Hi there
So I've got the hagen 3 bottle ammonia test and I just purchased the aquarium pharm. test kit which contains 5 different tests, one of which is an ammonia test. I did the ammonia test from my new test kit and it showed a reading of about 2.0 - 3.0...woa...way too high...(and I had just tested 12 hours earlier with my hagen test and it read 0)...so I immediately tested with the hagen kit and it showed only a trace amount of ammonia...but very close to 0. Is it possible for two different tests to show totally different results...could it be that one test is wrong...(must be?) Thanks

nxumdon

Another good question. It is possible for the 2 tests to have different readings.
I don't know about the Hagen test. Is it a drop test?
I have heard that the aquarium pharm drop tests are very accurate, it is what I use.
Hopefully someone that has experience with both will post soon.

well obviously one of the tests is wrong, if not boht. The age of the testing equipment can vary results because of chemical decomposition. I found this problem with my local pet store but then realized they were just using the kit wrong. If one is newer than the other, then reread the directions, retest the water, and go with that result, it is probalby the most accurate.

Hi
It is a drop kit...three different bottles... The hagen test was as much as the entire Aquarium Pharm pack which I bought so I figured the Hagen would be the better of the two...plus the extra bottle of testing chem

Arhhhh....who knows...

thanks

jay

Do you use anything in your water to detoxify ammonia (like amquel) or anything else that says it can give false ammonia test readings? Some tests will give false high ammonia test readings when you treat water with things like that, while others don't.

valkrie is exactly correct. I would strongly suspect that some of your ammonia has been rendered nontoxic by binding it into a different chemcial combination by one or another water conditioning agent.

Some tests (Nessler based ones)have different abilities to read that bound ammonia/nitrite. Some will read its presence, while others do not. So one test will say zero and another will say three!

The bound ammonia/nitrite is harmless to the fish, though. So being able to test this "invisable" ammonia is not really necessary - the Aquariuum Pharm tests will only test the ammonia that is "loose" in the water causing toxic problems.

The only other problem you will then have is to determine when your tank is truly cycled - how much of the tank's waste load is being bound by your water conditioner and how much of it is truly being reduced by your beneficial bacteria.