Learning to Use API Tests -- I'm an Idiot!!!

[iapetus]

So, first of all, I want to apologize to any of you who've read my past claims that my tanks show 0 ppm nitrates. Something always did seem a little bizarre about that reading, but I couldn't see anything I was doing wrong ... until last night!!!

I noticed that the nitrites on my 29G suddenly dropped to zero from 2 ppm (that seems a bit odd, too, but others have described precipitous drops before). Looks to me like it's cycled! I'm going to give it a couple of days before adding fish. So, that's the good news.

Then I decided to have a look at my nitrates. That's when I re-read the nitrate instructions! D'oh!!! You're supposed to shake the second bottle of nitrate solution, not the test tube with the solution already added! And, yeah, you guessed it: nitrates showed up in hearty numbers in the 29G and my 10G (I didn't check the 2.5G QT tank -- too scared ). Good thing I've been doing regular water changes, despite believing that I had no nitrates.

So, clearly there's something in solution in bottle #2 of the API nitrate test. And, given that I've been adding just the solvent and not the solute all this time, I'm guessing that I shouldn't trust the numbers that I got yesterday from the nitrate test (the ratios between the solvent and solute must be all out of whack). So, I'll be going to the LCS tonight to pick up an API nitrate test. I'll cross-calibrate to see what I believe. The other benefit of doing that is that it should come with another pipette. Those things are so flimsy! I've already broken two of the four.

Well, I feel like a complete moron about this. Shake bottle #2. Seems simple. Seems like a simple mistake that a noob might make. That's why I'm putting this in the beginner information/questions section. Sorry about any confusion I may have caused in previous posts.

[TabMorte]

I just got an API kit (i've been using Nutrafin) and I did EXACTLY the same thing so don't feel too bad!

[brooklynfish]

Are you kidding me!? THATS how you have to do it?! Wow, its been 10 months now and I still didn't know that.[gets up and goes to check tests]

[iapetus]

Originally Posted by brooklynfish

Are you kidding me!? THATS how you have to do it?! Wow, its been 10 months now and I still didn't know that.[gets up and goes to check tests]

Yeah. To be explicit:

1. add 10 drops from bottle #1 to pipette
2. shake bottle #2 for 30 seconds
3. add 10 drops from bottle #2 to pipette
4. shake pipette for one minute
5. read the color of the water in the pipette off the supplied chart

People may bag on the dip strips, but at least they're simple to use (my fiancée doesn't understand why I bother with the API tests).

[Lotus]

I sometimes use the nitrate strips, just because they're faster. If I suspect a tank has high nitrates, at least I can get an idea from the strip. AP nitrate kits are hard to read above 40ppm, IMO. If it's red, time for a water change

[Fishandfrogs]

that API kit comes with The instructions booklet that no one wants to read, but after the first time reading you can just turn over the Color reference cards and they have the instructions in picture form. makes it easier

[djbids]

haha....I have been doing water tests for 6 weeks and each time reading the booklet. Only last night did I turn over the cards and see in simple instructions the same thing....I guess we get to focused on one task. And that was before I dropped the glass cover from my tank on my foot and had it break on my floor....and this is supposed to be fun....I know patience! I finally have nitrites after 6weeks. A learning process and still waiting for a complete cycle...

[djbids]

Originally Posted by iapetus

Yeah. To be explicit:

1. add 10 drops from bottle #1 to pipette
2. shake bottle #2 for 30 seconds
3. add 10 drops from bottle #2 to pipette
4. shake pipette for one minute
5. read the color of the water in the pipette off the supplied chart

People may bag on the dip strips, but at least they're simple to use (my fiancée doesn't understand why I bother with the API tests).

oh my gosh....I too went and retested my water the correct way and I could tell I had nitrates right away. Thanks so much for sharing. Your error shared with other newbies like myself will save me so much time and frustration. I have only been testing for nitrates for a week and I too showed 0 because I was shaking the test tube for 30 sec not the bottle. My reading is 10. thanks again.

[sphenta]

No. I was doing the testings right. I just have a filter missing the sponge. Thats why I'm on an endless cycle. LOL

[iapetus]

Originally Posted by Fishandfrogs

that API kit comes with The instructions booklet that no one wants to read, but after the first time reading you can just turn over the Color reference cards and they have the instructions in picture form. makes it easier

Uh, yeah. I found those, too. I just never noticed that the cartoon had someone shaking the bottle (or, now that I think about it, maybe I did and thought that was a mistake -- embarrassing).

Originally Posted by djbids

oh my gosh....I too went and retested my water the correct way and I could tell I had nitrates right away. Thanks so much for sharing. Your error shared with other newbies like myself will save me so much time and frustration. I have only been testing for nitrates for a week and I too showed 0 because I was shaking the test tube for 30 sec not the bottle. My reading is 10. thanks again.

Thanks for saying so. Thanks for everyone who has. I still feel silly that I've been making this mistake for so many weeks, but I'm happy that I've helped someone.