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11/16/2010, 03:39 PM
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#1 |
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Registered Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: council bluffs iowa
Posts: 1,530
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How do you read an api test kit???
I have api test kits for nitrates and phosphates. On the nitrate kit anything over 20 looks exactly the same, but when your at 15 or 20 with the orange color, how do you look at the vial? Do you put it on top of the card under a light and look through it? Do you hold it next to the card in front of a light looking through the vial? Looking at it different ways can vary your results a good 10-15ppm..........
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11/16/2010, 03:54 PM
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#2 |
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Registered Member
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: NH
Posts: 850
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i use indirect good lighting and place the vial against the white part of the card.
not looking down through the top of the tube.. but through the side of the tube. nitrate is pretty easy for me as it always reads 0 ;-) phosphate is pretty tough though and consider APIs kit for low level checking to be pretty useless. If you are in the 15-20 range with nitrates i would not really be too concerned with uber accuracy at that point. It just tells you that nitrate levels are pretty darn high. |
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11/16/2010, 03:54 PM
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#3 |
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Go Spurs Go!!!
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Meadowlakes Texas
Posts: 13,357
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That's exactly why I quit using them many years ago. Save yourself some headache and get Salifert next time. It is much easier on the eyes. If I remember right you view it from the side, if that helps.
__________________
Jack No One has ever been seriously injured by using the search function. Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms should be a convenience store, not a government agency. Current Tank Info: Reefing the Pentagon. |
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11/16/2010, 04:06 PM
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#4 |
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Registered Member
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 1,705
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Easy, if it's not yellow then you have nitrates.
You're shooting for 0. It really doesn't matter what the reading is, if it turns red or orange at all, then you have nitrates present.
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Steve Current Tank Info: 58 Oceanic/20g Sump/250w XM 20k/2x39w T5 True Actinic 03/2010 Reef Octopus NW Cone Skimmer |
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11/16/2010, 04:29 PM
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#5 |
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Registered Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: council bluffs iowa
Posts: 1,530
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im just trying to tell if my pellets are dropping them any
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