Kiwiwulf Posted May 24, 2003 Report Share Posted May 24, 2003 Hopefully the right forum. What water test kits do people suggest or recommend for aquariums? Has been suggested all I need is pH and Ammonia kits. :roll: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted May 24, 2003 Report Share Posted May 24, 2003 You will probably get several different answers. Many people don't use test kits until something goes wrong and then they are useful in helping pinpoint the problem. I use (when I use them at all) pH, ammonia, nitrate and nitrite kits. If you are having trouble with your tank or fish and post a question about it, these are the 4 things you will be asked about - along with tank size, type of fish, stocking level and temp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted May 24, 2003 Report Share Posted May 24, 2003 For the nitrate kits, get the ones that use little tablets instead of drops. Shaking the bottles for a minute, then put one in, shake, put the second in, shake for a minute...Gets a bit...Ummm...Annoying. Seems to give wildly varying results depending on how much you shake too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwiwulf Posted May 25, 2003 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2003 Thanks for that. LFS charges $2 to do a water test so really not much point buying a kit. Retested the tank water and still an average of 5.0. Then checked the water (from the tap) I replace with and it is 7 - 7.5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted May 25, 2003 Report Share Posted May 25, 2003 Depends on how often you test your tanks, I guess. Is $2 + 15 minutes to drive there, 15 minutes waiting around for them to do the test, 15 minutes driving home every week worth to you? More than a $15 test kit that costs about $.50 or less per test and is done in a minute instead of an hour? I've thought about getting Animates to test my water, but I don't know what they test for, if it's nothing more than PH, nitrates, ammonia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwiwulf Posted May 25, 2003 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2003 Try $20-25 for test kits! Having a test done is a cover for visiting to look at all the aquaria goodies Animates do the basics - pH, Nitrate, Nitrite abd Ammonia. They will do others if you ask: they regard those 4 as the critical ones. Given my ph is down how can I get it back up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dennis Posted May 25, 2003 Report Share Posted May 25, 2003 u can buy a ph one for like $10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midas Posted May 25, 2003 Report Share Posted May 25, 2003 Another thing that I find is quite useful to test for is carbonate hardness (or KH). Lets me know how stable the pH is going to remain in the future. The water is quite soft here (~40ppm CaCO3) out of the tap so it pays to keep an eye on it and either buffer it up with sodium bicarbonate or with some sort of form of calcium carbonate that will slowly dissolve keeping the KH (and pH) up (I use bird grit in a stocking). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Calvert Posted May 25, 2003 Report Share Posted May 25, 2003 Slight change of subject. What sort of ammonia test kits does everybody out there prefer? I have been very happy with the Hagen kit which was O.K. until I got a new one and the third dropper bottle had brown instead of clear drops, which wouldn't work at all. I am now using the A.P. kit which is two dropper bottles. It gives a reaction every time, but does so even on good clean tap water and on rain water??? Casey C. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shilo Posted May 26, 2003 Report Share Posted May 26, 2003 Hi Casey, Hagen kit which was O.K. until I got a new one and the third dropper bottle had brown instead of clear drops, which wouldn't work at all. Is this the Ammonia tester? My Hagen kits have 1 bottle for Ammonia (yellow box), 2 bottles in the NitrIte kit (pink box) and 3 bottles in the NitrAte kit (puple box). But yes all liquids are clear. The Dry Tabs I used before used to show ammonia in all my samples if I used both tabs. I would imagine your kit is the same. There are 2 forms of Ammonia NH3 and NH4. NH3 is toxic to the fish but NH4 is much less so. One bottle will be checking NH3 and the other NH4. Try testing separately. If you get a reaction with the NH3 bottle then panic, otherwise ignore the NH4 unless it is very dark. Also always make sure your test tubes are rinsed out with the water you are about to test and never touch the water in the tube with your fingers otherwise you can get false readings. P.S. I have 7 tests - my kitchen bench looks like a laboratory on water change days Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Calvert Posted May 26, 2003 Report Share Posted May 26, 2003 Shilo, Hi! Yes the Hagen freshwater ammonia test kit is the yellow one with one bottle. I was using the fresh/salt water kit which has an orange pack and has three bottles. I don't know whether the latest couple of kits I bought have been too long on the shelf or what, but they didn't work. Yes my bench can look like a chemists shop too! Are we too fussy or too scientific?? Casey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwiwulf Posted May 26, 2003 Author Report Share Posted May 26, 2003 Would be nice to be able to buy a kit that included all the tests. PetSmart in USA offer one for $US20 that covers 7 tests Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted May 26, 2003 Report Share Posted May 26, 2003 Animates in Wellington has a set of a bunch, I don't remember how many 6-10, in a gray case. It's kinda expensive though, I think it was $120. But that's less than buying them all and you get a nice convenient case to hold them in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted May 26, 2003 Report Share Posted May 26, 2003 I won a JBL testkit (well, Grant did actually) at conference once and it has tests for pH, ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, Gh, KH,CO2, phosphate & iron. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shilo Posted May 26, 2003 Report Share Posted May 26, 2003 Are we too fussy or too scientific?? Casey. Fussy? - Nah, Scientific? - Far from it, But paranoid? - Umm well.... I test for NH3-4, NO2, NO3, PO4, PH, Gh, KH, and CO2 = 3 * KH * 10( 7-pH ). :roll: Had a 4.9ppm reading on Saturday night (the 1st colour seen since cycling the tank) and realised that my Tetras count was wrong. Found it in the filter system, the poor thing had gone on a hydroslide ride. Its amasing how such a small fish could cause such a large ammonia spike in a 125ltr. A 50% panic water change and Sunday night I had a clear reading again. Ammonia tests do come in useful even in an established tank. Ira / Caryl Also saw this kit at Hollywoods in Auck. But I didn't see any replacement bottles so assumed you would have to buy the boxes when a bottle in the kit ran out. Could be false economy in the long run. But then again by buying boxes you end up with 4 pipettes and 6 test tubes you don't need. Can you buy refill bottles? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Calvert Posted May 26, 2003 Report Share Posted May 26, 2003 One of the reasons that I decided on Hagen kits was that you can buy odd bottles. With the fresh/salt water ammonia kit I always seemed to run outof bottle three before anything else. So, that extra bottle of 3, allowed me to finish up all the dregs. However, its a mixed blessing, because the price for one bottle is way above one third of the price of a kit! The main reason however is that they use the 'Indophenol' test for ammonia, and I can get that result double checked by our local ebvironmental lab. Most of the rest use the two bottle salicylate method and I have no double check on that. However I do get far more tests out of the A.P. Salicylate kit than the Hagen one. Casey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted May 26, 2003 Report Share Posted May 26, 2003 My ammonia test kit is just a single bottle. Much better than two bottles. Having to use 2 bottles for anything is annoying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted May 26, 2003 Report Share Posted May 26, 2003 When getting a test kit I would get a good quality test kit as most like hagan and drytab are a waste of money and very inaccurate. i have seen test done in germany comparing test kits and the results were that the above two were the worst Try seachem or salifert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted May 26, 2003 Report Share Posted May 26, 2003 Shilo I don't know if you can get refill bottles as I use the kit so rarely none of it has run out so I haven't looked. The kit comes in a plastic carry case with several test tubes, bottles and stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted May 27, 2003 Report Share Posted May 27, 2003 I doubt they're off by more than a few percent. It's not like exact accuracy with regards to anything in a fishtank is particularly important. And everything I've read says the dry tab nitrate tests are more accurate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Calvert Posted May 27, 2003 Report Share Posted May 27, 2003 For those who don't use these kits very much, then I would suggest that the dry tablets sealed in foil would be the only way to go. All the bits of paper in my liquid kits tell me that once you open the bottle then shelf life is a year or less! Its only because I have a LOT of tanks to test that I go with the drops. They sure are a lot quicker than ripping open foil and crushing tablets to dissolve them before making a test. Everyone to his own breed of poisen. Casey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwiwulf Posted May 27, 2003 Author Report Share Posted May 27, 2003 Animates in Wellington has a set of a bunch, I don't remember how many 6-10, in a gray case. It's kinda expensive though, I think it was $120. But that's less than buying them all and you get a nice convenient case to hold them in. Will check out the local Animates here. They certainly use a big kit for doing tests: all manner of bottles and tubes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shilo Posted May 27, 2003 Report Share Posted May 27, 2003 The AP Dry Tab's Nitrite colour chart is graded differently to the Hagens. There colours are also easier to match. This may account for them being more accurate. Not sure about the other Dry Tab verse. Hagen tests. I test weekly (at least) and find the Hagen better value for money. The Dry-Tab refills are around $14 (I think) for 20 tests ($25.65 for starter kit) while the Hagen is $18.70 for 75 tests. If I only tested once a fortnight or monthly then the Dry-Tabs would be my preference. Casey Just looked at your profile, your defiantly in a position to do some accurate testing Aquarium filtration and commercial waste treatment have a lot in common (expect size!) is there any new treatment processes that can be miniturised for an aquarium? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwiwulf Posted May 31, 2003 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2003 Animates had a test kit on display $199! Unless one could buy the reagents as required probably an expensive outlay. LFS does 4 tests for $2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dennis Posted May 31, 2003 Report Share Posted May 31, 2003 at the pet shops here in tauranga they do the tests for free Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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