Reduced Testing Cost

[walt8880]

Here in Thailand, the cost of testing kits is high, probably because of import duties, etc. I spent about $50 US to get supplies for ~50 tests each of ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph. I am a guy who is always looking to save money, even in small amounts, so I can spend it on other things.

I am sure this has been mentioned before, and I am just repeating, but it dawned on me that there is nothing "magic" about using 5 ml of tank water for the tests.

I just reduced the test water volume to 3 ml for each test and reduced the drops of reagent used proportionally. I can see the resulting colors as well with 3ml as with 5ml. Testing cost reduced 40%.

If there are other "frugal" individuals like me out there, this might help a little bit in these difficult economic times.

 

[drobbyb]

Hmm.. I never thugh of it like that before This sounds like a great idea and it should work as long as the ratio of reagent to water is maintained.

 

[walt8880]

Hmm.. I never thugh of it like that before This sounds like a great idea and it should work as long as the ratio of reagent to water is maintained.

Correct. Is just a matter of concentration and I am sure the test is designed so it is not too critical anyway. You can't get "exactly" 5 ml in the test tube and "how big is a drop?".

 

[waterdrop]

I have no idea what an analytical chemist would think this would do to the accuracy of the test (I'll ask my father-in-law this very weekend since he's coming and he's my resident analytical chemist, how handy! (He's the one who's advised that even the best labs have plenty of trouble with nitrate(NO3) tests!))

However, I think your approach is just fine for a different reason. What you want these tests to tell you is really much more limited than all the fussy chat here in our beginners section would have you believe. If you think about it, all you really want to know for a very long time is whether there's some ammonia in there, any at all, or whether its gone to zero.. and I think your smaller proportioned test would probably show green or yellow just fine. And its kind of the same thing for nitrite too!

Its really only in the last week or two of fishless cycling that you really want to try and get the 5ppm more accurate and you can just spring for some "full" tests at that point I'd say. This is not to say that you shouldn't work out the right amounts of ammonia (your ammonia) that give you 3ppm, 4ppm, 5ppm and have those written down, you should. Because its still going to be more ideal to start out dosing about 4-5ppm, then back off to say 3ppm during the nitrite spike phase and then ease back up to 5ppm for the finish.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Mikaila31]

How often do you test? Are you cycling?


Once a tank is established testing is only necessary periodically. My tanks are all established and nothings changed in them for months, hence no tests have been done for months.

 

[walt8880]

I have no idea what an analytical chemist would think this would do to the accuracy of the test (I'll ask my father-in-law this very weekend since he's coming and he's my resident analytical chemist, how handy! (He's the one who's advised that even the best labs have plenty of trouble with nitrate(NO3) tests!))

However, I think your approach is just fine for a different reason. What you want these tests to tell you is really much more limited than all the fussy chat here in our beginners section would have you believe. If you think about it, all you really want to know for a very long time is whether there's some ammonia in there, any at all, or whether its gone to zero.. and I think your smaller proportioned test would probably show green or yellow just fine. And its kind of the same thing for nitrite too!

Its really only in the last week or two of fishless cycling that you really want to try and get the 5ppm more accurate and you can just spring for some "full" tests at that point I'd say. This is not to say that you shouldn't work out the right amounts of ammonia (your ammonia) that give you 3ppm, 4ppm, 5ppm and have those written down, you should. Because its still going to be more ideal to start out dosing about 4-5ppm, then back off to say 3ppm during the nitrite spike phase and then ease back up to 5ppm for the finish.

~~waterdrop~~

agree. test is to indicate level and direction of movement, not to provide absolute finite results. These test have built in inacuracy in every phase.

1. Measuring the water volume
2. Reagent volume. Are all "drops" from all bottles exactly the same size? I think not
3. Comparison to color charts. Inherently subjective and the color charts printed next year will not be exactly the same as those printed this year.

My background is engineering and I worked in the chemical industry for over 30 years so am well aware of some of the vagaries of chemical testing and color matching

How often do you test? Are you cycling?


Once a tank is established testing is only necessary periodically. My tanks are all established and nothings changed in them for months, hence no tests have been done for months.

I am cycling, so testing every 12 hours