Api Ammonia Test

[looking-glass]

On the API Ammonia test does anyone have any trouble reading what the colour is - i think its zero but it doesn't appear to be quite the right colour? maybe in between the 2 but hard to tell
 
 
could be my eyesight

 

[Ch4rlie]

I think a lot of people have had issues with the colour chart and the colour of tests.
 
You're not the only one this has happened to 

 
I usually test water in my kitchen and put the test result under the unit lights, that way it is consistent light rather than have varying degrees of natural light. Thats just me though.

 

[fluttermoth]

It's a well known problem, not just you!

Things you can try; make sure you read the test under natural daylight, not artificial. Hold the test tube slightly away from the card, not right up against it. Take the lid off and look down through it. Test some bottled water that you know will be ammonia free and compare the two.

 

[looking-glass]

i think ive been in every room in the house and under every light and still struggled
 
I thought id seen people on here before having trouble with the test so i thought id check
 
 
Taking it into account i think it must be zero then
 
 
Thanks guys

 

[ADW1988]

It's a well known problem, not just you!

Things you can try; make sure you read the test under natural daylight, not artificial. Hold the test tube slightly away from the card, not right up against it. Take the lid off and look down through it. Test some bottled water that you know will be ammonia free and compare the two.

 
absolutely this.. Natural daylight and hold away from the card.

 

[malfunction]

It's the nitrate test that gets me every time! Doesn't matter how hard I stare, I can never see the difference between 40 & 80ppm

 

[star4]

I have the same trouble too, I usually go into the conservatory or outside, the lid off method is usually best.

 

[KirkyArcher]

I used some DI water to do an ammonia test, the result still looked closer to the 0.25 PPM colour on the card than Zero (yellow) to me

Have no problems with the other API tests.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Just an FYI- lab grade tests where color is the result use a digital reader (colorimeter) to read the result sijce the human eye is not reliable.
 
Moreover, there are a host of things that can cause a salicylate ammonia test kit to give bad results. One of these is iron in the water, high nitrate is another and of course any turbidity will also affect the result.
 
Sometimes a knowledge of what the results should be makes it easy to see that the test result cannot possible be correct. For example, if you put 1 ppm of ammonia into a tank that has ammonia bacs but no appreciable nitrite bacs yet, there is a known maximum amount of nitrite you can get = 2.55 ppm. So if your 1 ppm of ammonia is gone and your nitrite kit says you have 4 ppm, you know one of those kits has to be wrong. Common sense should always trump test results that seem not to make sense.

 

[looking-glass]

thanks for the responses everyone