Salifert Ammonia Test Kit

[Drill Sergeant]

Good morning all

My 90 gallon is still in its cycle stage but I have a question for you all. I've been checking the ammonia (Salifert Test Kit) for the last 5days and I really don't know what to get from my reading. The color I've been getting in the test vial, has been a white/grayish color and rather cloudy looking. (kind of milky looking if you ask me)
Is it supposed to look like that? Or does is have to be a clear looking result to achieve 0 on the ammonia color chart?

Let me know

DS

 

[bonerfortuna]

Been doing the same with my 110 and getting what I think is the less than .25 reading and my LFS is showing Zero with his test. I have never gotten a clear liquid ,seems like its always got suspended particles in the test vial. HTH Peter

 

[jks1]

i agree, I got cloudy with mine, compared it to other test kits and got 0. If theres no purple/pink, you should be all set

 

[jimeluiz]

We consistently get that light cloudy look - NEVER a clear reading. It's been 8 months. As per jks1, it reads 0 with other kits. The lfs has also suggested that all is fine.

 

[Drill Sergeant]

Is there any other test kit for ammonia that is easier to read? All my test kits from Salifert are pretty good so far (then again, I've never tried any other). tank has only been running 5 days and I've checked my PH, Nitrites, Alk and they are all fine. Done several test and all my levels are good. just wasn't sure with the ammonia.

DS

 

[SZHTTM]

Bump

 

[Scooterman]

Ok, I've tried about a half dozen test kits out there. This is my opinion and I am very picky when it comes to these things, I want to know without a doubt what I'm reading. If you get a milky color, that is normal, in the Tropic Marian test kits they specifically say that. If you test your RO/DI water Before adding salt, you will get a very Clear reading.
Now with that said, Light is a big factor in reading your test results properly, also I've read on these kits to use a white background to get a neutral view of the actual water being tested. I've went rounds with this one, I even went outside in the bright sun to test. Here is my results & findings & what I now do. I open the hood on my tank with the lights on & use then to get my readings, I've found this to be as accurate as you can get, even in the sunlight I would get the closest match in color. BTW, Saliflert is the easiest test kit with accuracy to use. My first kits were the "fast test", hands down they were very easy, also the ones where you dip strips to test but when comparing four kits together I've found them to not be as consistent.

BTW, the Tropic Marian was very difficult to read, LaMotte was very easy to read but very difficult procedure LOL, ok go figure. Saliflert was the best happy medium, hands down. JMO!.

Hope this helps.

 

[BoomerD]

tank has only been running 5 days

This tank is probably just starting to go into the ammonia cycle then. Normally, the complete cycle takes from 3 weeks to 8 weeks, depending on your live rock & sand, and bio-load at the start. I'd start testing only at 1 week intervals, and then switching to daily as the nitrites start to fall off. Otherwise, all you are really accomplishing is to use the reagents of the test kits, the cycle still takes the same amount of time. Flip side is that you ARE learning to do the testing, something many people NEVER learn how to do...