Better Nitrate Test?

[Hathaway]

I'm currently using what I gather is the staple of test kits in this hobby, the API freshwater master test kit. All the tests seem fine accept the nitrates test. My tap water seems to have high nitrates, but the test colouration for this area is ridiculously difficult to decipher. I've taken a photo to illustrate though many of you may already be aware. I can't tell if that's 40ppm or 80ppm, and that seems a little prohibitive, isn't that quite an important distinction? This image shows my tap water which seems a little high doesn't it? Not sure if I even trust the results. I did follow the instructions closely in terms of shaking vigorously etc.

So my question is, is there a better test kit for testing nitrates that someone can recommend?

 

[WILDER]

Looks like it's reading 20 ppm to me. It hard to tell.
I found the tetra nitrate test kit better. That was a long time ago now.

 

[Bubbelzzz]

This is a test from your tap water?
Can't you find the parameters of your tap water on the internet? In that case you will be sure as these results come from laboratory grade equipment. This is always more precise then our home test kits.

 

[Hathaway]

My water supplier is Southern Water and their website is refusing to give me the details currently. So I've phoned them up and I'm waiting to get a report back.
In any case I'll still need a reliable test kit for testing the aquarium's nitrate levels in the future.
Wilder do you not test Nitrates with the tetra kit anymore? What do you use currently?

 

[WILDER]

I have not kept fish for over 6 years. But when I did I found the tetra nitrate test kit the best.
Other test kits I used API ammonia, nitrite, ph.

 

[the_lock_man]

I use the Salifert tests, you would normally find them with the marine bits and pieces, but they're good for freshwater too.
 
The thing about using local water authority data is that it is only accurate for the sample that they have taken, which may not be quite the same as what is currently coming out of your tap.
 
FWIW, the last time I tested my tapwater nitrate, it was with the Tetra kit, and that said around 40ppm - I'm in Portsmouth, so not a million miles away from you.

 

[RainboWBacoN420]

To me, it looks like it reads between 80ppm and 120ppm. Good lord, that's crazy.

 

[the_lock_man]

To me, it looks like it reads between 80ppm and 120ppm. Good lord, that's crazy.

 
It is so difficult to read, and the colour rendering on different monitors can skew things from your end as well.
 
IIRC, the legal max for nitrate in British tapwater is 50ppm, so if that genuinely is between 80-120ppm, Southern Water are being very naughty boys.

 

[Hathaway]

Still waiting to hear from Southern Water, will chase them up if I don't hear from them soon. I tested water from my water butt as well and it was around 5ppm from what I could gather. I guess rain water has trace amounts of nitrates too.

 

[RainboWBacoN420]

 

To me, it looks like it reads between 80ppm and 120ppm. Good lord, that's crazy.

 
It is so difficult to read, and the colour rendering on different monitors can skew things from your end as well.
 
IIRC, the legal max for nitrate in British tapwater is 50ppm, so if that genuinely is between 80-120ppm, Southern Water are being very naughty boys.
 

I always tend to have trouble reading the pH, I think it might be because I'm partially colorblind when it comes to blue and green. I sometimes have trouble comparing those two colors when they're right beside each other.
 
This thread gave me the curiosity to research my towns water parameters.
Nitrates come in at around 45 ppm, with a side note of "fertilizer runoff, 
erosion of natural deposits."