Description

Test strips are convenient and unreliable, particularly for nitrite and nitrate where the colour bands are ambiguous. Liquid reagent tests take two minutes longer and actually tell you what is in the water.

These four parameters are the ones that matter. pH tells you whether the water suits your fish; ammonia and nitrite must both be zero in an established tank; nitrate tells you whether you are changing enough water.

In the kit

• pH (6.0 – 7.6) and high-range pH (7.4 – 8.8) reagents
• Ammonia (NH3/NH4+) two-part reagent
• Nitrite (NO2-) reagent
• Nitrate (NO3-) two-part reagent
• Four glass test tubes with caps, holder, and laminated colour cards
• Approximately 800 tests in total

Target values – freshwater community tank

• Ammonia: 0 ppm. Anything above zero is an emergency.
• Nitrite: 0 ppm. Same.
• Nitrate: below 40 ppm; below 20 ppm for planted and shrimp tanks.
• pH: stable is more important than any particular number.

Shake reagent bottle 2 vigorously for 30 seconds before use on the nitrate test – this is the most common cause of false low readings.