Liquid testing blackwater aquariums

[EllRog]

Forgive me if this sounds silly, it's just a thought I've had

I heavily tan my tanks and perform frequent, large water changes on my smaller tanks. Keeping bettas, I've learned that they will get fin rot just from being looked at for too long so I try my best to keep them in pristine water.
I use liquid test kits to test my water and my possibly stupid question is..

Could my tanned water perhaps affect how I read the results of my tests? Could I be looking at a darker tone of water in the test tubes and converting them to the wrong numbers?

Probably not, possibly so. I'm just curious if anyone else has encountered this and thought it may be worth mentioning..

Feel free to call me a doughnut if you like

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Feel free to call me a doughnut if you like

Ok, Doughnut!!

It could happen now that I think about it, especially with the yellows. Although everything I’m reading online just mentions “a liquid test kit”. I’m not really sure. Maybe someone with Blackwater experience? @Blackwater guru ?

 

[EllRog]

Ok, Doughnut!!

It could happen now that I think about it, especially with the yellows. Although everything I’m reading online just mentions “a liquid test kit”. I’m not really sure. Maybe someone with Blackwater experience? @Blackwater guru ?

That was my thinking, I suppose it is possible right? I'm sure it wouldn't make a massive amount of difference to the water, but if the tannin is enough to change the appearance of the water column then I thought there could be a chance. Plus my tanks are ridiculously dark Just thought it might be worth bringing up lol

 

[PheonixKingZ]

That was my thinking, I suppose it is possible right? I'm sure it wouldn't make a massive amount of difference to the water, but if the tannin is enough to change the appearance of the water column then I thought there could be a chance. Plus my tanks are ridiculously dark Just thought it might be worth bringing up lol

Sounds like a legitimate issue. And yes, totally possible.

 

[kwi]

For the small distance of the test tube I don't think it would be a real issue. I suppose if you water is so dark it doesn't look clear in the test tube you could make a "filter" of just a test tube of tank water and view the colour chart through that.

 

[GlosGraham]

What about testing your tap water as the 'control' and then make a tap water appear as brown as your tank is by way of a teabag and see how it changes?
Just a thought.