Trouble Reading Api Ammonia Test

[RollTide15]

Hi, My tank has been going for 3 weeks and 4 days. I have my clean up crew and I recently added two Ocellaris Clowns. When I test for Ammonia it seems that I can no tell whether my levels are at exactly 0 or if there are trace amounts. The color is definitely not as green as the 0.25 ppm but it has the tiniest tiniest hint of green to it. I posted a picture here. Once in the right light and against a white backdrop the color more closely matches 0ppm. I also heard that the test strips are garbage and completely inaccurate?
 

 

[snazy]

Watch the surface of the test tube, a 0 ammonia has yellow, sometimes darker like slightly beige surface. 0.25 has greenish surface, especially looked from above. Sometimes there's trace ammounts that even the test can't see and my test can show two slightly different colours in two samples taken the same time.  I've noticed that when I do a good cleaning on my external that it affects my fish although the test is 0. My fish flash/flick for a day as if something is annoying them which I presume is a tiny undetectable spike, so pay attention to the fish and use the tests as indicator when you need to jump in with a water change. A newly setup tank is bound to have a few of these tiny spikes but the fish should generally be fine as long as you don't see a proper greenish colour.

 

[Donya]

The yellow you get from sw is never as pure yellow as it is for fw, which is in part because of the cloudiness. The best check is to do the test with another tube on some just-mixed sw (which should have none) and compare. I do that every time I get a new ammonia kit to basically calibrate what I should expect for zero readings. From the pic I'd say yours is zero but do the test on new water to make sure.
 

 I also heard that the test strips are garbage and completely inaccurate?

 
 
Strips give pretty unreliable readings.