Michae52 Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 How accurate are API test kits? Are they acceptible. I know that RCA used them for their test. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Jakedoza Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 I think most kits are as accurate as the person using them.. IMO It is always good to get test results from more than one test kit. I test my water and then take it to RCA to test.. -Jake Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sifuentes31 Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 I bought the calcium test from API and i really don't like it. Never know when the water turns blue enough to give you an accurate reading. For my ammonia testing the API does really good IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Here's a link http://dfwmas.org/fi...KitAnalysis.pdf to some comparison tests DFWMAS did that Robb in Austin posted last year. In the conclusion DFWMAS said "The primary finding we came to agreement on was that of all the Test Kits used, the majority of them were accurate enough for hobby use" and addressing API specifically "What really surprised us was how well API Kits did, these are some of the most economical Kits around and they did reasonably well against the more expensive ones." They also commented on the difficulty sometimes of determining the color change for some of the colormetric tests. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaggedfire Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 I use the API's pretty much all the time with the occasional Hagen and now Red Sea Foundation to substantiate the results. There have been some discrepancies and that is when I will test against known values. When I first received my API SW kit, I wasnt sure how the colors matched to the pH 'key'. So I took out some reef buffer, did a few calculations and made a graduated batch (Fresh-9pH in .2 increments) to what the values should be and tested against the kit. Not only did this familiarize me with the testing procedures (Hagens and Red Sea are most all multi step), it gave me confidence in reading the 'in betweens'. It did take quite a bit of extra time, but was well worth it to see the outliers in a test case so I dont misread something when it might be important. I have found that the last 20 or so tests in the nitrate kit were suspiciously higher in reading that normal. At that point I had a replacement and tossed the remaining nitrate test. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bannerfish Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 i use mostly api,except iodine and mg. i think phosphate is worthless, but the rest seem ok to me,pretty accurate as far as i can tell when someone else has tested my water. when using the nitrate kit i have gotten false lows when not shaking them enough, like the instructions say to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerrickH Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 The API calc test kit is rubbish. Whatever you do, dont let it get above 85F, it will no longer work right. I had mine in the garage for a couple days. Dosing kalkwasser heavy, it said my calc was in the 200'2....Not a chance thats accurate.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 PO4 test is garbage as well. NO3 will give a different reading with every test even out of the same batch. Generally I think they're all ok for a broad reading, and far better than nothing, but I wouldn't base any scientific conclusion from them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishypets Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 I almost crashed my tank using the API KH test kit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 Tim and Jake bring up great points. I've used, and still do, various API kits without issue. I would almost suggest not even testing PO4 unless you have a high sensitvity test. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 . . . Whatever you do, dont let it get above 85F, it will no longer work right. I had mine in the garage for a couple days . . . Derrick makes a very good point. Whatever kit you use the reagents can be damaged by temperature and are going to age so also check experiation dates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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