Test kits

[Chrayis]

I'm putting together a shopping list for the trip to the fish store to get a good amount of stuff to get my first saltwater tank going. Looking at the testing kits I see api has a fresh, salt and a reef kit. After looking a little more I notice they sell the single bottles of the testing product. One example being nitrates and it says it can be used for both fresh and salt. With the only difference i'm seeing is it comes with two charts, one for fresh and the other for salt. Am i correct in assuming if I have a freshwater API test kit that I could just print the saltwater cards and use it for my salt tank?

 

[dmolavi]

Not entirely. The color renderings on your printer will be different than on the original cards. With tests like the nitrAtes, those small color variations mean the difference between a low and high reading.

You can do the following:

Due to discrepancies with ink jet printers and the color of the cards, pdf versions are not available. You can get a replacement set of cards by sending in a $2 check to:
Mars Fishcare
50 East Hamilton Street
Chalfont, PA 18914
Attention: Brian in Technical Services
Include a brief letter stating the type of color cards that you need and include your return mailing address. Once we receive your letter a set of color cards will be sent in the mail. The $2 will cover shipping and handling for the color cards.

I got this response from API when I asked if I could get replacement cards since some of mine were getting pretty ratty.

 

[tonedogz]

I don't care very much for the api test kits I find them unreliable as far as accuracy.