2nd week of cycle
- Thread starter beredovon
- Start date
Jesterrace
Active Member
Looks about right, but I personally wouldn't touch API for a test kit. Red Sea will be the better kit for saltwater (much more accurate for Nitrates).
mr. limpid
Active Member
Sorry to disagree API are fine, I used them for years. I got a nitrate Salifert kit, other than costing more money it had same reading as API. I would say if you are spending hundreds on corals the use the pricey test kits or get probes.
Jesterrace
Active Member
Sure, if you like Nitrate Tests that are very inaccurate (very little color difference between 10-20 and 40-80), cheap plastic covers that don't seal properly and leak when you shake the vials, skinny vials that are a pain to clean and no syringe for measuring out test water to boot.
geridoc
Well-Known Member
I think what throws most people off about API nitrate test kits is that they test for nitrate nitrogen, not for actual nitrate, so their numbers are somewhat different from the numbers generated by other kits. There is a correction which, if applied, usually brings API values to the values produced by other kits. I also don't worry much about accuracy. You aren't doing rocket science here - with any test kit I only recognize two values: too much or OK. It doesn't matter to me if the value is just a little high, or very high, if it is high it is too much and I need to fix the tank.
beaslbob
Well-Known Member
Some kits measure nitrate nitrogen (nitrogen part only) and others total nitrates (the total nitrate molecule). the conversion is ~ 4.43 between the two. So 10ppm in one it 44ppm in the other.
The api kit is fine for detecting when nitrates finally drop to unmeasureable (below 5ppm) but hard to read as 60-160ppm or so is just an different shade of red.
that said, balancing out the tank with macro and other algaes to consume the nitrates allows the api and most other test kits to be just fine.
The api kit is fine for detecting when nitrates finally drop to unmeasureable (below 5ppm) but hard to read as 60-160ppm or so is just an different shade of red.
that said, balancing out the tank with macro and other algaes to consume the nitrates allows the api and most other test kits to be just fine.