Ammonia meter

[FishHobby99]

So I just found some Prime concentrated conditioner by Seachum among my fish chemicals. Says it removes chlorine & chloramine & detoxifies ammonia, nitrates & nitrites. This & many chemicals came from a girl, ~18, going away to college & selling her betta & all the equipment for $40 on Craigslist. There was a 10 G tank. a heater for a 40 G tank, a big sponge filter, air pump & all these chemicals. She lived in a huge McMansion enclave I didn’t know existed.

She called & said the betta had apparently jumped to his death, but she couldn’t find the body. She wanted the same $40 for everything else & I agreed, knowing it was still a bargain. When I went to pickup the stuff, she said she found the betta nearly severed in two parts when she drained the tank. I suspect it became entangled in an elaborate ceramic decoration she had, but don’t really know. Not using it!

So wondering if that conditioner is a wonder drug. Have yet to use any. Will be taking NH3 readings & changing water soon. Will need this product as I ran out of the Tetra conditioner.

 

[Slaphppy7]

So I just found some Prime concentrated conditioner by Seachum among my fish chemicals. Says it removes chlorine & chloramine & detoxifies ammonia, nitrates & nitrites. This & many chemicals came from a girl, ~18, going away to college & selling her betta & all the equipment for $40 on Craigslist. There was a 10 G tank. a heater for a 40 G tank, a big sponge filter, air pump & all these chemicals. She lived in a huge McMansion enclave I didn’t know existed.

She called & said the betta had apparently jumped to his death, but she couldn’t find the body. She wanted the same $40 for everything else & I agreed, knowing it was still a bargain. When I went to pickup the stuff, she said she found the betta nearly severed in two parts when she drained the tank. I suspect it became entangled in an elaborate ceramic decoration she had, but don’t really know. Not using it!

So wondering if that conditioner is a wonder drug. Have yet to use any. Will be taking NH3 readings & changing water soon. Will need this product as I ran out of the Tetra conditioner.

It's not a "wonder drug", by any means, but it's a very good water conditioner, it's the only one I'll ever use....

 

[FishHobby99]

Then I’ll be using it from now on too!

 

[Slaphppy7]

Then I’ll be using it from now on too!

 

[Essjay]

Prime detoxifies ammonia and nitrite for roughly 24 hours, then they "undetoxify". They still show up in the tests though.


Does the ammonia meter differentiate between ammonia and ammonium? Testers don't, they measure them both combined as 'total ammonia' so we have to use a calculator to work out how much is in each form as it varies with pH. If the meter does differentiate that would save the trouble of using a calculator.

 

[FishHobby99]

good to know re Prime.

Don‘t know about the meter. Someone named Kevin in customer service is helpful & I will ask him if I can’t figure it out when the meter arrives.

 

[FishHobby99]

So here are today‘s readings in the cold water tank where 3 white clouds croaked. The pH, API drops, is 7.6. I am getting 7.2 on the pH meter.

 

[FishHobby99]

This is after two 75% water changes today. Water conditioned with API. Nitrite is the only 0 ppm. NH3 maybe .25
i am not yet a fan of color coding. Maybe later.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I have a TERRIBLE time reading the API pH test. Ammonia and nitrite are super easy; Nitrate is medium--it's easy to tell if it's high enough to give you a problem, but don't try to get a precise number.

 

[FishHobby99]

I’m liking my pH meter. The ammonia meter is arriving any day.
Appears the nitrate & nitrite meters are difficult to use or very expensive, so I’ll stick with API

 

[Fishmanic]

As my tank is cycled, unless fish are acting stressed, i see no need to test for ammonia, ph, or nitrite. I occasionally will test for nitrates especially if I prolonged the water change interval.
But I find the api test for nitrate difficult to use and read. For nitrate test, I use the salifert test kit. Requires very little shaking ( mainly just swirling) and results are ready in 3 minutes. I find it much more precise and easy to read as long as you use bright white lighting. It reads from .2 to 100ppm. It costs more per test than api but the convenience is worth it in my opinion.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001KPR46M/?tag=ff0d01-20

 

[FishHobby99]

As my tank is cycled, unless fish are acting stressed, i see no need to test for ammonia, ph, or nitrite. I occasionally will test for nitrates especially if I prolonged the water change interval.
But I find the api test for nitrate difficult to use and read. For nitrate test, I use the salifert test kit. Requires very little shaking ( mainly just swirling) and results are ready in 3 minutes. I find it much more precise and easy to read as long as you use bright white lighting. It reads from .2 to 100ppm. It costs more per test than api but the convenience is worth it in my opinion.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001KPR46M/?tag=ff0d01-20

I will buy this other test. Thanks.
all in all, you are light years ahead of me!

 

[Fishmanic]

Post here how you like the salifert test kit.

 

[Fishmanic]

to do the salifert test, you just add a small level scoop of powder and just 4 drops of a liquid test reagent to 1 ml of tank water. Swirl for 30 seconds and read the results in 3 minutes. Very accurate.

 

[Fishmanic]

Salifert Nitrate test kit video