I Hate My Test Kits

[tfrechette]

I have an API Basic Kit (ph, Nitrite, Ammonia, Nitrate) and Red Sea (Phosphate, Kh, CA, MG).

On the API kit I find it difficult to find my color, somewhere between 0 and .25. So I tested a fresh batch of SW and it appeared to be the same intermediate color.

On the phosphate kit again, I find it difficult to match the color. My color appears to be a real pale muted green. The kit shows real green and then yellows. So I'm guessing it's between the green and yellow around .06.

Then the kh test, it goes from blue to yellow and not red.

The Red Sea kits are probably 6 months old. Are they passed their shelf life?

Before this I used some Sailfert kits which I found very difficult looking at shades of red/pink.

I don't think I'm color blind. Anybody really love their test kits?

[Sk8r]

Possibly you really do have some degree of color blindness, of the red-green sort, srsly, and in all love. Ask your optometrist next chance: there's a quick little test involving reading a card; and it doesn't mean you can't see color, but that you may see it differently. Men have this problem much more than women do.
But I will also give you what I learned from a lab tech.
1) do it under bright overhead light.
2) set your vial on a white card when you try to read it, and look down into it from overhead.
3) ask your lfs to demo the test they use and see if you can read it...some tests are easier than others.
4. for some tests, you can get an electronic probe that gives you a reading.
5. The phosphate test is mostly useless unless you have sps corals: if you have algae, you have phosphate.
6. your kits should have an expiration date.
7. for stony coral, or really even for a fish-only, at least an alkalinity test---track this instead of ph; I look at my ph meter about once a year, and run a reef. Alkalinity is a better gauge of fishy comfort. Ideally also a calcium and magnesium test, too: the latter are must-haves for stony coral. All other tests are mostly for people with sps reefs.

[d0ughb0y]

Ask somebody else in your household to read the results.

For the API kits (except for pH), all you care about if the reading is the 0 color or not, and I find it impossible to miss that reading, even for someone with poor eyesight like me.

I use the red sea kits and they work fine for me. if you say you are getting yellow reading on the kh test, and you know you are not color blind, then perhaps there were some mixup in the kits you got, like did you use the syringe for kh with ca, etc? or if you bought them used, perhaps the previous owner accidentally put back excess reagent into the wrong bottle?

[dmastracchio]

If you don't like colors, try the hannah test kits. Little pricey buying them up front, but they put out numbers rather then colors.

I have the ALK and the phosphate one. Buy extra testing reagents.

[streetlamp]

I am partially colorblind and have a big problem with most test kits, I ask my fiance to help me usually. Even she has trouble with some of them though. I am about to invest in some Hannah checkers like recommended above.

[tfrechette]

If you don't like colors, try the hannah test kits. Little pricey buying them up front, but they put out numbers rather then colors.

I have the ALK and the phosphate one. Buy extra testing reagents.

Thanks for that idea! My wife and I both have problems reading the colors.

[tfrechette]

perhaps there were some mixup in the kits you got, like did you use the syringe for kh with ca, etc?

That could have been the issue with the kh. Thanks.

[A_Z]

well I never liked API test kits and think I will go with Salifert in the future, too bad the Pinpoint meters are pricey or I would have a few. :D

[rovster]

I'm certified red/green colorblind. My wife is an optometrist, and I was their guinea pig while she was in school. I failed all the colorblind tests with flying colors....or should I say I passed, LOL! My wife reads my test kit results....

[Vadafallon]

I am thinking about investing in the hanna test kits... mostly because i am lazy, but also because i want the best accuracy i can get. So on that note, how accurate are they? And what top two kits would you get?

All i have in my tank currently are leathers, some softies, frogspawn etc., a few fish, a a shrimp.

[tfrechette]

I am thinking about investing in the hanna test kits... mostly because i am lazy, but also because i want the best accuracy i can get. So on that note, how accurate are they? And what top two kits would you get?



I found them at Bulk Reef Supply. They have a cool video going through Alkalinity and phosphate testing between Sailfert, Red Sea and Hanna. Hanna seems to be the way to go if you can afford $50/kit. I think the only other kit Hanna makes is Calcium.

[danil]

I would take Hanna Phosphate and NEW Red See Reef pro test kit. Its on sale now for great price in BRS. Color change in Alk, Calc and Mg very quick and distinct (so you dont have to actually compare or know the color) plus with their new tetrator(?) all done with one hand. If you want you can get Hanna Alk test - works great but require more work/time. I would strongly advise against Hanna Calcium checker. Some people reported good reading out of it but I personally found it unreliable to the point of totally useless (and very expensive).

[Lynnmw1208]

I use the new red sea pro test kits and love them. very easy to tell the colors, although I am not color blind... In case you want to check, this is the easiest way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWyrp3hu4KE