PSA: Ditch your API test kit

[CryptoNautical]

I've seen many post of individuals asking for help and they are using API test kits. These test kits are unreliable and make it difficult for experienced aquarist to help. Please look into at least Salifert test kits or better.

Please don't cheap out on the test kits that measure the most important thing in this hobby

WATER QUALITY.

 

[Timfish]

Seems like quite a serious assertion, James Fatheree tested various kits and API stood up fairly well.

 

[AnotherReefHobbyist]

I think the main issue with api is that it gives a range rather than a number. I used to use them but decided that I wanted more info than my nitrates are beetween 20 and 40, because that is the difference of a little high to I need to do a large water change right now.

I still use them for my freshwater and pond endeavors though, as those sectors of the hobby don’t require exact numbers.

 

[ZoWhat]

Always
Pretty
Inaccurate

 

[jrill]

API is only inaccurate if you don't know how to use them.

 

[workhz]

I can’t use anything that shade dependent. It all looks the same to me. Drops till a complete change are fine but shades .... no thanks.

 

[Dom]

Yes, the accuracy could be better. But API has its place in the hobby...

I use API for routine, frequent testing. I use Red Sea to back up questionable API results.

 

[tharbin]

API test kits are not unreliable. Some of their tests are not precise enough for many modern reef aquariums but the assertion that they are unreliable is just your opinion. I actually use them to check the accuracy of other kits from time to time. API has been making aquarium test kits for a very long time. They are not as easy to use as some of the newer kits as far as interpreting the results but that does not make them unreliable.

 

[zdrc]

Seems like quite a serious assertion, James Fatheree tested various kits and API stood up fairly well.

Honestly, it looks like API generally did better than Salifert here. Kinda interesting. Makes me wonder how much of API's reputation is unqualified, and based on people saying its "bad" rather than actually quantifying how exactly how bad it is.

I think one problem with some of the API tests is how hard they are to use (e.g. KH). One thing that is nice about the API is they don't overstate their accuracy (e.g. nitrate in broad ranges). James Fatheree showed that a lot of these tests are actually remarkably inaccurate. Perhaps its better to know the inaccuracy of a test rather than to be misled about the accuracy of the test.

 

[jcolliii]

I have used API ammonia, Ca, and NO3. They are definitely reliable - which is to say that they work. They are even fairly accurate, so long as you are good at reading color charts. I have found the NO3 color can be tough to read at lower concentrations.

 

[blaxsun]

Unfortunately I don't think there's a lot one can do. A lot of people buy the API kits simply because they're cheap. The irony ends up being that if there's an issue that arises out of the API tests, it's usually cost more in livestock than a good test kit would have.

 

[polyppal]

APIs work. Are they as easy to read/administer as other brands? Prob not. You get what you pay for…

Seems like most of the people who complain about API are new hobbiests cycling a tank. Or someone who breaks out an old test kit that expired years ago… Not that testing kits are rocket science, but I would chalk a lot of ‘false readings’ up to newbie user error.

 

[Sean Clark]

API has its place. API got me started in the hobby and I was happy to have that level of water testing available to me as a beginner. I had no idea about water chemistry and API made it simple for me to begin to understand what was happening.

Is API the most accurate? Probably not, and they don't present themselves as such.

Is API among the most beginner friendly tests that help people get into the hobby? Absolutely.

I have never understood how people can hate so much on something that they personally do not need or have outgrown while at the same time failing to see how that thing may actually help others.

It's sad how quickly we all loose perspective.

 

[polyppal]

API has its place. API got me started in the hobby and I was happy to have that level of water testing available to me as a beginner. I had no idea about water chemistry and API made it simple for me to begin to understand what was happening.

Is API the most accurate? Probably not, and they don't present themselves as such.

Is API among the most beginner friendly tests that help people get into the hobby? Absolutely.

I have never understood how people can hate so much on something that they personally do not need or have outgrown while at the same time failing to see how that thing may actually help others.

It's sad how quickly we all loose perspective.

very true, not very reasonable to say “this 20$ API kit sucks compared to my $400 Hanna Marine Master!”

Of course it does - in a head to head comparison. It’s like comparing a Kia to a Mercedes, but the Kia will still get you where you need to go. For someone new or striving to keep things affordable they’re tests are fine.

 

[melonheadorion]

when i used api, i am able to 100% confirm that they are inaccurate. how do i know? well, i was able to confirm with 2 additional test kits.
ammonia-always reads .25 where as a red sea kit will read 0, and also confirmed by an LFS.
nitrite- the last time i cycled a new tank, my api kit tested .5. the LFS used an api kit and it tested 0. my red sea kit tested 0.
phosphate-apit kit is horribly inaccurate. reads .25 or more when there is less than .02.
ive also had api kits not even change color with regards to a nitrate test, which is obviously wrong, and was confirmable by doing a red sea test.

they are good starter kits, but if accuracy means anything, for the person using it, the readings should be taken with skepticism

 

[Sean Clark]

very true, not very reasonable to say “this 20$ API kit sucks compared to my $400 Hanna Marine Master!”

Of course it does - in a head to head comparison. It’s like comparing a Kia to a Mercedes, but the Kia will still get you where you need to go. For someone new or striving to keep things affordable they’re tests are fine.

Exactly. And nobody expects API to win Le Mans... or even show up.

 

[polyppal]

Exactly. And nobody expects API to win Le Mans... or even show up.

psh, this Hyundai Accent can barely power slide… what a piece of crap…

 

[Sean Clark]

psh, this Hyundai Accent can barely power slide… what a piece of crap…

 

[mindme]

when i used api, i am able to 100% confirm that they are inaccurate. how do i know? well, i was able to confirm with 2 additional test kits.
ammonia-always reads .25 where as a red sea kit will read 0, and also confirmed by an LFS.
nitrite- the last time i cycled a new tank, my api kit tested .5. the LFS used an api kit and it tested 0. my red sea kit tested 0.
phosphate-apit kit is horribly inaccurate. reads .25 or more when there is less than .02.
ive also had api kits not even change color with regards to a nitrate test, which is obviously wrong, and was confirmable by doing a red sea test.

they are good starter kits, but if accuracy means anything, for the person using it, the readings should be taken with skepticism

I saw a video, I think maybe it was BRS, maybe another, where they had multiple people test the same water, with the same test kit. It's been years ago, I don't remember it exactly.

Each of them came up with different results, and the reason for this was generally user error. Minor differences in how each of them followed the instructions and read the results.

I used API test kits for my first 10 years in the hobby. I recently upgraded to hanna and others because I was tired of trying to read results. Some of them are easy like nitrate, but some of them like phosphate is like ugh. Copper is lol. I bought 2 other test kits for copper until I coughed up the money for the hanna, how dumb of me.

And what makes them hard to read is lighting often times. Different lighting can totally change the results.

But the API worked even if slightly off as long as I read them the same way each time. Because the overall goal is stabllity. Maybe my nitrates were 15 instead of 10, but the main thing I'm looking at is if they are rising or lowering. is my calcium maybe 440 instead of 430? Sure, but is it a big deal? Not really.

 

[Dom]

I have used API ammonia, Ca, and NO3. They are definitely reliable - which is to say that they work. They are even fairly accurate, so long as you are good at reading color charts. I have found the NO3 color can be tough to read at lower concentrations.

I think that there is one universally accepted fact in the hobby; the API ammonia test is not accurate. It always shows .25 ammonia.