API Ammonia Test Kit

[dzfish17]

Ive seen a lot of posts saying that the api ammonia test kits are inaccurate and shouldn't be trusted... Is there any scientific research proving that api is marketing a faulty kit? Is it possible that one aquarist got a hold of a bad kit and now everyone is going around repeating one persons experience? I would appreciate if someone could provide some evidence backing these claims. Thank you sincerely

 

[lion king]

I'm a snob but have found the api basic test to be accurate and easy to use. It's the test I use when cycling a tank or checking my nitrates.

 

[Montiman]

Generally what reefers are commenting about is that All Ammonia Test Kits but particularly entry level ones like the API are inaccurate at the low range because the margin for error of the kit is greater than most people realize. Getting an ammonia reading of .25 to .5 when the water is actually at 0 is possible even when the kit is functioning correctly. The API kit is great for monitoring the cycle and notifying you to extreme ammonia problems but no one should worry if there is a little bit of green in the test vial.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Not so much that they are inaccurate but rather have been known to produce false reading and disappoint many aquarists especially with livestock loss.
I regard them for reference of a given element but not for accuracy

 

[brandon429]

Here’s how we know


try and find one single seneye ammonia meter that reads .25


if you can’t, then api is wrong most of the time.


*api isn’t good for base level zero readings. But it’s good to detect motion, meaning any reef that is dosed to 1ppm nh3 and then goes down to .25 is fully cycled. The .25 is it’s error zone. Api can read that movement down, so it’s ultra sensitive and let the record reflect Seabass on nano-reef.com figured this out years before seneye existed.


to help in the search for seneye tenths reading, the work it will take to find and ask hundreds of seneye owners to see their ammonia logs, I’ve got $25 paypal to the first person to show me seneye in the tenths for longer than two hours sustained on any running reef dated in a post before today (no seneyes in a paint bucket of .25 ammonia allowed lol)

it needs to be a reading from a legit post about a legit reef. Seneye nh3


every reading taken by api on running reefs is in the tenths. I can offer the bounty after seeing the comparison set between color guess readings vs digital ones. Reef tanks do not hit .25 ammonia.


we sure might dose initially beyond that, but we also dose bottle bac, two hours it’s zapped down is the bet *if reading digital*

if reading by color, wait 22 days ish


i risk having to payout based on someone inputting 2 ppm into a dry rock dry sand no bottle bac setup. Nobody who just spent $300 on a seneye would do that. They’ll be using bottle bac or some element of live rock which handles initial oxidation just fine. I can’t find a legit .25 reef even offering a free 2x burger and fries inventive.

 

[brandon429]

Great thread

api has been around since the dawn of the hobby, to go against it should require sufficient proof agreed. The bounty is offered since I can’t prove it any other way.

 

[LRT]

@brandon429 could probably explain the science behind it all better but ill add my experiences with the API kit.
Does it register low enough amounts needed in reef tank? And how could you tell based on the color or ranges offered on the test strip?
I'm really not sure how accurate it actually is in comparison to actual icp test or running seneye on my system.
I can tell you I'd only use it to guage high levels cycling a non bottle bac cycled system and that would only be for reference of i didnt have any other choice.

That goes for the entire Master API test kit.
I have gotten API Nitrates test kit to test close to red sea kit maybe 1 out of 5X.
Not sure if it leaking beakers, inaccuracy of drops, following directions to the T.
Or if there are too many variables in what I mentioned for it to just fail if you dont get one of the right.

API could stream line and change things up a bit for sure. Maybe go after those lower levels and make kits more user friendly for reefers.

Until that happens I will not be trusting API kits anytime soon.
I got a bad Nitrate kit out of box brand new and it almost cost me my entire reef fixing it.

Peace

 

[pseudorand]

I can't speak to the numerical accuracy of the kit, but I know it shows the rise and fall of ammonia as the tank cycles on the timelines that the books say it should. And I did recently have it register a 0.25 in my QT when my bird's nest frag was sick. I did water change and added more cycled media and the API registered 0 again as nitrate when up, as expected.

My poor bird's nest hasn't yet recovered, but it's not dead either. I think API was good enough to confirm ammonia as the problem, saving me from adjusting light and flow and feeding in a vein attempt to save the frag.

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

How much of this "false reading" is not a false at all but rather due to the API test reading both NH3 and NH4+?

 

[brandon429]

We still have trouble finding hundredths ppm in running reef tanks via seneye


They show reef tanks convert at a consistent rate of thousandths ppm
Rough recall isn't .25 converting to .05 ish on the chart for nh3?

 

[JCTReefer]

I personally use API for the cycling process. Just to give me a general idea of where I’m at cycle wise. That’s about all I use that brand for. Now calcium, magnesium, and nitrogen, I use better colorimetric kits. Like Red Sea and Nyos. And of course alkalinity and phosphate I use Hanna Checkers. I wouldn’t rely on API for much anything else. I’ve never had false positives with ammonia using the kit, although I’ve read about several people having issues. I’m also not color blind, so I think that helps. Lol! You do have to hold the vile in a certain orientation to your light source to read it against the color chart. Seems like I read somewhere that testing Qt water that has copper in it can give false positives. Never actually tested it though. That’s why I’ve always used the Sechem Ammonia alert badge. Now the API nitrate test kit is terrible. It is WAY OFF, and very inaccurate.

 

[LRT]

We still have trouble finding hundredths ppm in running reef tanks via seneye


They show reef tanks convert at a consistent rate of thousandths ppm
Rough recall isn't .25 converting to .05 ish on the chart for nh3?

Have you done side by side comparisons from Seneye ammonia reading to API kit?
Open question to all really?

I'm curious what the discrepancy would actually be.
As you said API has been around forever. To be quite honest was all I used way back in the day.
Perhaps API needs to evolve test kits to fit current testing needs now.

 

[PacoPetty]

My API Ammonia test kit will register .5 after a 50% water change or after two weeks before a water change. It’s almost always .5 or very close.

 

[LRT]

My API Ammonia test kit will register .5 after a 50% water change or after two weeks before a water change. It’s almost always .5 or very close.

Wonder what the seneye would read?
Almost want to get seneye now and test against all the kits.
And do a controlled experiment against a cycling system. Bottle back and old school cycle lol

 

[PacoPetty]

I would love to test my water right before I do a water change and see what my ammonia is with something other than the test kit I currently have just so I would have an idea what my actual ammonia level is after 10 days.

 

[brandon429]

The hobby seriously, profoundly, needs seneye + eight different strains of bottle bac tested separately +1 ppm initial levels using ammonium chloride and we digitally race to thousandths ppm.

We will then know what happens during fish- in cycling, for once.


Article worthy data


*LRT properly sourced, companies will send you free stuff if you position yourself as reliable and dedicated to the test

Dr Reef had like eight seneyes sent to him all at once not a joke. A few companies might send a bac sample, lots of work but possible. Probably when they saw page eighty of his thread they figured he was serious heh

 

[LRT]

The hobby seriously, profoundly, needs seneye + eight different strains of bottle bac tested separately +1 ppm initial levels using ammonium chloride and we digitally race to thousandths ppm.

We will then know what happens during fish- in cycling, for once.


Article worthy data


*LRT properly sourced, companies will send you free stuff if you position yourself as reliable and dedicated to the test

Dr Reef had like eight seneyes sent to him all at once not a joke. A few companies might send a bac sample, lots of work but possible. Probably when they saw page eighty of his thread they figured he was serious heh

Right on. No way I could seriously control all of that.

On Edit:
I could actually control seneye against top 3 test kits far as ammonia and other parameters it tests for in an established system.

Furthermore I could control Top 3 bottle bacs against top 3 test kits versus seneye through a cycle.

Would have to run tests consecutively if I did a test kits vs seneye experiment.

If all parties want to send me whats needed I am definitely ready to see the results.

 

[Lovefish77]

For cycling I just got the seachem ammonia patch that you stick in the tank and gives you constant reading.

 

[dzfish17]

Thanks for all the input folks. I guess we can say that the API ammonia test is reliable enough (for a low end test kit) to detect harmful amounts of ammonia in a new aquarium. I agree that maybe it's time for API to consider refining the test kits for more advanced use.