How Good Are Your Water Testing Kits.......

[Jozlyn]

How good are the water test kits we buy from the LFS

Well, I now know that one particular brand is not very good at all! The colours never ever matched the colour chart but I figured that was how it was supposed to be after all the kit did say that the colour might vary and it always "looked" like it matched the 10 - 20 mg/l ie safe! I'm proud, my tank is perfect!

I usually buy Aqua One test kits, they're reasonably priced at around AU$10, two weeks ago I needed a new Nitrate test kit so I went to the only LFS that sells them, to my disgust they had no Aqua One kits so I had to buy the other brand they stock, the very expensive Tetra test kit Au$35.50!

So now onto the usual bi-weekly water tests, every Wednesday night and either Saturday or Sunday before my water change.

Imagine my absolute horror when I test my main display tank with my new test kit only to find the nitrate reading at 100 mg/l!!!!!!!!!!! "Ok" says I, I've done something wrong, so I do it again, same result!

Masive water changes later, must've been around 75%, I'm still getting over 20 mg/l, too tired, back hurting badly, fish are just going to have to get bye!

Tested again two days later 50 mg/l, damn it, that's too high, another big water change around 50% this time, new test still over 20 mg/l!

Another massive water change on Saturday, test again, still too high! What the hell is going on here?

So today I think to test my tap water, it tests at 12.5 mg/l, well now I understand that I'm fighting a losing battle with nitrates, just means I have to buy the RO unit for the proposed SW tank a bit earlier I guess!

What a kick in the guts this has been

Thankfully none of my fish appear to have suffered from this horrid experience, not even my poor gourami with Iridovirus!

So now it's bi-weekly big water changes for the time being, *shrugs* the things we do for our fish

 

[themissingelf]

Gave up using test kits ages ago... I maintain low stocking levels and watch the behaviour of the fish. I'm also very cautious with new tanks and changes to existing set ups.

 

[backtotropical]

Very interesting thread Jozlyn. I'd be interested to hear other thoughts on this.

 

[dillowpillow]

Wow... Thats alot of water changes... I don't use test kits. I just do two 10% water changes a week to keep the nitrates down.

 

[rdd1952]

I too am one who very rarely tests my water. My tanks have been running for over 2 years and I know everything is fine. I have always used the API kits and found they to be very good and reasonably priced at about $25 for the master kit (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH high and low). The biggest problem with nitrate kits is that the reagent in bottle 2 (at least on the API kit it's bottle 2) can clump up (thus the need to shake for 30 seconds before adding to the tube) and yield bad results.

As far as how good the tests are, I think the API kits are good and at least accurate enough to tell me what I need to know. The nitrate kit is hard to distinguish once it gets above 20 ppm but my tanks never get that high as I am lightly stocked and overfiltered. The ammonia and nitrite are easy to see any reading other than 0. And if it comes out to show even a trace of either, it lets you know that there is a problem and a water change is probably needed to lower them.

As for your nitrate reading, I wouldn't spend a lot of money on something just because you have 12ppm in your tap water. Some people in the UK have 40ppm in the tap water and have no problems at all. Anything under 80 to 100 is fine. It really has to get over 100ppm before it starts to present any problem to the fish. Just doing weekly water changes, you should still be able to keep them under 30 or 40 ppm without any problems.

 

[orange shark]

I use API test kits, I find them very accurate!

 

[australia]

i use Aquasonic test kits they are cheap and most of my fish shops around my area use them there selfs, i have never had a problem

 

[CruX]

I use API. Odd thing happened last night though. I tested my nitrate in tap water the other day for something I can't remember and I seem to recall it was 10ppm, which I guess isn't bad for UK. I did a 50% water change last night as the nitrates had crept up to over 80ppm and one of the fish looked a bit stressed. This morning I retested and guessed that if I take half the water out and dilute it with water that was 0ppm nitrate then the best I would get was 20ppm which would be fine. So I retested this morning and got 5ppm, fearing I had caused a mini re-cylcle I have been keeping an eye on the ammonia and nitrite, both remaining zero up to now. The only way I can explain it is if possibly the nitrate levels were higher closer to my tap but as the water was drawn in the water was better quality. I notice when running the hot tap you get cloudy water for a minute or so before it runs clear. Perhaps it is my pipes?

 

[rdd1952]

Hot water tends to have more air bubbles in it so it can actually make it look a bit cloudy anyway.

 

[CruX]

Hot water tends to have more air bubbles in it so it can actually make it look a bit cloudy anyway.

This is pure crap though, I have never seen anything like it, the closest I have seen is the tap water in the Falkland Islands.

Once you run it for a while it clears and is fine. Or if you run it then go back to running it a little while later it is fine.

Edit> And while I think about it it is water that has not been recently run through the boiler as it is cold, once the water that clears the hot water as usually arrived.

 

[rdd1952]

Probably just old pipes as you mentioned. As long as it clears after you run the water a while, I wouldnt think it would harm your fish.

 

[CruX]

Probably just old pipes as you mentioned. As long as it clears after you run the water a while, I wouldnt think it would harm your fish.

I am gonna test the tap water before and during the change next time. As for old pipes, this is the youngest house I have ever lived in. Only 11 years old.

 

[rdd1952]

Pipes definitely shouldn't be an issue then. Could have something to so with the water heater then.

 

[George Farmer]

Some may say, "I use (insert brand here) and find them very accurate/inaccurate". How do you know?

The only way you can tell if a test kit is accurate is by testing it.

So, how do you test a test kit?

Let's use nitrate (NO3) as an example. NO3 kits are notorious for being inaccurate, and are one of the most important kits for monitoring water quality.

You need a reference solution i.e. if you're testing NO3, you need to add a known qty. of NO3 to known qty. pure water (RO). Potassium nitrate (KNO3) is a good source of NO3 and is cheap. RO can be bought from LFS cheap too.

Use a calculator like this http/www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_aquacalc.htm to work out how much KNO3 you need to add to a set qty. of RO water and make up your desired NO3 solution i.e. 50ppm NO3, or whatever the colour chart has as a distinguishable colour.

You have your reference solution, so you know that it is exactly 50ppm NO3 (or whatever you've mixed).

Now test the solution with your test kit, and see how it compares to the kit's colour chart.

Simple eh?

 

[Lynda B]

API test kit.... we love it.

As for the age of the pipes on your house, your pipes only go through the house and to the street, where they connect with your water company pipes, which are definitely not just 11 years old. In order to get a proper test from the tap, you'd have to contact your provider, find out if there's been any work done on the pipes recently, have they had any flushing recently, blockages, etc. Only then, can you be sure you're getting a "normal" sample from your tap. (I work in the water/wastewater industry).