API test kits are not accurate when using PRIME

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Guess you all have been living in an underwater cavern since this information has been available/known for a very, very long time.

Wow, I have to say, I suspect 99% of the people on this forum live in an underwater cavern then, me among them!
 
"I, however, appreciate it. I personally live on top of a rock."
But with global warming you won't be above water for long. hahaha
This is meant to be funny......With text, one has to explain it good,.....
 
My issue with your statement was, and continues to be, the assertion with respect to nitrate. If someone could address this specifically I'd appreciate it.

As I said, I did a controlled test during my PWC and saw no difference at all
 
My issue with your statement was, and continues to be, the assertion with respect to nitrate. If someone could address this specifically I'd appreciate it.

As I said, I did a controlled test during my PWC and saw no difference at all
I haven't had a ton of time to go back and find the specific thread because there is a lot of them to go through so I just sent seachem an email regarding the Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate and their response was yes. I posted the email correspondence in which the response was yes that Prime will affect said tests when using the API test kits. If their response isn't good enough for you then I don't know what is. I haven't forgotten and I will find the thread when I have the time to devote to it.
 
...so I just sent seachem an email regarding the Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate and their response was yes. I posted the email correspondence in which the response was yes that Prime will affect said tests when using the API test kits. ...

I'm not trying to pile on or anything, but this was Seachem's response to your email...

When using Prime, it is very possible to get false positive readings. I hope this information is helpful and please let us know if you need any further assistance.

I wouldn't consider this a clear answer to your question. "... it is very possible..." is just marketing babble for not answering the question. While it may be "very possible" the tests give false positives... it's also "very possible" that I'll win the lottery this week. While I like many of Seachem's products, I've always found their "official" correspondence (and postings on other forums) to be dripping in marketing-ese language. Their white papers on why aluminum-based phosphate removers don't harm reef tanks is one that immediately comes to mind.

I don't think anyone is arguing the fact that Prime, or any other ammonia/nitrite remover, can lead to false readings for ammonia and nitrites... with just about any test kit. But the nitrate aspect of it is what's a little confusing for me.
 
I'm not trying to pile on or anything, but this was Seachem's response to your email...



I wouldn't consider this a clear answer to your question. "... it is very possible..." is just marketing babble for not answering the question. While it may be "very possible" the tests give false positives... it's also "very possible" that I'll win the lottery this week. While I like many of Seachem's products, I've always found their "official" correspondence (and postings on other forums) to be dripping in marketing-ese language. Their white papers on why aluminum-based phosphate removers don't harm reef tanks is one that immediately comes to mind.

I don't think anyone is arguing the fact that Prime, or any other ammonia/nitrite remover, can lead to false readings for ammonia and nitrites... with just about any test kit. But the nitrate aspect of it is what's a little confusing for me.
Kurt
I'm not sure what you're getting at, Do you think I'm making this stuff up? That was their answer (I copied the entire email over with email addresses which Scott removed because of the Bots), what would you like for me to do. When I started using prime I noticed my readings not to be the norm for my tank and monitored it for about a week and a half and the results still remained the same (Good) but yet my tank had all kinds of crazy brown algae growth all over everything that would return by the very next morning after a good cleaning. So I started looking into it further because nothing made sense and during my search I came accross a couple of planted aquarium web sites with a few threads stating they would read 0 nitrates and 0 phosphates after dosing the tank with both nitrate and phosphate chemicals. They were perplexed and wrote seachem and their response was similar to my response with the exception of they stated Prime detoxifies the Nitrates (How they are still not sure because it was originally designed to detox ammonia and nitrite with the nitrate detox being an unexpected action) so it's safe for the animals but would still be available for the plant life (wouldn't this go for algae as well, after all it is a plant life?). After reading this I pushed on and actually found a site that had the sam discussion but actully provided a link to seachem's website on the very topic of nitrates and how it affects readings on the api test kits, I still can't find that link again, but eventually I will.
To make one thing perfectly clear, I'm not by any means bashing Prime I was just investigating an out of control algae problem I was experiencing and couldn't get a handle on it until I came accross the threads on it. I'm pointing out my findings because i thought it would help out others that are experiencing the same problem and can't figure out why. I followed the advice given by seachem which was to use their nitrate test kit (which I went out and bought). After testing with both several times the API returned 0 or very close to 0 Nitrates and the seachem came back with 120ppm each time. I did locate what I think the problem was, the hermits had killed 5 good sized turbo snails behind my rock work which must have been rotting for a while (My fish were in Hypo at this time). I have since removed the dead turbos and the tank now is doing 100% better, nitrates are down to about 5ppm using the seachem test kit (Haven't used the API in two weeks) after 4 consecutive 30% water changes. Since I thought everything was 0 i was stumped, I know my phosphates were 0 and silicates were 0 (As far as the color was concerned) accurate because they are both seachem test kits. If the bottle of prime would of indicated this type of interference with other manufacturers test kits I would of found the problem much earlier and saved me a ton of stress.
Prime is a good product but has what I call a negative side affect which I experienced and found others including the manufacturer stating that what I found does happen. My intent was to share my experince and findings thinking it may help someone out with the same problem I was going thru, instead I get the 3rd degree . Lesson learned, from now on I know what not to do.
 
Could it be that this is a SW only issue? I have only had 1 reading of 0ppm in my FW tank, and that was about 1 week after I completed removing my UGF and added Purigen to my canister. Since then it has slowly crept back up to 20ppm +/- and spiked to 40ppm for about a month until I was able to get it back down after a housesitter overfed my tank by about 10x over a 4 day period. I always test before doing a PWC also, but on the occasion where I test after I still get a proportionally accurate Nitrate reading (diluted). Hope you find the thread, I want to read it since I am probably going SW with my next tank.
 
I have read several forums, compliments of google, and have seen several of threads similar to this one. The main thing ive seen from the manufacturers, including api, are that nitrate tests are compulsively wrong... The reason being that the solution in bottle number two can solidify causing a false reading... I wonder if there is any correlation between the two?
 
I shake mine for a full minute, even though it says 20 seconds or whatever. I think if you let it sit long enough, that might happen, but if you test regularly it shouldn't. Also I'm down to probably less than 10 tests left in one set, so I bought a second set (API) and did a side-by-side test, and the differences were negligible. I shake it like mad and rotate the bottle during.

Out of curiosity though, I think I will be purchasing the Seachem test kit.

This may be moot however, as I have an RO/DI that came with my SW setup that I may start using for all PWCs FW or SW. Mainly on FW to eliminate silicates.
 
Kurt
I'm not sure what you're getting at, Do you think I'm making this stuff up? That was their answer (I copied the entire email over with email addresses which Scott removed because of the Bots), what would you like for me to do. ...

...My intent was to share my experince and findings thinking it may help someone out with the same problem I was going thru, instead I get the 3rd degree . Lesson learned, from now on I know what not to do.

Keith,

I wasn't giving you the 3rd degree, and I don't think you're making this stuff up.

The only reason I posted was because you said...

I posted the email correspondence in which the response was yes that Prime will affect said tests when using the API test kits.

... but if you go back and read Seachem's response, that's not really what they said. They did not say "yes" at all... they said "it is very possible to get false readings". It may seem like I'm splitting hairs, but in no way are they giving you a definitive answer with that statement. Saying "it is very possible to get false readings" is no different than saying "it is very possible to get correct readings". Take your pick.

And my other point is that this seems to be normal operating procedure with Seachem when confronted with pretty straight forward questions... they don't really give you an answer.

I'm not giving you the third degree at all... I'm just trying to point out that Seachem isn't really giving you the answers you're looking for in that email.
 
I have read several forums, compliments of google, and have seen several of threads similar to this one. The main thing ive seen from the manufacturers, including api, are that nitrate tests are compulsively wrong... The reason being that the solution in bottle number two can solidify causing a false reading... I wonder if there is any correlation between the two?
If I didn't have two API test Nitrate test kits I would thought the kit was bad but both gave me the same readings. When I bought both the API SW master and Reef master test kits each one comes with a nitrate test kit, when using the nitrate test kits bottle 2 gets shaken violently for a minute as well and when the boss is around she shakes it for a couple of minutes then she does the test. This is what made me look further.
 
I shake mine for a full minute, even though it says 20 seconds or whatever. I think if you let it sit long enough, that might happen, but if you test regularly it shouldn't. Also I'm down to probably less than 10 tests left in one set, so I bought a second set (API) and did a side-by-side test, and the differences were negligible. I shake it like mad and rotate the bottle during.

Out of curiosity though, I think I will be purchasing the Seachem test kit.

This may be moot however, as I have an RO/DI that came with my SW setup that I may start using for all PWCs FW or SW. Mainly on FW to eliminate silicates.
Bottle 2 shaken violently=yes with 2 API kits (And do test regularly). Seachem says to use their test kits when using prime because they are not affected by the use of prime. I Believe you have to use RO Right if you're going to use RO/DI water for fresh water.
 
Keith,

.. but if you go back and read Seachem's response, that's not really what they said. They did not say "yes" at all... they said "it is very possible to get false readings". It may seem like I'm splitting hairs, but in no way are they giving you a definitive answer with that statement. Saying "it is very possible to get false readings" is no different than saying "it is very possible to get correct readings". Take your pick.

You're absolutely right, they said it is very possible which I took as a yes because it was what I was experiencing. Their answer does leave little to be desired and could be interpreted either way.

And my other point is that this seems to be normal operating procedure with Seachem when confronted with pretty straight forward questions... they don't really give you an answer.

I'm not giving you the third degree at all... I'm just trying to point out that Seachem isn't really giving you the answers you're looking for in that email.

This was my first experience dealing with seachem tech support, and yes their answer is inconclusive. Even in their words the bottle should have warnings on it indicating the possibility of getting erroneous test results with other manufacturers test kits when using this product.

You know I originally bought prime to be used as a chlorine/chloramine remover with my RO/DI water for PWC's in my QT (then started using it in my DT) and thought the additional features of the product couldn't hurt, after all I heard nothing but good things about it. I will keep a bottle on hand for emergencies but have gone back to Marine Stress Coat for treating my water. In any case their answer even as vague as it was, was enough for me to continue my search for the problem in my tank after testing with their Nitrate test Kit.
 
Keith, a RO/DI unit removes chlorine/chloramine. I don't believe you need to use prime or Marine stress coat to remove them.
 
I know, It's a habit because I do it for the FW tank and before the RO/DI unit also with the SW. I figure it can't hurt anything if i still do it to the RO/DI water.
 
Just thought I'd save you a few pennies so you can buy more corals. :)
 
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