How To Read Api Test Strips
Now, I'm sure you lot will agree with me when I say:
Practiced h2o quality and healthy fish go hand-in-manus.
Simply ane problem – bad quality h2o and good quality water look identical.
If your water is bad, your fish are suffering. That's why you need a way to examination information technology. No more guessing!
Ane of the more popular, and my least favorite, methods of testing water quality is by using aquarium strips.
And today, I am going to teach y'all all about them.
What is an aquarium test strip?
If you think back to your science form in high school, yous might call back using litmus paper. By dipping the paper into a solution, the paper inverse color according to whether it was a base or an acrid.
Well, this is an aquarium test strip. And, information technology works very similar to the litmus paper yous used in high school.
Located along the exam strips are small, colour-changing pads. Each ane of these pads is designed to find a certain h2o parameter, such as pH or nitrates – allowing you lot to easily determine your water quality at a glance.
Using a test strip is piece of cake. Simply dip the strip into your aquarium, pull information technology out and compare the colors of the pads to the color chart. Yes, it's that simple. If you can't picture this in your caput, don't worry. I'thousand going to evidence y'all how to use a test strip, step-by-step, afterward in this guide.
The number of pads on the examination strip decide the amount of water parameters y'all can test for. A test strip capable of testing for five water parameters is chosen a v-in-1 examination strip. A test strip that tin can test 6 water parameters is a 6-in-1 test strip…. and and so on. Y'all get the thought!
But test strips are good for only a single test. Yous cannot reuse them. Fortunately, they come in packs of 25 or 100, which should concluding for some time.
In the guide today, I am going to showcase the API 5-in-1 Examination Strips that test for, you guessed it! 5 dissimilar parameters…
For the most office, these test strips check the water parameters any beginner could enquire for…
- Nitrite (NO2)
- Nitrate (NO3)
- pH
- GH (General Hardness)
- KH (Carbonate Hardness)
There's merely one missing…
Ammonia
If y'all have always cycled a tank before, you are fully aware of merely how important it is to test for ammonia.
However, at the fourth dimension of writing this, there is no multi-test strip that tests for ammonia. If yous want to test for ammonia (and most of you lot will!), you need to purchase ammonia test strips, like these, separately.
How practise you lot use an aquarium test strip?
Using a examination strip is by far the easiest way to test the parameters of your aquarium. In fact, the entire process takes less than a minute.
In this instance, I use a test tube filled with h2o from my fish tank and an API v-in-i test strip. However, you can dip the exam strip directly into your aquarium.
Step i: Dip your strip
Grab a test strip, be careful to agree the strip by the end and practise not to bear upon any of the pads. Give it a douse in your aquarium water, swirling information technology around a few times.
Step two: Remove the strip
Remove the strip from the water. The pads on the test strip will modify color.
Step 3: Check your results
Now, all that'southward left to do is to match each pad with the color chart included with your test strips. And but like that, you have successfully checked your aquarium for most of the important water quality parameters. Unproblematic, huh?
Do aquarium test strips expire?
Test strips are merely good for so long. Over time, the reagents in the color-changing pads begin to pause down – when this happens, you cannot guarantee that the test results will be authentic.
Just how long the test strips are expert for is printed on the packaging…
I bought these in January 2018, and they are skillful until the cease of 2019. So, basically a two-twelvemonth shelf life, more than enough fourth dimension to use the 25 test strips.
If the expiration date has passed, don't employ them. A test that cannot guarantee authentic results is useless.
Speaking of which…
How accurate are aquarium test strips?
While examination strips can let you know if your h2o quality is out of whack, I would hardly call them accurate.
The reason test strips are less accurate is the scale they use. Let's look at the nitrate scale on the API 5-in-1 test strips.
Notice how the readings jump from zilch to twenty PPM? That's a big jump! And, the other scales are similar.
If you desire anything more precise than a ballpark figure, test strips are not suitable for you.
Here is how exam strips compare to other water-quality testers.
- Exam strips – Least accurate
- Liquid test kits – Accurate and affordable
- Scientific meters and probes – Precise merely expensive
Tin can you lot use test strips to test your h2o parameters? Absolutely. Should you use them? In my stance – no.
This is based on my ain experience and anecdotal evidence presented past many other experienced fish keepers. Oh, and Amazon reviews seem to agree too!
Which brings me to my next point…
Why don't I recommend aquarium test strips?
I have been keeping fish for over 30 years now. I used test strips when I started, and I can tell you with a straight face – test strips suck!
Exam strips sucked and so, and they suck now.
Here are 3 more reasons why I don't like exam strips…
1. Yous can't just test for a single parameter
You know those v-in-1 test strips? The power to exam 5 different water parameters at in one case isn't the blessing that you think.
Want to test just a single parameter? You lot are going to have to waste an entire test strip.
And despite being made of paper, test strips are similar gold…
2. They cost more
To me, this is the biggest reason why I don't recommend aquarium test strips – financially, they merely don't make sense.
A package of 100 examination strips is going set you back effectually $30. And, this doesn't include the ammonia level test strips, which will likely add together an extra $10 to the full cost… You can pick up an aquarium examination kit like this for half the price!
An aquarium water test kit is more than accurate, allows y'all to test for individual parameters and tin can be used hundreds of times earlier information technology runs out… You tin use the coin you saved by skipping the tank test strips and buy more fish!
3. Easy to get inaccurate results
As if you needed another reason non to buy test strips… The post-obit can cause your results to be inaccurate.
- Exposure to moisture
- Touching the pads with your wet fingers
- Improper storage
While these can all be overcome, many beginners are unaware that the above tin can mess with their test results.
Conclusion
If I didn't make information technology abundantly clear – I don't similar examination strips! They should only be used in an emergency, such as if you are waiting to supervene upon your regular tester.
I feel sorry for the beginners who are suckered into buying aquarium examination strips by pushy salesmen, knowing that they will soon return to replace them. Buy a primary test kit and save yourself a earth of hassle.
Do y'all use test strips in your aquarium? Let me know in the comments below!
Source: https://fishlab.com/aquarium-test-strips/
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