Pat24601
Well-Known Member
I came across a copper test kit that I think is amazing. It's so much better than any of the others I've used. When I ran a search on these forums, I didn't find any mention of it here, so I thought I'd do a review for these forums.
The TL;DR version of this review is this test kit is awesome. It's super easy to use and very accurate. There is a great youtube video someone did of it here. If you don't care to read a long story of my personal experience with copper tests kits, just stop reading this review and watch that video. It's the information you really need to know.
This is the video review embedded. As a reminder, this is not me doing this video.
All that said, my personal experience with copper tests is not good. In fact, it's so bad that it makes me avoid copper treatment if at all possible because I have little to no idea what I'm doing and I'm afraid I'll do more harm than good.
I have always treated copper using cupramine, which is awesome.
So, the first copper test kit I tried was seachem's multi-test copper and it was awful. I found the instructions difficult to follow. I didn't know if I was doing it right and even when I felt like I did it right I didn't feel like I could read the colors to determine what values they were supposed to be telling me. In short, I found my ability to use this test so unreliable that I thought I was probably more likely to harm by than good by taking its results at face value.
As a result, I tried Salifert's copper test. It was MUCH better. The instructions were much easier to use and had much less chance of "user error". The problem I had is the same problem I have with many of these color coded tests. When I look at the results, reading a shade of blue, I can get a good idea of the range of the value in the test, but I find reading the colors very difficult and to isolate a specific value.
For most tests (nitrates, calcium, etc), not having a 100% precise number isn't such a big deal. However, precision on copper is very important. A little too high and you have a dead fish and a little too low and you aren't treating the fish appropriately. So, my inability to read shades of blue made me nervous about the value of the test and thus made me nervous about even treating with copper.
So, I scoured the depths of internet for other tests and I ran across CHEMetrics copper test and wow is it a life saver (in terms of copper testing anyway).
It is SO easy to use and SO easy to determine accurate results.
As an example of the difference, when I was using Salifert's copper test kit, I could tell my copper level was somewhere around 0.5, but I really thought it was probably around 0.4 and I wouldn't have been surprised if it was 0.6. As it turned out when I used CHEMetrics test kit, my results were a kind of scary 0.8. This was in part because I had dosed a bit more than recommended as a result of misreading the prior test (apparently).
In other words, my reading of Salifert's test was pretty far off the reality and in a borderline dangerous way.
What's more important is I didn't feel ambiguous about the result the CHEMetrics test and thus I trust the results. The test is so simple is pretty much idiot proof. The colors are so clear it's very easy to accurately see where they really are. For the first time ever, I felt like I really knew what the copper level was in my QT tank, which is a very cool thing.
As the video describes above, the test is very easy to use. Unlike other test kits, you get 30 ampoules (just little glass tubes, don't let the big word be scary) that come pre-mixed with all the reagents you need to do the test. There is NO mixing or measuring you have to do yourself. So, there is no way you can screw it up.
All you do to complete the test is to put one of those ampoules into a small vial of tank water, break off the end (which is easy), and a vacuum in the ampoule automatically pulls in exactly how much water it needs to do the test. So, the user has no mixing, measuring, or any other human error prone task to do when running these tests.
You then check the color against a sophisticated comparator they provide. The comparison is easily the clearest of any color comparison I have ever done and does not at all have the ambiguity I'm used to with the color compare tests we are familiar with in this hobby.
As I mentioned, this test informed me that my copper levels were VERY different than I thought they were using other tests. This can have critical implications because it means I could be about to kill my fish or not treating them like I think I am. Both are big deals.
The only downside I really see with this test is the cost. The initial kit $65 in current pricing with 30 refills costing about $27 at current pricing. That turns out to be about $0.90 a test.
That said, that is WAY less than the cost of the fish I'm treating and it's WAY more important for me to know I'm dosing right than to save a few bucks.
This test has really taken a lot of the fear out of copper dosing for me. So, I thought I'd share.
The TL;DR version of this review is this test kit is awesome. It's super easy to use and very accurate. There is a great youtube video someone did of it here. If you don't care to read a long story of my personal experience with copper tests kits, just stop reading this review and watch that video. It's the information you really need to know.
This is the video review embedded. As a reminder, this is not me doing this video.
All that said, my personal experience with copper tests is not good. In fact, it's so bad that it makes me avoid copper treatment if at all possible because I have little to no idea what I'm doing and I'm afraid I'll do more harm than good.
I have always treated copper using cupramine, which is awesome.
So, the first copper test kit I tried was seachem's multi-test copper and it was awful. I found the instructions difficult to follow. I didn't know if I was doing it right and even when I felt like I did it right I didn't feel like I could read the colors to determine what values they were supposed to be telling me. In short, I found my ability to use this test so unreliable that I thought I was probably more likely to harm by than good by taking its results at face value.
As a result, I tried Salifert's copper test. It was MUCH better. The instructions were much easier to use and had much less chance of "user error". The problem I had is the same problem I have with many of these color coded tests. When I look at the results, reading a shade of blue, I can get a good idea of the range of the value in the test, but I find reading the colors very difficult and to isolate a specific value.
For most tests (nitrates, calcium, etc), not having a 100% precise number isn't such a big deal. However, precision on copper is very important. A little too high and you have a dead fish and a little too low and you aren't treating the fish appropriately. So, my inability to read shades of blue made me nervous about the value of the test and thus made me nervous about even treating with copper.
So, I scoured the depths of internet for other tests and I ran across CHEMetrics copper test and wow is it a life saver (in terms of copper testing anyway).
It is SO easy to use and SO easy to determine accurate results.
As an example of the difference, when I was using Salifert's copper test kit, I could tell my copper level was somewhere around 0.5, but I really thought it was probably around 0.4 and I wouldn't have been surprised if it was 0.6. As it turned out when I used CHEMetrics test kit, my results were a kind of scary 0.8. This was in part because I had dosed a bit more than recommended as a result of misreading the prior test (apparently).
In other words, my reading of Salifert's test was pretty far off the reality and in a borderline dangerous way.
What's more important is I didn't feel ambiguous about the result the CHEMetrics test and thus I trust the results. The test is so simple is pretty much idiot proof. The colors are so clear it's very easy to accurately see where they really are. For the first time ever, I felt like I really knew what the copper level was in my QT tank, which is a very cool thing.
As the video describes above, the test is very easy to use. Unlike other test kits, you get 30 ampoules (just little glass tubes, don't let the big word be scary) that come pre-mixed with all the reagents you need to do the test. There is NO mixing or measuring you have to do yourself. So, there is no way you can screw it up.
All you do to complete the test is to put one of those ampoules into a small vial of tank water, break off the end (which is easy), and a vacuum in the ampoule automatically pulls in exactly how much water it needs to do the test. So, the user has no mixing, measuring, or any other human error prone task to do when running these tests.
You then check the color against a sophisticated comparator they provide. The comparison is easily the clearest of any color comparison I have ever done and does not at all have the ambiguity I'm used to with the color compare tests we are familiar with in this hobby.
As I mentioned, this test informed me that my copper levels were VERY different than I thought they were using other tests. This can have critical implications because it means I could be about to kill my fish or not treating them like I think I am. Both are big deals.
The only downside I really see with this test is the cost. The initial kit $65 in current pricing with 30 refills costing about $27 at current pricing. That turns out to be about $0.90 a test.
That said, that is WAY less than the cost of the fish I'm treating and it's WAY more important for me to know I'm dosing right than to save a few bucks.
This test has really taken a lot of the fear out of copper dosing for me. So, I thought I'd share.
Last edited:
