Is This Test Kit Any Good?

[Miss Wiggle]

Had a beginer with a trop tank in the new to the hobby section, they've been sold the test kit below. I'm not familiar with it, as it's designed for ponds thought i'd pop over here and see if anyone here has used it and can make any comments on it's accuracy to help us ascertain if test readings are correct. pH reading in particular is suspicious.

The test kit is something the knowledgable chap at the fish shop recommended (i.e not the Saturday Staffer!) It's an Interpet Master Pond Test Kit- which (to me at least!) seems to be a pretty comprehensive one with 4 phials + tablets for pH, ammonia, Nitrate and Nitrite - and a good colour chart to match against.

 

[smegforbrains]

I used that a couple of times when I had my Koi & Sturgeon lake.


I found the PH & Ammonia tests a little innacurate. (Edit: about 2 marks on the colour scale either way inconsistently)


Personally I would return it and get an API Pond Master Kit

 

[Miss Wiggle]

it's for a trop tank so if it's going to be returned then i would recommend the api freshwater master test kit. but thankyou for the personal experiences.

anyone else got any comments?

 

[smegforbrains]

DOH! Didn't read your post correctly


API Freshwater Kit I should have put

 

[B13]

Had a beginer with a trop tank in the new to the hobby section...

*waves*

I found the PH & Ammonia tests a little innacurate. (Edit: about 2 marks on the colour scale either way inconsistently)

Oh, that's very interesting... Ms Wiggle? Those are the two areas where you have raised concerns, right?




P.S. Smegforbrains: are you a Red Dwarf fan, perchance?

 

[Davo86]

We use a interpet master liquid test kit at work, this has 3 ph tests, (high/low/broad)

I would expect that it is only the broad one which is supplied with that, which indeed can be a bit iffy, the high/low ones are quite accurate if you use the right one for your water type

Edit: just googled and noticed its a tablet kit, which is not something i have come across before

 

[smegforbrains]

P.S. Smegforbrains: are you a Red Dwarf fan, perchance?

At this point I would like to invoke Space Corps Directive 5395

 

[B13]

At this point I would like to invoke Space Corps Directive 5395

*sings*

It's cold outside, there's no kind of atmosphere, etc

*dogs start howling, people throw things at the window*

(The only way I can even LOOSELY call this on-topic is to point out the line in the theme tune about goldfishes with a foot fetish...)

 

[B13]

OK...

I did a 20% water change this morning (...and got wet feet, must remember to buy wellies...) and bearing in mind that a. we're not convinced this is the world's best test kit, b. I'm a noob and c. the colours will be a bit off coz of the camera, artificial lighting in my kitchen and the file conversion to .gifs (which have bugger all in the way of 'colour space'), here's what I got:

OK, with the pH test, when compared against the chart in the box, the result is 7 - 8.5. But when compared with another chart, the result is 7.5. (which the Interpet Pond Not-Very-Master blurb says is OK)

My other readings were as follows:

Ammonia: somewhere between 0.1 and 0.4 (the chart doesn't have enough of a 'bandwidth' to be accurate...)
Nitrite: somewhere between 0.25 to 0.5 (!!)
Nitrate: 50-ish (which the blurb says is "acceptable")

Obviously, I'm v. v. v. worried about the Nitrate result!!




When I had a look at the chart inside the booklet, it says that for a tank at 25ºC, the ammonia is either 1.2 (at the 7.5 reading ) or 0.4 (at the 8.0 reading).

I dunno which to believe!!

So for those of you who have experience of this kit, what do you make of the above?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

put it this way, however accurate the kit is it's saying that you have 'some' ammonia and 'some' nitrite. Both of these are deadly even in small concentrations so don't get too hung up on how much you have, just try to get them down as low as is possible by doing as many water changes as you can manage.

we'll be more precise when we've got proper test readings, for now assume the worst.