Do Test Kits go bad?

[Vanphyre]

Hey all,

I have a test kit that is over 5 years old. The drops are all in sealed bottles for various tests... [acronym:d43a18cc28="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]ph[/acronym:d43a18cc28], alkaline, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates.. it is a Marine Lab 5-in-1 kit.

The [acronym:d43a18cc28="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]PH[/acronym:d43a18cc28] test seems to be right on, but I'm worried about the other tests. The ammonia test has shown a murkie green color (equates to 0.5ppm on the test chart) every single time I tested. The Nitrite test always comes up a pale yellowish color, which isn't even on the chart (aqua color = 0, and purple color = 1 & above [acronym:d43a18cc28="Parts per Million"]ppm[/acronym:d43a18cc28]).

My tank has been going for a couple months now, with Live Rock, cleaning crew, and a couple damsels. I have had nothing die, fish look healthy, and the cleaning crew is always on the move.

Is it time to buy a new test kit?

[dskidmore]

Test kits can go bad, although I've had some last a long time. The more expensive test kits will have expiration dates on them.

You could try checking the test against known items, like vinigar should have a pH around 3, a clear ammonia window cleaner should be off the scale on ammonia, fertilizer should be off the scale on nitrate. Distilled water should be 0 for all nitrogen compounds, [acronym:d2ded69230="Alkinity"]alk[/acronym:d2ded69230], hardness. pH may not be 7 in distilled water, as the [acronym:d2ded69230="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:d2ded69230] in the air can turn it acidic.

[cmor1701d]

My new Salifert test kits have 2007 expiration dates. That would equate to maybe 2 years of shelf life. 5 years is probably too long and would time for new test reagents.

You might want to a take a sample to the [acronym:90f195f35c="Local Fish Store"]lfs[/acronym:90f195f35c] and ask them to test it too and bring your kit along to check for any differences.

[Vanphyre]

Thank you two much for the response! I scoured my test kit and finally found the expiration date in small small print.... August 2001!!

That is good advice about the [acronym:e82fa790b8="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:e82fa790b8], I'll bring a sample into them next week. I'll also do some of those neat comparison tests with household products... great idea!

It comes down to my kit expired over 4 years ago! [acronym:e82fa790b8="Laughing out loud"]LOL[/acronym:e82fa790b8].