having a hard time determining

[rich6459]

Do you think I have nitrates? I can't tell.

 

[Jason7894561230]

No i dont think there are any nitrites but a photo of the bottle and the colour chart would help

 

[ejaramillo01]

IMO yes there are Nitrates... maybe between 5ppm to 10ppm based in the color of my chart

 

[mfdrookie516]

You have to make sure you follow the directions to get accurate readings. The test tube has to be against a white background and in bright light. The colors change quite a bit based on the lighting (they look darker if the lighting isn't very bright). Based on that picture, I'd say you're on the lower end, like less than 10ppm, but it looks dark. I'd say if you put a little light on it, it would be closer to 0ppm.

 

[eco23]

You have to make sure you follow the directions to get accurate readings. The test tube has to be against a white background and in bright light. The colors change quite a bit based on the lighting (they look darker if the lighting isn't very bright). Based on that picture, I'd say you're on the lower end, like less than 10ppm, but it looks dark. I'd say if you put a little light on it, it would be closer to 0ppm.

Yeah, it's hard to tell sometime looking at all the angles. Sometimes if I want to imagine it's darker than it is I hold it up against the card when i compare it. To me it looks like you might have the beginnings of something, but I didn't count anything until the solution definitely looked orange to me.

 

[eco23]

Also for testing make sure you closely follow the directions for shaking it up. 30 seconds for the #2 bottle, and 1 minute for the whole thing. This makes a big difference, one time I didn't shake it long enough and the majority of the tube was yellow with a little bit of red pooled on the top. After shaking it a bit more it all combined into a nice orange color.

BTW, does anyone else hate how much the API test tubes leak? I've gotta shake mine behind the shower curtain or it gets all over my walls, and I'm holding the cap on for all it's worth!

 

[Mr. Limpet]

Also for testing make sure you closely follow the directions for shaking it up. 30 seconds for the #2 bottle, and 1 minute for the whole thing. This makes a big difference, one time I didn't shake it long enough and the majority of the tube was yellow with a little bit of red pooled on the top. After shaking it a bit more it all combined into a nice orange color.

BTW, does anyone else hate how much the API test tubes leak? I've gotta shake mine behind the shower curtain or it gets all over my walls, and I'm holding the cap on for all it's worth!

10 - 30ppm isn't bad IMO. Anything over 40ppm is what I was told.

The others, no biggie. N03, I have a shop cloth I wrap it in so it doesn't spray/stain my GF's new carpet lol.

Sent from my Epic 4G using Aquarium Advice App

 

[tyspot1000]

Also, on the directions, it states not to ask any others for help when it comes to determining the results (Not discouraging you to not ask for help, but im just saying what the directions did).

Just thought I'd throw it out there: make sure you shake the second nitrate bottle vigorously for like 2-3 min. Otherwise it may not be accurate, at least, from my experience.

 

[rich6459]

Thanks guys, I'll try you you said.