Thank you for making this video! It was a lot more helpful for me than just reading the directions. I feel a lot more confident testing my tank now. We recently had 2 fish die and according to the strips, everything is fine, so this will be a lot more accurate.
Add a little bit of Seachem Prime or any water conditioner to help neutralize the ammonia and nitrite. Adding any beneficial bacteria in a bottle (Seachem Stability, Api Quick Start, etc) will also help but isn't necessary. Doing more water changes will tremendously help bring those values down. Hope this help! Let me know if this confuses you or if you have any more questions.
There is only one type of pH. My guess the reason why API has two different pH testers is probably due to the limitations of the chemical they use to detect pH. One may only go so far, while the other can only go so low if that makes sense. I used two different water sources for both tests. I had an aquarium with high pH and another with lower pH.
I'm guessing you mean that result when you test for ammonia is clear and not yellow. I've personally never had this happen, but I can think of a few reasons as to why: 1. One or both of the ammonia bottles has expired. 2. May have added too few or too many drops. (I doubt it's this.) 3. Using too much water in the test tube (I also doubt this.) Here's a test you can try. Take a small container or use another test tube, fill it up to 8 mL (or anything above 5 mL) with tank water or tap water, and then add some source of ammonia. This could be either a single pellet of aquasoil, fish food, straight up ammonia, etc., and then wait a bit for the ammonia to build up. Afterwards, try the test again and see if you can get any reading of ammonia. If not, I would invest into a new Ammonia Test Kit. Hope this helps!
Hey!, just got the kit and used it, wanted to know how do you clean them after using them, I used tap water and dry them with towel paper but dont know if the paper can affect future tests so want to know you do it, also good video 😅
Your method should be fine, but there are a few other ways of cleaning them. One thing I do is just shake out as much water out of the tube as possible and put them back without the cap on. It should dry out. However, if you're worried about contamination, you can rinse then with some distilled water. However, distilled water may cost you money. Another method is to turn the tube upside down or at an angle and apply pressurized air into the tube. This will push any remaining water out.
@@TropiscapeAquatics last one question if you dont mind, what happens if you use 1 more drop than the bottle says by accident, happened to me in the nitrite one, but showed 0 nitrite, what I believe is true because I had 0 ammonia in the test and 5ppm nitrate
@@rodrigoporras4190 Going over that line would essentially "dilute" the solution and slightly throw off the results. However, one drop shouldn't be too much of an issue, but if you're generally worried, then I would do a re-test. I would only re-test ammonia and nitrite, as a safe value for nitrate can be from up to 10 ppm or so, unless you need to know nitrates
Good upload. Does anyone know the exact way to measure the liquid's colour to the white background of the card? For example. If you hold the tube against the card as stated in the manual, it will give a darker colour than holding it off slightly as the light is allowed all the way around the glass? So you end up with 2 possibilities!
That's true, but considering that the liquid is not opaque, I think the best scenario would be to simply follow the manual and hold it against the card. I would think this is how they would perform Quality Control on their test kit products as well, given their manual instructions.
@@TropiscapeAquatics Using think, in a reply automatically cancels out any fact if the guess is wrong. But yes they do say hold it against, but could that also be a vague description and also mean slightly off? I suppose an explanation from an official response by an expert on their books is the only way to be sure. I couldn't really see a way to contact them and put this to them. Maybe someone else will have better luck. Thanks
Didn't notice that I said 3 drops. That is my mistake. However, I know that the pH for that specific tank is around 8.2 pH. The reason is that the tank has aragonite in it, which can raise pH that high, and I've done multiple tests for it (during the time it was running).
I usually use the strips--and I like them-but I did get a bad batch one time. I kept getting bad readings and did several water changes and added chemicals, but it didn't change my readings...then I took a water sample to a pet shop to get tested and it was great. Turns out my strips were bad, so I threw the rest of them out. Now I do a complete test if somethings seems off, despite getting good readings on my test strips, and that has helped. I've had a 50 gallon tank of fish for almost 20 years and I still learn new things. It is a nice hobby and very relaxing after a stressful day.
*CORRECTION: Add 5 drop for high pH and not 3! That was a mistake on my part.
This is better than most tutorials out there. Short and to the point. Thanks, this really helped!
Thank you! I really appreciate it! 🥰
This is my first formal tutorial! Let me know if there are any improvements to make!~
Thank you for making this video! It was a lot more helpful for me than just reading the directions. I feel a lot more confident testing my tank now. We recently had 2 fish die and according to the strips, everything is fine, so this will be a lot more accurate.
Is there a reason you used 3 drops when testing the high pH instead of 5 like instructed on the bottle?
No. That was a mistake on my part that I didn't catch up until now
I was wondering the same thing. Thanks
Is this for aquariums only? Can I use it to test drinkable water streams in the mountains?
Should be perfectly fine to do so! However, I would contact API for confirmation, especially if you plan on drinking the water you're testing
@@TropiscapeAquatics Thanks, I'll do that, the water is drinkable I just need to do a test to see how good it is. Thank you once again
So if I have any emmonia or nitres etc I just have to make a water change? Or what else?
Add a little bit of Seachem Prime or any water conditioner to help neutralize the ammonia and nitrite.
Adding any beneficial bacteria in a bottle (Seachem Stability, Api Quick Start, etc) will also help but isn't necessary.
Doing more water changes will tremendously help bring those values down.
Hope this help! Let me know if this confuses you or if you have any more questions.
So how do u have a pH on the low side and high side spectrums? Was this test with 2 different water sources? Is there 2 types of pH?
There is only one type of pH. My guess the reason why API has two different pH testers is probably due to the limitations of the chemical they use to detect pH. One may only go so far, while the other can only go so low if that makes sense.
I used two different water sources for both tests. I had an aquarium with high pH and another with lower pH.
What does it mean when the ammonia come out clear for both
I'm guessing you mean that result when you test for ammonia is clear and not yellow. I've personally never had this happen, but I can think of a few reasons as to why:
1. One or both of the ammonia bottles has expired.
2. May have added too few or too many drops. (I doubt it's this.)
3. Using too much water in the test tube (I also doubt this.)
Here's a test you can try. Take a small container or use another test tube, fill it up to 8 mL (or anything above 5 mL) with tank water or tap water, and then add some source of ammonia. This could be either a single pellet of aquasoil, fish food, straight up ammonia, etc., and then wait a bit for the ammonia to build up. Afterwards, try the test again and see if you can get any reading of ammonia. If not, I would invest into a new Ammonia Test Kit. Hope this helps!
Hey!, just got the kit and used it, wanted to know how do you clean them after using them, I used tap water and dry them with towel paper but dont know if the paper can affect future tests so want to know you do it, also good video 😅
Your method should be fine, but there are a few other ways of cleaning them.
One thing I do is just shake out as much water out of the tube as possible and put them back without the cap on. It should dry out. However, if you're worried about contamination, you can rinse then with some distilled water. However, distilled water may cost you money.
Another method is to turn the tube upside down or at an angle and apply pressurized air into the tube. This will push any remaining water out.
@@TropiscapeAquatics last one question if you dont mind, what happens if you use 1 more drop than the bottle says by accident, happened to me in the nitrite one, but showed 0 nitrite, what I believe is true because I had 0 ammonia in the test and 5ppm nitrate
@@rodrigoporras4190 Going over that line would essentially "dilute" the solution and slightly throw off the results. However, one drop shouldn't be too much of an issue, but if you're generally worried, then I would do a re-test. I would only re-test ammonia and nitrite, as a safe value for nitrate can be from up to 10 ppm or so, unless you need to know nitrates
Good upload. Does anyone know the exact way to measure the liquid's colour to the white background of the card?
For example. If you hold the tube against the card as stated in the manual, it will give a darker colour than holding it off slightly as the light is allowed all the way around the glass?
So you end up with 2 possibilities!
That's true, but considering that the liquid is not opaque, I think the best scenario would be to simply follow the manual and hold it against the card. I would think this is how they would perform Quality Control on their test kit products as well, given their manual instructions.
@@TropiscapeAquatics Using think, in a reply automatically cancels out any fact if the guess is wrong. But yes they do say hold it against, but could that also be a vague description and also mean slightly off? I suppose an explanation from an official response by an expert on their books is the only way to be sure. I couldn't really see a way to contact them and put this to them. Maybe someone else will have better luck.
Thanks
@@quackchung You could try contacting them through their website: apifishcare.com/contact
How is it possible ur low range ph is about 6.6 and high range is 8.2 ??
The tests were from two different aquariums 😉
it’s because you only put 3 drops of high range pH test solution instead of the required 5.
Didn't notice that I said 3 drops. That is my mistake. However, I know that the pH for that specific tank is around 8.2 pH. The reason is that the tank has aragonite in it, which can raise pH that high, and I've done multiple tests for it (during the time it was running).
I will stick with the strips, so much easier
👍
I heard that the strips are inaccurate but do what u want :/
I usually use the strips--and I like them-but I did get a bad batch one time. I kept getting bad readings and did several water changes and added chemicals, but it didn't change my readings...then I took a water sample to a pet shop to get tested and it was great. Turns out my strips were bad, so I threw the rest of them out. Now I do a complete test if somethings seems off, despite getting good readings on my test strips, and that has helped. I've had a 50 gallon tank of fish for almost 20 years and I still learn new things. It is a nice hobby and very relaxing after a stressful day.
My kit only has normal ph no high ph
There's nothing I can do about that... you'll have to bring it up with API or the place you bought it from
"For ph theres no need to shake it, just put 3 drops... and give it a shake."🤣
Lmao. I should've specified I meant the bottle and not the test tube 🤣
Don’t explain who to use it
Not sure what you mean by this...
Please uploda in telugu
I'll take a look at it
The ability to color match is just as much of a joke as it is when using strips.
Yeah, I wish API changes it somehow if they make an upgraded one.