Horrifying - Just Tested P@h Water

[MermaidMel]

I have lately been testing the water of the shops I buy from before doing acclimatising etc. so I don't have big pH changes for the fish in the water and end up stressing them out, it just helps me to know if they might need a drip method or whatever. It's very useful for me and the fish. I never really am testing for Nitrates because you just assume the water is good! And so far all the shop's water's been fine in that department, the only differences I sometimes get is with the pH, especially for L Numbers.

But typical! P@H water, check this out... (mine is the test stick on the left, theirs on the right, the top colour tests is for No3 Nitrate.

Theirs is what? 200?
Mine's about 25ppm

 

[karigupi]

Yikes! Similar result to the test strip I did for my online order this morning, I dont know whether its because they keep so many fish in such tiny tanks?

 

[Craster]

Bearing in mind that even liquid nitrate tests have a tendency to be greatly inaccurate, I'd be very surprised if test strips for nitrate come anywhere close to the real result - so don't be too quick to jump on them for poor water quality.

 

[rabbut]

Two points though Mel. Strips are very inaccutrate, and IME, they are as accurate as guessing the numbers yourself. You may find otherwise, but I don't trust them as far as I can throw them....

This said, even if the kit is accurate (which very few kits are for NitrAte), 200ppm is far from dangerous. Probably enough there to toxic shock fish if you "drop" acclimate them, but water mixing and/or drip aclimating won't cause a problem unless the pH or KH has dropped NitrAte is only toxic to fish at or above about 400-1000ppm, depending on the species and the scientific research paper you choose to believe

Gosh, Rabbut sticking up for a chain store. That is a first

All the best
Rabbut

 

[degsod]

I agree about the test strips, the best place is the bin. I have the same test strips, I tested my water for a fishless cycle I am doing because I had run out of tests on my Nutrafin Kit, the results where the same off the scale. I panicked went out and bought another nutrafin and tested again. Guess what? , less than 20ppm.

There are too many vairables that go into the production of these kits and they should only be used as an indicator for the presence of something ie is their any nitrate in my water, I would not use them to give any figures.

 

[MermaidMel]

The strips must be reasonably accurate because there is a significant difference between the No3 result on mine and the No3 result on theirs, plus the fact the pH varies from bag to bag, I know mine is hard water fairly neutral if a bit alkaline so that part is also right. Whether it's bang on it still shows that their strip has higher nitrates than mine.

 

[degsod]

Not really, all you can conclude from the test is that there is probably more Nitrate in their water from yours as for a figure you could not reliably state that it is 10, 100 or 200 times the amount because of the inaccuracy of the test.

 

[rabbut]

^^Agree. Just because when I test with strips there is a significant difference in the Nitrate reading of my water when I allow time between tests (all be it 5 mins) doesn't necessarily mean to say that the results for both are accurate... I bet if you test the same water sample with 3-4 different strips, you will get a different reading form each strip for the same sample

 

[lordofthesea]

hang on, if you tested the water from a bag with fish in it then there WOULD be lots of ammonia - there's no filter in the bag and the fish are producing ammonia

 

[degsod]

hang on, if you tested the water from a bag with fish in it then there WOULD be lots of ammonia - there's no filter in the bag and the fish are producing ammonia

The test does not test for ammonia, its only nitrite and nitrate, there probably will be some of wach in the bag but with no bacteria the ammonia won't be getting broken down.

^^Agree. Just because when I test with strips there is a significant difference in the Nitrate reading of my water when I allow time between tests (all be it 5 mins) doesn't necessarily mean to say that the results for both are accurate... I bet if you test the same water sample with 3-4 different strips, you will get a different reading form each strip for the same sample

totally agree wit you, the other problem is contamination of the test with grease off your finger how long the box containing the test strips has been opened, what temperature they have been stored at there are too many variable to give a reliable result.

 

[MermaidMel]

hang on, if you tested the water from a bag with fish in it then there WOULD be lots of ammonia - there's no filter in the bag and the fish are producing ammonia

The test does not test for ammonia, its only nitrite and nitrate, there probably will be some of wach in the bag but with no bacteria the ammonia won't be getting broken down.

^^Agree. Just because when I test with strips there is a significant difference in the Nitrate reading of my water when I allow time between tests (all be it 5 mins) doesn't necessarily mean to say that the results for both are accurate... I bet if you test the same water sample with 3-4 different strips, you will get a different reading form each strip for the same sample

totally agree wit you, the other problem is contamination of the test with grease off your finger how long the box containing the test strips has been opened, what temperature they have been stored at there are too many variable to give a reliable result.

Not sticking up for test strips, just stating the facts and I get the same results for the same water sample with 3 or 4 strips, I never touch the universal papers with my fingers, only ever the very end that has no tests on it but might as well chuck em now anyway

 

[Mikaila31]

Actually liquid tests are pretty accurate. We have our water tested by a lab every year. I always split the sample we take and test it with my API kit. Nitrate is the only thing I really test, since the lab doesn't test any of the other things. My nitrate readings are only like 5ppm off from theirs at the very most, but usually closer. We have about 20ppm out of the tap.

 

[degsod]

Yep that is what I did with mine, like I said you can use them to say that there is more nitrate/nitrate in one set of water than the other (probably) but the results as a figure should not be relied on at all.

The only real way to find out for sure what the figures are is to ge tthe water properly anaylised by a laboratory which is expensive and impractical.

Actually liquid tests are pretty accurate. We have our water tested by a lab every year. I always split the sample we take and test it with my API kit. Nitrate is the only thing I really test, since the lab doesn't test any of the other things. My nitrate readings are only like 5ppm off from theirs at the very most, but usually closer. We have about 20ppm out of the tap.

The liquids are better but 5ppm on 20ppm is 25%!!

 

[WhiteDevil]

Take a sample to your LFS and have them drop test it, those strips are absolute JUNK.