If you own API GH test or Salifert kits read this...

[nsamuel]

I bought a API KH/GH test kit about a month ago. And a salifert phosphate kit..... I have issues with both of these. The API GH test does not produce the colors im expecting. The manual says first drop should turn water to orange and titration is complete when water turns green. Out of bottle this liquid is dark green. I dont see a crisp orange on first drop. Water turns light yellow in color and the yellow gets stronger with subsequent drops. Around 7th drop or so, water starts turning into yellowish/green, but not a clear green or clear yellow. The yellowish orange of the beginning drops is still present up till about 10 drops. Then the yellow seems to go away around 10-12 drops, and i have a light green color in vial, but i was expecting a good green color (as the manual does not say light green color). I kept adding drops till 25 drops, to see if it would get any darker, but no luck. The color remains pretty much as it was around 12th drop. Does anyone ever see the green color, or only a light green is to be expected ? I checked date on bottle and it says 1207 so only 6 months old since manufacture.

I have different issue with my salifert phosphate kit. The kit came with a paper color chart. It is so easy to ruin it with water droping onto the paper. With such a expensive kit, i was expecting salifert to give a decent color chart made of plastic. Are all salifert kits made with paper printed color charts ? Its so hard to tell the different between 0 and 0.3 in the colors. Any comments from owners, appreciated.

 

[WyldFya]

With the API test kit it is when the solution makes a full transition to green. Make sure you are shaking the test kit between each drop, otherwise your readings are null. For the salifert kit, yes they do skimp on the color chart, just keep it away from your liquids.

 

[nsamuel]

Its the GH test, and i forgot to mention.....the manual lists a table of results only upto 12 drops. I am hoping that the table is incrementally valid for any number of drops, as each drop is 1dGH. Yes, i did shake the bottle before starting test, and i do shake vial between drops as manual instructed. I searched the web and some have reported that the GH colors are not sharp, but there is also one who reports that the end color of GH was good green close to the color of the liquid thats in the bottle. But i get nowhere close to it. The KH test that came in the same kit works fine though, the color changes are a bit gradual in it too, towards the end, but end color gets darker and sharp, and i can kind of make a guess where to stop.

Salifert is a big disappointment to me, if they can not even produce a good quality color chart, though the test is pretty accurate and goes down to low levels. I like the API color chart production in plastic computer calibrated colors.

 

[WyldFya]

Saliferts tests are much better than the API tests. The API tests are also often far less accurate. Just because the chart isn't made of plastic, is no reason to not buy these tests.