Opinion On Interpet Master Test Kit Please

[simonmac2]

hi all,

as per the thread about pink fish for my daughters tank, i am cycling it (with gravel and plants) using kleen off ammonia and an interpet test kit

I had to put in twice as much kleen off ammonia as i expected (there is no concentration information on the bottle, but the web based fact sheet specified ammonia and water as ingredients)

I got the tank to read 4ppm after adding 19ml ammonia.

Day 2 - interpet test says 2ppm (but i really doubt it)

should i add more ammonia anyway? or get a new test kit?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

have you done a few experiments with the test kit to confirm if it's a duff reading or not.... i.e. test your tap water straight from the tap, work out the quantities needed to get a glass of tap water up to 5ppm then test that etc etc

make sure you follow the instructions on the test kit exactly, they can be a little fiddly until you get the hang of them (although not used the interpet one myself).

may be correct though, would be unusual but stranger things have happened!!! what are the rest of the readings?

 

[simonmac2]

did quite a few tests yesterday when putting in the ammonia.

5ml water sample, add 11 drops bottle 1, agitate, add 7 drops bottle 2, agitate, add 7 drops bottle 3 agitate, wait 10 mins.

seems to be as foolproof* as it could be. I will see if the local pet shop has a different test kit.


*Douglas Adams: A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

aye, the ammonia tests are usually fairly straightforward, the nitrate ones can be dodgy. always worth asking though, hope you don't take offence but there's always going to be a certain proportion of dodgy test results which are caused by human error rather than a fault with the test kit!!

have you tried testing the tap water which should have 0ppm of ammonia, do that as it may give a clue as to weather the test kit is faulty or not.

 

[redevilman]

hi all,

as per the thread about pink fish for my daughters tank, i am cycling it (with gravel and plants) using kleen off ammonia and an interpet test kit

I had to put in twice as much kleen off ammonia as i expected (there is no concentration information on the bottle, but the web based fact sheet specified ammonia and water as ingredients)

I got the tank to read 4ppm after adding 19ml ammonia.

Day 2 - interpet test says 2ppm (but i really doubt it)

should i add more ammonia anyway? or get a new test kit?

I also started of with the interpet kit but was advised on another forum to go with the api master kit. like you i had to put alot of ammonia in the tank to get a 5ppm reading but when i tested for ammonia with the api test kit it was off the chart. Someone told me the interpet ammonia test doesnt test for ammonium but i am not sure if this is true but the api test kit has been spot on so i think thats your best bet.I purchased mine from ebay for £16.95 delivered

 

[loubega]

hi, i have the interpet master test kit, and i found it to be good. I tested my tank water and got great results, im not sure if this is because the test kit is wrong or my water really is fine, however i did a control test on my tap water and got neutral results.

the only thing i would say is a bit dodgy is the ph test, it is to broad range so i would reccomend getting an additional ph kit.

I have heard that the api kit is very good though, hopefully you just got a dodgy kit and can change it for the api one.

 

[petertr]

Wish I'd paid the extra for the API stuff now. The testers I got off ebay are, I think, rubbish. They certainly don't find any nitrate. Which, if the ammonia and nitrite readings of zero are to be beleived, simply can't be true!

 

[handyguy42]

I appreciate the work you put into this. I don't have an accurate scale to use other described methods, so this is making my

day...

 

[OldMan47]

Right you are HandyGuy. Even a very old thread like this comes in handy when the advice is correct.