Wonky Master Test Kit

[DirtyPaws949]

So I busted out the master test kit today.
i checked the five 10-gals (they all share the same water), the 180gal, and the 65gal so far.
ALL of the tanks read 0.25-.5 ppm ammonia (it’s really hard for me to differentiate the colors)
all had the same pH,
180gal showed trace amounts of nitrites in the 180gal, 0 for 10gal-line and 65gal.
nitrates 10-20 ppm 10-gal line, 40-60ppm 65gal, 80ppm 180gal.

I was concerned about the unanimous ammonia readings, so I checked both tap water and filtered water, and got similar readings from the tanks for pH, ammonia.


tap
Filtered

Lot expires 2025, so it’s far from old.
Or is it normal for water to have ammonia? ?

should I throw it out and get a new one?

 

[Rocksor]

Sounds like your tap water is treated for chloramines hence the total ammonia reading from tap. Test bottled distilled water, which should read 0ppm.

A cycled tank can have ammonium, which is read by the ammonia test. If you read the ammonia paper, it says it tests for total ammonia, which includes toxic ammonia and non-toxic ammonium. There’s an online calculator for toxic ammonia here http://home.eng.iastate.edu/~jea/w3-research/free-ammonia/nh3.html
Enter in the API total ammonia reading in the first line

 

[DirtyPaws949]

Sounds like your tap water is treated for chloramines hence the total ammonia reading from tap. Test bottled distilled water.

Im not sure if I have distilled water.
I have natural mountain spring water and pellegrino ?
Here are the results for Trader Joe’s Natural Mountain Spring Water



didn’t see the 2nd bit. That’s interesting, I didn’t know that about non-toxic ammonium. I’m sittin’ here worried all my tanks are having issues. 180gal is dirty and needs a good cleaning, watering plants today/ tomorrow with it which will be ~30-40%.
The 10gal line up is the newest aquarium, maybe 3-4 weeks old.

 

[Rocksor]

Yeah distilled water would definitely show 0ppm ammonia.

check your water quality report and see what your tap water is treated with.

 

[DirtyPaws949]

Yeah distilled water would definitely show 0ppm ammonia.

check your water quality report and see what your tap water is treated with.

alright, I’ll ask if there’s any hidden somewhere, if not I can pick some up tomorrow.
There was some residue on ammonia #2 bottle.
I treat the water with stress-coat, usually by the watering-can-full. If I’m lazy/in a hurry I’ll turn the canister filter off & remove the sponge filter, then fill the tank and treat.

 

[DirtyPaws949]

Yeah distilled water would definitely show 0ppm ammonia.

check your water quality report and see what your tap water is treated with.

Distilled water, test kit #1

Distilled water, test kit #2



Distilled water, test kit #1 left, test kit #2 right


Clearly the ammonia test in question (test kit #1) is inaccurate.

 

[Rocksor]

Clean the tube and cap with distilled water, and see if test kit #2 ammonia goes down. Dry inside and outside with paper towel

 

[DirtyPaws949]

Clean the tube and cap with distilled water, and see if test kit #2 ammonia goes down. Dry inside and outside with paper towel

Okay will do, I’ll post the results here instead of bogging down my Angelfish medical post ?
Question though...
I use tap for all of my tanks. If 40ppm is considered high, how does adding water that already has 10-25 (ish) nitrates to my tanks affect the water quality?
I have over 15 tanks, so I wouldn’t be able to use distilled water for all of them.

 

[duanes]

Whenever I do testing, I rinse the vial 3 times before each test sample and 3 times after.
Because you are testing parts per million, all it take is a nano drop of old residue to skew results.
And rinsing with DI water in between each sample is better..
When I was a chemist at a water facility we were required to rinse 3 Xs with Di between each sample or the tests weren't considered valid.
I also agree, your tap water is probably treated with Chloramine, which will always show up as a trace of ammonia.
Chloramine is made by combining 4 parts chlorine mixed with 1 part ammonia.
And by the way, natural spring water or Pelligrino, is not DI,
DI is made by running water past mineral absorbing membranes that remove everything.

 

[DirtyPaws949]

Whenever I do testing, I rinse the vial 3 times before each test sample and 3 times after.
Because you are testing parts per million, all it take is a nano drop of old residue to skew results.
And rinsing with DI water in between each sample is better..
When I was a chemist at a water facility we were required to rinse 3 Xs with Di between each sample or the tests weren't considered valid.
I also agree, your tap water is probably treated with Chloramine, which will always show up as a trace of ammonia.
Chloramine is made by combining 4 parts chlorine mixed with 1 part ammonia.
And by the way, natural spring water or Pelligrino, is not DI,
DI is made by running water past mineral absorbing membranes that remove everything.

very interesting! I used DI water in Chem lab, but not sure how available it is, since that’s the only place I’ve seen it. I wouldn’t try testing/rinsing with pelligrino haha, I was just running out of different water to test, and was upset with the ammonia readings in my tank.
stress coat says it works for chloramines, so would ammonia readings still show up regardless of treating water with it?

here is kit #2, test #2.
rinsed out the vials 3-4 times (and caps) and dried with a paper towel as best I could.
pH seems a little off now.