase, he raised the ph on a test sample of water which would convert ammonium to free ammonia and then used a test strip and it was reading and reporting levels as expected.  Ie reported levels consistent with a liquid test kit and with dosed amount.

The test strips could be useful if they are only reading free ammonia if the label and chart on the package was indicating that is what they are reading.  The problem would be if the chart and label are indicating total ammonia and not free ammonia.

1 ppm total ammonia is not an emergency requiring an immediate water change, however if it is actually measuring 1 ppm of free ammonia and reporting it as total ammonia, that would be a serious problem. 0.05 ppm of free ammonia is on the edge of toxicity.

Modified lungs testing indicates that this might be the case here.  Cory inquired of the manufacturer and reported back to us that the manufacturer confirmed they are testing total ammonia, ie free ammonia and ammonium which is what the chart and data on the packaging indicates.  If they are in fact testing for total ammonia, the results should not be altered by increasing the ph of the test sample.
 

I personally continue to not have confidence in what they are actually testing for and for that reason I never use them and rely solely on liquid reagent ammonia tests.

I fully allow that my lack of confidence may in fact not be rooted in reality, but lack of confidence is a funny thing…. Since I dont know definitively, and do have more confidence in a different testing method, the answer for me personally is quite simple.  I use the one I have more confidence in.

Edited July 18 by Pepere

[Tony s]

Here’s Bentley’s video. He does a much better job explaining what the problem is than I ever could. my communication skills seem to be declining in some ways. 

On 7/18/2024 at 6:02 AM, Pepere said:

I fully allow that my lack of confidence may in fact not be rooted in reality, but lack of confidence is a funny thing…. Since I dont know definitively, and do have more confidence in a different testing method, the answer for me personally is quite simple.  I use the one I have more confidence in

Absolutely. You can only trust what you trust. 
 

not sure if this link is showing. Upon editing it’s there, can’t see it otherwise. But yes, it’s basis is from @modified lung

.

Edited July 18 by Tony s