Chriznat20
Aquarium Advice Freak
Disclaimer: This is NOT a sweeping generalization about pet store employees across the board. It is, however, about the occasional bonehead you encounter at the pet store that you'd like to correct so bad but they are so blissfully ignorant in their own pseudo-reality, theres no hope left for them....LOL. 
I called a trusted LFS that Ive gone to for years earlier this evening. I wanted them to test my tank water b/c I think my test kit (although from 2010) might have gone bad - after all, its saying I have .25 ammonia every time Ive tested for as long as I can remember. (I know I have little/no ammonia in reality).
So I bring it in and I bring my API ammonia test kit with me and a sample of water - about 1 quart. I suggest we both test my water together individually and compare results. Right off the bat, she accuses me of putting too much water in my test tube. I advise her, that I put water to the line and had just added 8 drops of test fluid She recommends that I go clean out the test tube and let HER fill the tube (like her filling it to the same fill line I filled it to is going to make any difference?!?!) Anyways....she fills it to the same fill line I had just filled it to before I added my 8 drops.
I follow the ammonia test to the T. I always have - and Ive been testing water for many, many years. But for some reason, tonight she feels the need to treat me like the Helen Keller of fish keeping...lol
She abruptly stops me "WAIT! Did you shake ammonia solution #1 for a full minute?" I pull the folded up directions out of the test kit box and ask her to show me where it says to shake for 1 minute. She replies "Oh, its not in there, but I do it anyways" oh boy.....
While we wait for the tests to mature, she starts talking about how sometimes API leaves steps out of their test kits and that she always shakes the test tubes for a full minute no matter what test shes running. I ask her if that may skew the results and she just shrugs with an "I dont know" face.
Anyways, out of all irony (it must be a COMPLETE full moon tonight), my test comes out yellow, displaying 0 ammonia. It hasnt done this before. HOWEVER, HERS turned out green showing somewhere between .25-.50.
Im going on a hunch here and am going to say that my test was accurate. I didnt shake the ammonia tube for a full minute, rather the 5 seconds the directions tell. We both waited 5 minutes for the test to mature. I peeled out of there as fast I could!
Last time I bring my water there to be tested...oh god!
I called a trusted LFS that Ive gone to for years earlier this evening. I wanted them to test my tank water b/c I think my test kit (although from 2010) might have gone bad - after all, its saying I have .25 ammonia every time Ive tested for as long as I can remember. (I know I have little/no ammonia in reality).
So I bring it in and I bring my API ammonia test kit with me and a sample of water - about 1 quart. I suggest we both test my water together individually and compare results. Right off the bat, she accuses me of putting too much water in my test tube. I advise her, that I put water to the line and had just added 8 drops of test fluid
She recommends that I go clean out the test tube and let HER fill the tube (like her filling it to the same fill line I filled it to is going to make any difference?!?!) Anyways....she fills it to the same fill line I had just filled it to before I added my 8 drops.I follow the ammonia test to the T. I always have - and Ive been testing water for many, many years. But for some reason, tonight she feels the need to treat me like the Helen Keller of fish keeping...lol
She abruptly stops me "WAIT! Did you shake ammonia solution #1 for a full minute?" I pull the folded up directions out of the test kit box and ask her to show me where it says to shake for 1 minute. She replies "Oh, its not in there, but I do it anyways" oh boy.....
While we wait for the tests to mature, she starts talking about how sometimes API leaves steps out of their test kits and that she always shakes the test tubes for a full minute no matter what test shes running. I ask her if that may skew the results and she just shrugs with an "I dont know" face.
Anyways, out of all irony (it must be a COMPLETE full moon tonight), my test comes out yellow, displaying 0 ammonia. It hasnt done this before. HOWEVER, HERS turned out green showing somewhere between .25-.50.
Im going on a hunch here and am going to say that my test was accurate. I didnt shake the ammonia tube for a full minute, rather the 5 seconds the directions tell. We both waited 5 minutes for the test to mature. I peeled out of there as fast I could!
Last time I bring my water there to be tested...oh god!
