How do you clean out your tubes?? Staining? API test kit tubes that is.

[Guyb93]

Have you never seen traces of blue that you can't seem to get out of the very bottom of the tube where you've tested nitrites? No matter how many times I bottle brush it, fill it with water and shake, blast water into the tube and tip it out again... but the remaining droplets still have a light blue tinge to them?

I think it's the chemicals they use. I don't know what they are, but some are powerful acids, right? That's why I tagged @Essjay , she'll know I'm sure!

Thank you!! I'm not alone! My people, haha! These guys are making me feel like a total slattern, lol! It's just easy to mean to go and rinse them, but get distracted refilling the tank or whatever, and put the lid back on and forget!

I put my tubes in strangers places as my wife will just empty them as soon as she sees them ... on accident apparently lol so I have to put them on top of places and I always remember to look at them but sometimes I just assume the crazy lady who lives with me has moved them ahahah

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I put my tubes in strangers places as my wife will just empty them as soon as she sees them ... on accident apparently lol so I have to put them on top of places and I always remember to look at them but sometimes I just assume the crazy lady who lives with me has moved them ahahah

haha, your home life sounds like fun... !

 

[Essjay]

Just so you know, the API testers contain:

Ammonia #1 - sodium nitroprusside, sodium salicylate [that's why it's called a salicylate test], polyethylene glycol
Ammonia #2 - sodium hydroxide [caustic soda], sodium hypochlorite [bleach]
Nitrite - polyethylene glycol, hydrochloric acid
Nitrate #1 - hydrochloric acid, "proprietary ingredients" [ie they won't say]
Nitrate #2 - polyethylene glycol, sulfanilamide

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Testing is a simple and straight forward process. It isn't hare mor a burden to do it the right way:

1. Rinse the inside of test tube and the cap in tap water. Dechlor not needed.
2. Submerge the tube in tanke water and pour it out, while doing so pour some into the cap as well and wmpty it.
3. Take the sample of water to be tested from a decently below the surface location. There is often something floting on the water surface in he tank that may create testing issues.
4. Follow the instructions regarding shaking the reagents and the test tube as directed. Never put your finger over the open tap of the tube to shake, always use the cap.
5. After testing rinse the test tube and cap in tap water. If worried about what is in the tap water, use distilled or RO water. Chlorine/chloramine evaporate and will not leave a residue in a dry tube.

Follow the above rules and you will get more accurate results and have fewer problems over time. Never leave the testing solution in the tube after you have finished testing. I mean how lazy is one if they cannot take a minute or less to rinse out the test tube after a test? Never put an uncleaned used test tube into a tank!!!!!

Here is another thing. Test reagents expire and/or get used up. Most of us tend to buy and new kit and that means we have both the old tubes and the new ones. Most of us also have more than just one test kit. They all use the same 5 ml tubes, so we should be building up a supply of tubes over time. After I rinse mine I put them back in to my testing box in a different place than those cleaned, dry and ready to reuse. So the odds are good that I have to do a lot of tests before I run through all the accumulated cleaned tubes and I have all tubes on the used side of the box. So I just start reusing them and then I put them back in the open space where they had started. Easy peasy, lemom squeezy!

 

[Slaphppy7]

Testing is a simple and straight forward process. It isn't hare mor a burden to do it the right way:

1. Rinse the inside of test tube and the cap in tap water. Dechlor not needed.
2. Submerge the tube in tanke water and pour it out, while doing so pour some into the cap as well and wmpty it.
3. Take the sample of water to be tested from a decently below the surface location. There is often something floting on the water surface in he tank that may create testing issues.
4. Follow the instructions regarding shaking the reagents and the test tube as directed. Never put your finger over the open tap of the tube to shake, always use the cap.
5. After testing rinse the test tube and cap in tap water. If worried about what is in the tap water, use distilled or RO water. Chlorine/chloramine evaporate and will not leave a residue in a dry tube.

Follow the above rules and you will get more accurate results and have fewer problems over time. Never leave the testing solution in the tube after you have finished testing. I mean how lazy is one if they cannot take a minute or less to rinse out the test tube after a test? Never put an uncleaned used test tube into a tank!!!!!

Here is amother thing. Test reagents expire and/or get used up. Most of us tend to buy and new kit and that means we have both the old tubes and the new ones. Most of us also have more than just one test kit. They all use the same 5 ml tubes, so we should be building up a supply of tubes over time. After I rinse mine I put them back in to my testing box in a different place than those cleaned, dry and ready to reuse. So the odds are good that I have to do a lot of tests before I run through all the accumulated cleaned tubes and I have all tubes on the used side of the box. So I just start reusing them and then I put them back in the open space where they had started. Easy peasy, lemom squeezy!

I use a clean syringe to fill my test tubes (tank water) precisely to the marked line...

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Testing is a simple and straight forward process. It isn't hare mor a burden to do it the right way:

1. Rinse the inside of test tube and the cap in tap water. Dechlor not needed.
2. Submerge the tube in tanke water and pour it out, while doing so pour some into the cap as well and wmpty it.
3. Take the sample of water to be tested from a decently below the surface location. There is often something floting on the water surface in he tank that may create testing issues.
4. Follow the instructions regarding shaking the reagents and the test tube as directed. Never put your finger over the open tap of the tube to shake, always use the cap.
5. After testing rinse the test tube and cap in tap water. If worried about what is in the tap water, use distilled or RO water. Chlorine/chloramine evaporate and will not leave a residue in a dry tube.

Follow the above rules and you will get more accurate results and have fewer problems over time.

I'm really good about doing the actual testing, honest! @Ch4rlie taught me about rinsing the tubes in that tank's water, and taking a sample from lower down in the tank to test, so I have a syringe in my kit just for that purpose! I'm rubbish at chem, but in other ways, I'm a scientist at heart, so I follow those steps and instructions religiously! (including shaking the heck out of the nitrate solution and banging it against a wall for a minimum of 30 seconds and ideally longer, to get an accurate result! I'm a good scientist girl in that way!

Never leave the testing solution in the tube after you have finished testing. I mean how lazy is one if they cannot take a minute or less to rinse out the test tube after a test? Never put an uncleaned used test tube into a tank!!!!!

I *think* that my problem there is when I tend to test. It's usually on a water change day (so I can monitor whether I'm maintaining the current bioload in that tank, or need to up/lower water changes etc). So I take samples, test the water and note results (I've kept a "fish log book" since I started the hobby ) then carry on with the water change, planning to rinse the tubes out, putting the lid back on and kit back in fish cupboard out of the way of dog or potential damage, get distracted cleaning, maintaining plants, cleaning filters, doing a water change, then rescuing tiny shrimp and/or pygmy cory fry from the buckets of water using jugs, a turkey baster, headlamp, and a great deal of patience - and by the time all that's done, the test kit gets forgotten until next time...


So I need to establish new habits, now I know that the nitrate solution really will cling to the bottle.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

It's kinda a moot point for me at the moment at least, since I'm running out of nitrate solutions, and when I went to order a new kit, found it had gone up in price again... £33.34, compared to the NT Labs liquid kit being £23.79!

I remember @Essjay saying the the liquid test kits should be more accurate than dip strips, and doesn't have to be the API freshwater, even though a lot of us are familiar with that one - but others sometimes show they use the NT labs one, so with the big price difference, thought it was worth trying the NT Labs kit!

I still have enough nitrate solution in my API Freshwater kit left for a few more tests, so will have a science experiment day when I have time and test my stable tanks with both kits and compare results

 

[tyberiusj12]

@Essjay , I love you!

SEE YOU GUYS!! I'M NOT CRAZY! THE BLUE DOES STICK AROUND AND ESSJAY CONFIRMED IT!


SO YES, I'M LAZY/EASILY DISTRACTED/A SLATTERN FOR NOT RINSING THEM RIGHT AWAY, BUT. BUT! I'M NOT IMAGINING THE BLUE TINGE AND YOU CAN STAIN GLASS!

okay, fi you dont mind me asking in conclusion what have you learned about the API testing kit tubes? i get mine in pretty soon so id like to know how to properly maintain them.

 

[Essjay]

One problem with strips is if they get damp, they don't give good results. They should be kept in an airtight container except briefly for getting one out to use. And the multi test ones don't include ammonia so a separate one is needed for that.

Liquid tester bottles go off when they've been opened a year-ish. Oxygen gets into the bottle which reacts with some reagents.

Not washing the tubes properly risks a false reading next time the tube is used as the reagent left in the tube distorts the test.

I would never ever put the tube in the tank to take a sample. Like AdoraBelle, I have a tank water testing only pipette to take the water out - mine's a 1 ml pipette so it takes several pipettefuls.

Besides washing the tubes immediately the test is read, I also dry them so there's no residue from water either - you know the marks on the outside of the tank if you drip water down it and don't dry it off? That will be inside the tube if it's left to air dry. Or do a final rinse with distilled water and then let it air dry.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

okay, fi you dont mind me asking in conclusion what have you learned about the API testing kit tubes? i get mine in pretty soon so id like to know how to properly maintain them.

The API freshwater master test kit is great, don't worry! It's not a flaw with it, just now we know that it's important once you've done the tests, to rinse out the test tubes immediately, so the chemicals used in the tests don't leave a residue on the test tubes, leading to skewed results in the future.


@Essjay is our properly educated and trained chemistry person type thing, so her answer above is what we all need to bear in mind when maintaining our test kits.


@Essjay , have you tried the NT Labs liquid test kit? I have one now, but haven't tried it out yet because I hate change... rrreeeeee

 

[Essjay]

I've only ever used the API liquid test - though I did have a tablet test when I first started keeping fish. I didn't like that one as the instructions said to start timing as soon as the tablet dissolved but it took up to 15 minutes for it to fully dissolve so I got a liquid test as soon as I could find one. No internet back then so I had to find a shop that stocked them and API was the one I found.


Don't forget my degree is almost 50 years old so things have changed a lot in best practice

 

[tyberiusj12]

One problem with strips is if they get damp, they don't give good results. They should be kept in an airtight container except briefly for getting one out to use. And the multi test ones don't include ammonia so a separate one is needed for that.

Liquid tester bottles go off when they've been opened a year-ish. Oxygen gets into the bottle which reacts with some reagents.

Not washing the tubes properly risks a false reading next time the tube is used as the reagent left in the tube distorts the test.

I would never ever put the tube in the tank to take a sample. Like AdoraBelle, I have a tank water testing only pipette to take the water out - mine's a 1 ml pipette so it takes several pipettefuls.

Besides washing the tubes immediately the test is read, I also dry them so there's no residue from water either - you know the marks on the outside of the tank if you drip water down it and don't dry it off? That will be inside the tube if it's left to air dry. Or do a final rinse with distilled water and then let it air dry.

thank you!!!
Does it have to be distilled water or can i rinse it out with my sink water?

 

[connorlindeman]

thank you!!!
Does it have to be distilled water or can i rinse it out with my sink water?

taps fine

 

[Essjay]

I agree, tap water is fine but unless it's very soft I would dry it inside or there will be water deposits left behind when it dries. I use a paper handkerchief/tissue/kleenex (whatever they are called where you live) and push that down inside the tube.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I agree, tap water is fine but unless it's very soft I would dry it inside or there will be water deposits left behind when it dries. I use a paper handkerchief/tissue/kleenex (whatever they are called where you live) and push that down inside the tube.

Note for others, not you, Essjay - make sure whatever tissue you use is just plain tissue! Not impregnated with balsam or whatever, ya know.