Reading an API test

sen5241b

Reef enthusiast
I've been getting some false readings lately from a bad test kit. When I read an API test kit I

I add precisely the amount of water the instructions say to
Add precisely the number of solution drops
Hold the test tube result against the plastic color card under bright white light.

In darker light, the result color can look very different.
 
Thats why I dont use the kits with the color charts.Well,except for the nitrate,and I know if it changes colors at all,then I need to do a water change.
 
The only API test kit I use is copper. Put the vial on the white part of the card next to the color chart and look straight down into the vial. Lighting shouldn't make that much of a difference. It will change the "look" of the color in the vial the same as the color on the color chart.

Try Salifert instead of API. They are much more accurate and easier to read.
 
The only API test kit I have a problem with is the pH test. Its the one test I feel is pretty worthless. I use API for calcium, alkalinity, phosphate, nitrates on a pretty routine basis and have no complaints.
 
API's calcium test I found to be the only reliably accurate one. I would sometimes get 40, 80, or 0 nitrate readings...all in the same day, with the same technique.The alk test was reading low for me, albeit the test kit was I think too old at the time. I now use salifert for everything except alk, for which I use Lamotte. I find Lamotte's test to be quite good and easy to use.
 
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