Master Test Kit?????

[NewFishGuy]

I use a Freshwater Master Test Kit from Aquarium Pharmaceuticals. I have a problem with this kit. I can't stand how the cards to read the results have such a huge range in them....

For example:
Nitrate card has several comparison colors that jump by large [acronym:9c02b2be42="Parts per Million"]ppm[/acronym:9c02b2be42] increments. they go from 0 [acronym:9c02b2be42="Parts per Million"]ppm[/acronym:9c02b2be42] - 5 [acronym:9c02b2be42="Parts per Million"]ppm[/acronym:9c02b2be42] - 10 [acronym:9c02b2be42="Parts per Million"]ppm[/acronym:9c02b2be42] - 20 [acronym:9c02b2be42="Parts per Million"]ppm[/acronym:9c02b2be42] - 40 [acronym:9c02b2be42="Parts per Million"]ppm[/acronym:9c02b2be42] - 80 [acronym:9c02b2be42="Parts per Million"]ppm[/acronym:9c02b2be42] - 160 [acronym:9c02b2be42="Parts per Million"]ppm[/acronym:9c02b2be42].

I just think there should be some comparisons in the 20-40 [acronym:9c02b2be42="Parts per Million"]ppm[/acronym:9c02b2be42] range since that is where you "should" have your nitrates at.

Anyone else have this as a pet peeve and does anyone use another brand that seems to have better range of comparison marks?

The only NiTRATE test i could find at my [acronym:ca4c65e1a4="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:ca4c65e1a4] was in the master kit. They have separate test kits for ammonia, [acronym:ca4c65e1a4="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]ph[/acronym:ca4c65e1a4], Hardness, etc, but i couldn't find a separate kit for nitrates.
However, i think the important thing is that you get a general idea of where your nitrates are... if you see they are the color close tothe 20-40 or above, then you know its time to do a [acronym:ca4c65e1a4="Partial water change"]PWC[/acronym:ca4c65e1a4], if you notice the color is around the 5-10 you know you are ok. These test kits are never EXACT anyway, they are just so you can get a general feel of your water parameters and look for changes.

[Jchillin]

Well said. Since you don't really need to worry about it until it's over 40, the extended portion of the range is really a danger sign. Not to lessen your observation but it wouldn't serve any purpose for readings between these levels. If you did get say a 90ppm, you would have to do the same thing for a 110ppm and so forth.

Another explanation is that since this is a re-agent test...it's possible that the chemical reaction wouldn't produce any other colors within that spectrum.

[acronym:14d10c7e5f="Hope this helps (or) Happy to help"]HTH[/acronym:14d10c7e5f].

[TomK2]

It would be hard to come up with an indicator that could serve all the needs of the aquarist. We need to know when the nirtrates first appear, so we can monitor a cycle, hence the 5ppm lower limit. Then we want to know when they get too high, so we can alter our tank maintenance, hence the over forty readings. some might not be bothered by forty, so now we are up to the 60-80 range. I doubt there would be much market for a low range and a high range nitrate test sold seperately. Like already said, I just want to know that I am 10 and under(I can water change effortlessly so I keep it low), so the kit works for me.