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Thread: Mad Scientist Nitrate Test

  1. #16
    Registered Member Greg-Florida's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mad Scientist Nitrate Test

    Quote Originally Posted by Iminit View Post
    Greg those pics are from 17 and not one of my best kept tanks. With all the nitrate threads going on on another site I put that pic up to let people give me their guess at how high the nitrate was. Later put up a pic of the tank. It was a planted community tank that was doing great and all the fish looked great. Next I put up the pic over the chart and asked who’s wrong . I post that pic regularly. All of the api tests are easily read but the nitrate! Go figure?
    Great, then I'm not alone in my nitrate-reading frustrations.

    I with Don here with testing, due to "personal proclivities" I need to know. I recently took my tank, tap, and softener water samples to a pool store to check TDS, but my fresh tank was partially under a salt treatment so TDS was sky high and not useful.
    `·.¸¸.·´><(((( º>`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸¸><(((( º> ¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸¸><(((( º> ....... ><((( º> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <º (((((( >< ~~~~~~~~~~~

  2. #17
    Registered Member dagray's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mad Scientist Nitrate Test

    Quote Originally Posted by Greg-Florida View Post
    Great, then I'm not alone in my nitrate-reading frustrations.

    I with Don here with testing, due to "personal proclivities" I need to know. I recently took my tank, tap, and softener water samples to a pool store to check TDS, but my fresh tank was partially under a salt treatment so TDS was sky high and not useful.
    TDS, and PH meters are super inexpensive. Ammonia meters aren't expensive either, but a good freshwater Nitrate Photometer will run a few hundred dollars.
    God is the artist, he merely allows me to see and capture his work . http://davesphotography7055.zenfolio.com/ coupon code: angelfish
    some of my work accepted by Pentax (the camera bodies I use): http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/davidgray

  3. #18
    Silver Member Iminit's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mad Scientist Nitrate Test

    Yes tds,ph and ammonia digital testers are pretty cheap on ebay. As to nitrate it really doesn’t matter.

  4. #19
    Registered Member dagray's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mad Scientist Nitrate Test

    Quote Originally Posted by Iminit View Post
    Yes tds,ph and ammonia digital testers are pretty cheap on ebay. As to nitrate it really doesn’t matter.
    Nitrate is a huge issue here as for those on well water here the nitrate levels are unsafe, and my municipal water is at 7.43ppm from my kitchen sink

    So I test for ammonia and nitrate before using my filtered tap water which tests at 4.3ppm

    The unfiltered tap water was tested by a certified lab as there is a double standard as to what is acceptable levels of nitrate in Oregon with wells having an action level of 7ppm and municipal water having an action level of 10ppm.

  5. #20
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    Default Re: Mad Scientist Nitrate Test

    Also those values are NO3 nitrogen, not the test strip nitrate, correct? If so, to get the values we usually refer to, miltiply NO3 nitrogen values by 4.4

  6. #21
    Registered Member Greg-Florida's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mad Scientist Nitrate Test

    Quote Originally Posted by Iminit View Post
    Yes tds,ph and ammonia digital testers are pretty cheap on ebay. As to nitrate it really doesn’t matter.
    For $10 to $12 on ebay with free shipping, do you really trust the accuracy of those meters?
    Digital PH Meter + TDS Meter $12.89.
    I'd be concerned they would lose their accuracy over time, maybe sooner than later.
    `·.¸¸.·´><(((( º>`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸¸><(((( º> ¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸¸><(((( º> ....... ><((( º> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <º (((((( >< ~~~~~~~~~~~

  7. #22
    Silver Member Iminit's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mad Scientist Nitrate Test

    I’ve bought them used them left them sitting around till the batteries melted than threw them away . I’m not big on testing.

  8. #23
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    Default Re: Mad Scientist Nitrate Test

    Quote Originally Posted by Iminit View Post
    The thing with api tests is you have to put the vial over the color chart. If you can see the color through the vial that ain’t it. It’s the last color you can’t see through the vial. Yes this works. Any other way your just guessing.Attachment 131939Attachment 131940. With the nitrate the last color not seen is 20 ppm. That’s what it is .
    I always gravitated towards those type of tests.

  9. #24
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    Default Re: Mad Scientist Nitrate Test

    Low nitrates are critical for reef keeping. Especially when growing hard corals.
    The only test kits reefers use is from Salifert.
    Many posts on the unreliable and inaccuracy of API test kits

  10. #25
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    Default Re: Mad Scientist Nitrate Test

    I was told Hanna products were also popular, not so?

  11. #26
    Silver Member Iminit's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mad Scientist Nitrate Test

    Expensive not so sure popular. People do have them but not many. Even here.

  12. #27
    Registered Member dagray's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mad Scientist Nitrate Test

    I figured a conversion to multiply the marine nitrate checker by 0.443 which gets close to the actual reading of nitrate from a certified lab, but is still a wild guess. The freshwater photometer for nitrate is dead on for what the certified lab tested. Yes it is more expensive, but I was needing to prove to the city that their water at the end user was all jacked up no matter what their tests at their source water was. Also often the Marine meter would read over 75ppm which is where it quits reading which meant I was unable to convert the marine reading to a freshwater reading.

    Fact: I grow black bear algae in my toilet. This means the spores are in the fresh water lines. The city needs to shock their lines to kill it as they only have 0.17ppm chlorine in the tap water from my kitchen sink which is not enough to kill the algae spores.

    Your method may work, but I needed precision.
    God is the artist, he merely allows me to see and capture his work . http://davesphotography7055.zenfolio.com/ coupon code: angelfish
    some of my work accepted by Pentax (the camera bodies I use): http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/davidgray

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