Throw out all your API test kits!!!

Yellow_donkey · 08/07/2016, 12:28 PM

You would be better off getting result by adding 5ML to an egg carton slot and adding a Lego Brick.

My API ammonia just gave me two days back to back of false readings. So here I am panicking trying to get the ammonia down and I never had any to begin with.

First I started looking onsite to see if there was a better chart because first I I love how:

Yellow = 0 ppm
Yellow = .25 ppm
Yellow / ehh maybe a hint of yellow green = .50 ppm

So a few minutes ago I was on the crapper and was like well heck I just need to make a known 0.00 standard and that will be my reference color. So I go grab 5 ML of RO/DI and run a test on it and my tank water at the same time side by side.

After the 5 second shake and the 5 minute wait, both are exactly the same color, yellow with a small hint of green or what I can only assume is 0.25.

Now, I just want to confirm, there is no way my RO/DI would have ammonia in it is there? My RO/DI TDS is 0, if I hold it in there and shake it around (my meter that is) it may flash 1 for a second or two.

My RO/DI unit is less than 60 days old. TDS 0 and I flushed the unit per the instructions.

Any ideas, aside from drive to Orlando to a decent DFS (distant fish store) and buy something side from API!

Thanks everyone.

fcmatt · 08/07/2016, 12:39 PM

Are you sure the test kit is OK with fresh water? It may require salt water. No... it works with both. I just checked. Did you compare to the salt water card?

Not to cut you down but did you make sure you are using the kit correctly? Reread the directions? Did it work before? Is it out of date/expired? Did you wait 5 minutes after shaking well?

API, while not the best kit on the market for accuracy does work well to give a pretty good idea where you stand. I would buy it for certain tests myself.

Sk8r · 08/07/2016, 12:42 PM

Honestly, when I test for ammonia during cycle, on my way to a reef, where I will use serious tests, I get a tube of about 30 Tetra nitrate-ammonia test strips, probably made for fish ponds, and just dip and look. If I get color, I say, I have ammonia, and that's either good or not good depending on the stage I'm at. Tetra strips work in either fresh or salt.

Yellow_donkey · 08/07/2016, 12:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fcmatt

Are you sure the test kit is OK with fresh water? It may require salt water.

Not to cut you down but did you make sure you are using the kit correctly? Reread the directions? Did it work before? Is it out of date/expired?

API, while not the best kit on the market for accuracy does work well to give a pretty good idea where you stand.

Sorry I was not 100% accurate. I did the "standard" test with my mixed RO/DI water. I had ran through the RO/DI and mixed it two days ago to 1.025 and its in a 15 gallon bin in the garage. I also let it sit for 20 minutes too (5 ML vial) to bring the temp down into the 75 range and not the garage temp.

thegrun · 08/07/2016, 12:49 PM

The API ammonia test kit is known for giving a false positive of 0.25. Their other test kits while not as highly accurate as some of the other manufacture's test kits do get you in the ballpark, so depending upon what reason you are testing are often good enough.

Yellow_donkey · 08/07/2016, 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sk8r

Honestly, when I test for ammonia during cycle, on my way to a reef, where I will use serious tests, I get a tube of about 30 Tetra nitrate-ammonia test strips, probably made for fish ponds, and just dip and look. If I get color, I say, I have ammonia, and that's either good or not good depending on the stage I'm at. Tetra strips work in either fresh or salt.

Yes, I have done all the API test by the book. 5ML, add the 6 drops vial 1, (no shake) add 6 drops vial 2, shake for 5 seconds then wait 5. I use a tracker on my phone that has a multi-timmer so when ammonia is up at 5 minutes I read it at that second.

And yes it worked fine all through my cycle, started 0, went up, then zeroed back out, then the same rippled happened through Nitrite and Nitrate.

It is not expired and I just know what the deal is. I do have to run it against another test like you said. My 3 day old mixed water cant have 0.25 ppm Ammonia in it, just no way when I used 0 TDS water to make it.

Plus, the tank is 67 days old, I would not have ammonia unless I did something significant to the LR or sand.

Just confusing. Thanks for the help/ideas!

Yellow_donkey · 08/07/2016, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thegrun

The API ammonia test kit is known for giving a false positive of 0.25. Their other test kits while not as highly accurate as some of the other manufacture's test kits do get you in the ballpark, so depending upon what reason you are testing are often good enough.

Still new, 67 day old tank, when I sit down to do all the tests 2x a week I just run them all.

App I have on phone lets me set multiple timers depending on what I test. So as the timers expire I can read the results and keep performing more test at the same time. I'm sure most do this, but its interesting, as I started out doing them all one at a time, but can do them all in 1/4 time now, haha.

Reading other posts about tests I will get a Salifert and/or Red Sea. I am very happy with all of my Red Sea tests. Dosing CA/ALK/MG the Red Sea are accurate enough I can see the daily uptake and counter it with dosing.

The coloring is so off/close on the APIs I just cant tell yellow from yellow from yellow.

Do we know which kit(s) has/have the best low side ammonia color scale. I do think the other part is my inability to define small color changes. I have never been good at it.

Ztous · 08/07/2016, 01:09 PM

I thought this was common knowledge and more of an issue with the ammonia test not all their products.

Squampton · 08/07/2016, 01:18 PM

Does API have different variations of Ammonia tests?

I ask as you say 6 drops, and the kit I have both the directions and bottle says 8 drops...

I just don't like their shades of green, I'll see 0.25, and my wife will see 0, so I go with my wife since I have no reason to think there is ammonia in the tank, and other tests all show 0, so I think my eyes are to blame for seeing 0.25.....

Only other API test I use is calcium, and the results I get on freshly mixed water is only 20ppm off from what Red Sea claims, so I figure the test is accurate enough for my needs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yellow_donkey

Yes, I have done all the API test by the book. 5ML, add the 6 drops vial 1, (no shake) add 6 drops vial 2, shake for 5 seconds then wait 5. I use a tracker on my phone that has a multi-timmer so when ammonia is up at 5 minutes I read it at that second.

And yes it worked fine all through my cycle, started 0, went up, then zeroed back out, then the same rippled happened through Nitrite and Nitrate.

It is not expired and I just know what the deal is. I do have to run it against another test like you said. My 3 day old mixed water cant have 0.25 ppm Ammonia in it, just no way when I used 0 TDS water to make it.

Plus, the tank is 67 days old, I would not have ammonia unless I did something significant to the LR or sand.

Just confusing. Thanks for the help/ideas!

MuShu · 08/07/2016, 02:50 PM

I have a hard time with the calcium test- the end color in my book is a royal purple. In the directions, it's supposed to be blue.

This is interesting timing. My ammonia today read between .25 and .5 with nitrites at 0 and nitrates less than 5. This was after adding three gallons of water yesterday after doing a drip method acclimation of a coral beauty angelfish. I added two leopard wrasses last weekend and one died Tuesday (It had only halfway buried itself, so it was easy to find and remove) the other is MIA, which I know is normal for these guys this soon after being added.

NAClFiSHy · 08/07/2016, 02:58 PM

Bummer

OrQidz · 08/07/2016, 03:20 PM

I wouldn't necessarily throw them all out. They work ok, especially when cycling and you're checking frequently. I agree the SW ammonia test is hard to read and looks kind of yellowy greenish at 0 or 0.25. What I do is test a sample of clean, unused SW side by side with my tank water. The clean SW gives a better comparison of yellow-ness than the color card. If my tank water is greener looking I can then tell that much eaiser.

The freshwater ammonia is MUCH easier to read so testing FW and SW next to each other is not going to work.

BIOSOIB · 08/16/2016, 11:30 AM

Hi there just wanted to chime in on something disturbing I found with my API freshwater set.

In short - test your ammonia test by deliberately adding ammonia to the test water.

Tests have been registering .25 for months. I had reason to believe some of my fish were showing signs of ammonia toxicity so I reduced feed waiting for ammonia reading to go to zero. Yesterday was about a week on reduced feed for the fish 1-2 feeds a day instead of the usual 4-5. And still the ammonia reading was .25 ppm. I really had expected it to hit 0 by now. and definately should have been showing at least a lighter color. So I loaded up a test tube with tap water...also .25 ppm ..so I loaded up a tube with distilled water...also .25 ppm so I loaded up a tube with very diluted ammonia water.. also .25 ppm, so I added about 5 drops of 10% ammonia from a jug to a tube of system water..and made it to .5 ppm. This should have been off the chart dark green! Clearly something has gone horribly wrong with my ammonia test kit. It's part of the API freshwater test set, about a year old, and expires in 2020. Not sure if it was damaged by heat/cold/light or if it has always been that that way..wish I had tried testing it before. Suggest anyone using the API ammonia test kit try it yourself with purified water and high ammonia water and see if yours is completely broken as well.

CStrickland · 08/16/2016, 07:15 PM

The API test kit for freshwater has a different color card than the saltwater one.

I like API just fine for nitrates, ca, and alk. There's a thread in the Chem forum where someone tested a bunch of kits side by side and the API performed really well. IMO a lot of the issues are user error, except for the well-known ammonia false positive.

jason2459 · 08/16/2016, 09:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CStrickland

The API test kit for freshwater has a different color card than the saltwater one.

I like API just fine for nitrates, ca, and alk. There's a thread in the Chem forum where someone tested a bunch of kits side by side and the API performed really well. IMO a lot of the issues are user error, except for the well-known ammonia false positive.

I can relate to this.

jason2459 · 08/16/2016, 09:27 PM

Here it is. I haven't used an ammonia API kit in a long time but I do recall using it when I first started and seemed ok.

Links from this thread to other shootouts covering Nitrate, phosphates, vs. Triton, and vs. AWT using multiple brands including API and this one is for Alk, Calc, and Mg.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...big+3+shootout

NeilFox · 08/16/2016, 09:47 PM

CStrickland is correct. API kits have a very high level of accuracy, some of the best, not just for the money but overall as far as hobby stuff is concerned. You can increase the accuracy by doubling up the water and dividing the drops by two on the Alk test. That being said I can't vouch for the ammonia test. I am not sure I have ever used one (or any ammonia test kit for that matter). Like Sk8ter said, the strips work. Once a reef is established you shouldn't see nitrite or ammonia. It's going to happen when you are going through a cycle but the best thing for that is to wait it out. I'm not sure what kind of action you could take besides maybe adding some bacteria or some well cured rock.

CindyK · 08/16/2016, 09:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BIOSOIB

Hi there just wanted to chime in on something disturbing I found with my API freshwater set.

Maybe this is a stupid question or I am just confused. But did you decide your API freshwater kit was "broken" while using it to test fresh, or salt water? And if you were using a freshwater kit to test saltwater, why would you do that?

Yellow_donkey · 08/21/2016, 07:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CindyK

Maybe this is a stupid question or I am just confused. But did you decide your API freshwater kit was "broken" while using it to test fresh, or salt water? And if you were using a freshwater kit to test saltwater, why would you do that?

I dont think so. It was API fresh on freshwater. He was just chiming in on API as a whole.

DePinchGonze · 08/21/2016, 10:39 PM

I would strongly recommend reading the write up that Jason2459 did on various test kits, lots of testing and documentation. I personally use he Red Sea test kit for ammonia always been pretty straight forward and easy to use. The yellow is zero, light green .25 and so on, easy to compare even for the color blind person like me.

Yellow_donkey · 08/22/2016, 08:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DePinchGonze

I would strongly recommend reading the write up that Jason2459 did on various test kits, lots of testing and documentation. I personally use he Red Sea test kit for ammonia always been pretty straight forward and easy to use. The yellow is zero, light green .25 and so on, easy to compare even for the color blind person like me.

I have switched to Red Sea on all of my kits now and am very happy with the results on all. the Phosphate Pro at 0.02 accuracy is really great,although a little difficult to read.

BIOSOIB · 08/25/2016, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yellow_donkey

I dont think so. It was API fresh on freshwater. He was just chiming in on API as a whole.

Correct, was just a general warning about the API freshwater ammonia test. I believe the saltwater test is the same reagents but slightly different color card (my new set has both color cards).

Anyway, I received the replacement test set they sent me and it's working as expected. I did a side by side of my old set and the new with tank water and deliberately ammoniated water...very clear difference in attached image.

The symptom of the kit going bad that I had failed to notice was the contents of reagent bottle #1 undergoing a gradual color change from clear to amber.

Yellow_donkey · 08/28/2016, 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BIOSOIB

Correct, was just a general warning about the API freshwater ammonia test. I believe the saltwater test is the same reagents but slightly different color card (my new set has both color cards).

Anyway, I received the replacement test set they sent me and it's working as expected. I did a side by side of my old set and the new with tank water and deliberately ammoniated water...very clear difference in attached image.

The symptom of the kit going bad that I had failed to notice was the contents of reagent bottle #1 undergoing a gradual color change from clear to amber.

Wow ya that is clearly different!

homer1475 · 08/28/2016, 01:36 PM

All 3 with the exception of the blue one, all look the same color to me.

08/07/2016, 12:39 PM	#2
fcmatt Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: NH Posts: 850	Are you sure the test kit is OK with fresh water? It may require salt water. No... it works with both. I just checked. Did you compare to the salt water card? Not to cut you down but did you make sure you are using the kit correctly? Reread the directions? Did it work before? Is it out of date/expired? Did you wait 5 minutes after shaking well? API, while not the best kit on the market for accuracy does work well to give a pretty good idea where you stand. I would buy it for certain tests myself. Last edited by fcmatt; 08/07/2016 at 12:47 PM.

08/07/2016, 12:42 PM	#3
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	Honestly, when I test for ammonia during cycle, on my way to a reef, where I will use serious tests, I get a tube of about 30 Tetra nitrate-ammonia test strips, probably made for fish ponds, and just dip and look. If I get color, I say, I have ammonia, and that's either good or not good depending on the stage I'm at. Tetra strips work in either fresh or salt. __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.

08/16/2016, 07:15 PM	#14
CStrickland Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: New England, U.S. Posts: 4,595	The API test kit for freshwater has a different color card than the saltwater one. I like API just fine for nitrates, ca, and alk. There's a thread in the Chem forum where someone tested a bunch of kits side by side and the API performed really well. IMO a lot of the issues are user error, except for the well-known ammonia false positive. __________________ If you're havin tank problems I feel bad for you, son. I got 99 problems but a fish ain't one Current Tank Info: 3/2016 upgrade to 120g. Chalk bass, melanurus, firefish, starry blenny, canary blenny, lyretail anthias, engineer gobys, kole tang. Softies / LPS / NPS. <3 noob4life <3

08/16/2016, 09:27 PM	#16
jason2459 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Iowa Posts: 9,671	Here it is. I haven't used an ammonia API kit in a long time but I do recall using it when I first started and seemed ok. Links from this thread to other shootouts covering Nitrate, phosphates, vs. Triton, and vs. AWT using multiple brands including API and this one is for Alk, Calc, and Mg. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...big+3+shootout __________________ rebuild and recovery log: No more red house, you'll have to click on my name and visit my homepage! You can check out my parameters at reeftronics dot net website and look for my username. Current Tank Info: 180g mixed reef w/ a beananimal overflow to a dolomite RRUGF. \| 20g long G. Smithii Mantis Tank

08/16/2016, 09:47 PM	#17
NeilFox Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: DuPont, WA Posts: 947	CStrickland is correct. API kits have a very high level of accuracy, some of the best, not just for the money but overall as far as hobby stuff is concerned. You can increase the accuracy by doubling up the water and dividing the drops by two on the Alk test. That being said I can't vouch for the ammonia test. I am not sure I have ever used one (or any ammonia test kit for that matter). Like Sk8ter said, the strips work. Once a reef is established you shouldn't see nitrite or ammonia. It's going to happen when you are going through a cycle but the best thing for that is to wait it out. I'm not sure what kind of action you could take besides maybe adding some bacteria or some well cured rock. __________________ Even a Blind Squirrel finds a Nut now and then. Current Tank Info: 6.25 gal Nano, 40 gal SPS

08/07/2016, 12:28 PM	#1
Yellow_donkey Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2016 Posts: 151	Throw out all your API test kits!!! You would be better off getting result by adding 5ML to an egg carton slot and adding a Lego Brick. My API ammonia just gave me two days back to back of false readings. So here I am panicking trying to get the ammonia down and I never had any to begin with. First I started looking onsite to see if there was a better chart because first I I love how: Yellow = 0 ppm Yellow = .25 ppm Yellow / ehh maybe a hint of yellow green = .50 ppm So a few minutes ago I was on the crapper and was like well heck I just need to make a known 0.00 standard and that will be my reference color. So I go grab 5 ML of RO/DI and run a test on it and my tank water at the same time side by side. After the 5 second shake and the 5 minute wait, both are exactly the same color, yellow with a small hint of green or what I can only assume is 0.25. Now, I just want to confirm, there is no way my RO/DI would have ammonia in it is there? My RO/DI TDS is 0, if I hold it in there and shake it around (my meter that is) it may flash 1 for a second or two. My RO/DI unit is less than 60 days old. TDS 0 and I flushed the unit per the instructions. Any ideas, aside from drive to Orlando to a decent DFS (distant fish store) and buy something side from API! Thanks everyone. __________________ Yellow_Donkey's 60G Reef;24x24x24 w/ DIY ATO, Oveflow Cheato Haram. Cant beat a ball of cheato. Last edited by Yellow_donkey; 08/07/2016 at 12:34 PM.

08/07/2016, 12:49 PM	#5
thegrun Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Garden Grove, Ca Posts: 17,023	The API ammonia test kit is known for giving a false positive of 0.25. Their other test kits while not as highly accurate as some of the other manufacture's test kits do get you in the ballpark, so depending upon what reason you are testing are often good enough.

08/07/2016, 01:09 PM	#8
Ztous Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Posts: 220	I thought this was common knowledge and more of an issue with the ammonia test not all their products.

08/07/2016, 02:50 PM	#10
MuShu Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2016 Location: Georgia Posts: 322	I have a hard time with the calcium test- the end color in my book is a royal purple. In the directions, it's supposed to be blue. This is interesting timing. My ammonia today read between .25 and .5 with nitrites at 0 and nitrates less than 5. This was after adding three gallons of water yesterday after doing a drip method acclimation of a coral beauty angelfish. I added two leopard wrasses last weekend and one died Tuesday (It had only halfway buried itself, so it was easy to find and remove) the other is MIA, which I know is normal for these guys this soon after being added.

08/07/2016, 02:58 PM	#11
NAClFiSHy Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2013 Posts: 61	Bummer

08/07/2016, 03:20 PM	#12
OrQidz Registered Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Pacific Northwest Posts: 825	I wouldn't necessarily throw them all out. They work ok, especially when cycling and you're checking frequently. I agree the SW ammonia test is hard to read and looks kind of yellowy greenish at 0 or 0.25. What I do is test a sample of clean, unused SW side by side with my tank water. The clean SW gives a better comparison of yellow-ness than the color card. If my tank water is greener looking I can then tell that much eaiser. The freshwater ammonia is MUCH easier to read so testing FW and SW next to each other is not going to work.

08/16/2016, 11:30 AM	#13
BIOSOIB Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2016 Posts: 2	Hi there just wanted to chime in on something disturbing I found with my API freshwater set. In short - test your ammonia test by deliberately adding ammonia to the test water. Tests have been registering .25 for months. I had reason to believe some of my fish were showing signs of ammonia toxicity so I reduced feed waiting for ammonia reading to go to zero. Yesterday was about a week on reduced feed for the fish 1-2 feeds a day instead of the usual 4-5. And still the ammonia reading was .25 ppm. I really had expected it to hit 0 by now. and definately should have been showing at least a lighter color. So I loaded up a test tube with tap water...also .25 ppm ..so I loaded up a tube with distilled water...also .25 ppm so I loaded up a tube with very diluted ammonia water.. also .25 ppm, so I added about 5 drops of 10% ammonia from a jug to a tube of system water..and made it to .5 ppm. This should have been off the chart dark green! Clearly something has gone horribly wrong with my ammonia test kit. It's part of the API freshwater test set, about a year old, and expires in 2020. Not sure if it was damaged by heat/cold/light or if it has always been that that way..wish I had tried testing it before. Suggest anyone using the API ammonia test kit try it yourself with purified water and high ammonia water and see if yours is completely broken as well.

08/21/2016, 10:39 PM	#20
DePinchGonze Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2016 Location: Iowa Posts: 87	I would strongly recommend reading the write up that Jason2459 did on various test kits, lots of testing and documentation. I personally use he Red Sea test kit for ammonia always been pretty straight forward and easy to use. The yellow is zero, light green .25 and so on, easy to compare even for the color blind person like me.

08/28/2016, 01:36 PM	#24
homer1475 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Upstate NY Posts: 5,313	All 3 with the exception of the blue one, all look the same color to me. __________________ 80G SCA Build: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2560256 Originally posted by der_wille_zur_macht: "He's just taking his lunch to work"