My Tests vs. my LFS's tests.

[smlacy]

First, the intro:

My new tank is 3 weeks old. It has no inhabitants other than some marginal live rock, and a detrivore kit from Inland Aquatics. Diatom bloom is done and over with, hair algae is up a little.

I brought some water to my very reputable LFS (Aquarium Concepts in Hayward, CA) and had them test ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.

Using a Tetra test, the guy there claimed that both nitrate and nitrite were "through the roof" His readings were:

Nitrite 1.6 mg/l
Nitrate 50 mg/l

When I looked at the tests, ammonia was reading 0, but he said "it takes a while, and since these other two are so high, I'm betting that your ammonia will be high too". I stopped by 10 minutes later, and the ammonia was still reading 0.

So, I prepared for a 50% water change, and made up 15g of salt water. In addition, I bought the same tests, and tested the water myself. I got:

Nitrite 0.5 mg/l
Nitrate 12.5 mg/l

Both of which aren't "perfect" but also aren't the "emergency" levels that he showed in the store.

BTW, at this point, I've only done the tests once. I'm about to start on my second iteration of both tests now.

So, who do you trust? I trust my tests, because there's no guarantee that he was actually testing my water, and there's no guarantee about how old the tests he was using are (although they're probably not older than the ones on the shelf). He could have just made a mistake or something, or I don't know what.

BTW, the Tetra pH test is really bad. I can't tell the difference between 8.3 and 8.6, and thats in the crucial range. Very poor. Do their nitrate/nitrite tests have a better reputation?

Steve

 

[smlacy]

I have tested again, and the results are the same:

Nitrite 0.3 mg/l
Nitrate 12.5 mg/l

Steve

 

[Anonymous]

Someone is full of "ish" thats for sure..I have never used tetra, i use aquarium pharm...and from my understanding Salifert are good testers...Maybe try a different LFS to test your water, or have someone else in that store do it, or if you have a friend who is into the hobby, maybe borrow one of his testers...Just to see maybe if yours is ok or not...(wow what a run on sentence)...

 

[fishfanatic2]

I use Aquarium Pharm too. if you have fish in the tank and everything is fine, then I'm willing to bet that the LFS guy screwed up. If the tnak is cycling, do a water change anyway. It can't hurt IMO.

 

[Anonymous]

Aquarium Pharmaceuticals and Tetra wouldn't be my first choices if I were looking for quality and reliability in a test kit. Salifert and SeaChem would be my personal choices. In any event, you've spent the money, check the serial numbers, or, if the kit has it, the date of manufacture or the expiration date. You can actually expect the shop's test kit reagents to be kept in poor conditions, which would affect reagents negatively. I would not expect the person to test someone else's water, though. He is, however, somewhat ignorant, it seems.

There is clearly a misunderstanding on the part of the fellow at the shop. If one has a new setup, and they have zero ammonia, and high nitrite and high nitrate readings, it means that the bacteria that convert ammonia to nitrite are colonizing and growing, as are the bacteria that convert nitrite to nitrate. If you had high nitrite with zero ammonia and zero nitrate then you would know that you do have the bacteria that convert ammonia to nitrite, but NOT those that convert nitrite to nitrate. It's as simple as that. And he really should know this stuff.

 

[hillbilly]

A lot of these test kits are so inaccurate, that the
results are useless. I have had good results with
SeaChem also.

 

[cdeakle]

I have an aquarium concepts here in Seattle,WA and they rock. I wonder if there the same company?

I stopped using drop testing kits long ago, they suck bad. I would recommend using the strip tests instead, I have found them to be more acurate and less of a hastle!

At any rate, I would make them retest and I would bring my test results in at the same time for a comparison.

-puff

 

[WRASSER]

hey people (that stands for guys and gals),



just a reminder; the longer you let the nitrites and nitrates test sit the darker the color becomes. i do believe there is a few minutes time limit to these test, but i could be wrong. :wink:


good luck,


wrasser 8)