Please don't flame me...Has anyone ever had their water tested at Petco?

[dakar652]

So...my ammonia test kit has about 10 different colors representing differing levels of toxicity, but the first two are supposed to represent 0 and .25...now 0 would obviously be ok...but .25 is deadly. From my eyes, mine seems to be somewhere in the middle, but I can't really decide.

Yeah yeah...buy a digital tester...i know. Anyway...has anyone had their water tested at Petco? I'm wondering if they're just going to be giving me the same results that I'm getting at home? Does anyone know what brand of kit they use?

 

[Bendint]

I used to work at petco it is the 5 panel dip stick it will give u a rough idea they don't use a refractometer to test salinity I would just buy a kit there there only like $25 Aand they will give u a good idea where u are


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[dakar652]

i have a decent refractometer...i just want to know if my water is poison or not...lol. when the readings jump from 0-.25 I wouldn't really consider there is much room for error in either direction if it's closer to the high end! Pretty sure any marine fish would last a night with that level of toxicity.

 

[aresangel]

See if Lucky’s will do it. I think they just recently opened in Worcester. Otherwise for better than the strips but not too expensive, api gives you a general idea. For better results try Red Sea test kits or salfite test kits.


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[dz6t]

What brand of test kit are you using?


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[dakar652]

Red Sea

 

[dakar652]

sorry...what's 'Luckys'?

 

[Bendint]

Red Sea is pretty accurate not to sound like an a** are u doing them right sometime I put the wrong amount of water in the vials also have your gf/wife / s.o to do it from the instructions and see if they get same result my 7 yo daughter helps out testing water and I was getting crazy readings and I kept putting in wrong water by going off of wrong card but alivia "read" the instructions haha


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[dakar652]

i'm definitely going off the card correctly. the issues is i wish the card readings were a little more 'fine tuned' because the only really acceptable reading on the card is zero. I guess I'm going to keep waiting and see what happens.

here is a picture of my reading this morning.


lighting kinda blows in my office, but you get the point. the card actually says to hold the tube 20cm away to get the reading, but i couldn't take the picture at the same time. it lightens it up a little bit, but probably only somewhere in between 0 and .25...which 0 is obviously acceptable and .25 is obviously not.

i took a test tube to Petco last night and the amount showing up on their 'drip solution' test was negligible, and wasn't even reading on the dip strip test they did for confirmation...i certainly don't want to test the waters (haha...pun) with livestock and was just wondering if there is a more accurate option where I can get a reading that's somewhere in between 'A-OK and Poison'

please advise

 

[dakar652]

Red Sea is pretty accurate not to sound like an a** are u doing them right sometime I put the wrong amount of water in the vials also have your gf/wife / s.o to do it from the instructions and see if they get same result my 7 yo daughter helps out testing water and I was getting crazy readings and I kept putting in wrong water by going off of wrong card but alivia "read" the instructions haha


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bonus points to your 7 year old! i don't have one of those around, but maybe my dog can help? he does help with the laundry sometimes.

 

[aresangel]

https://www.facebook.com/Luckysaquarium/

The page says the are looking to open in May but it looks like they have limited hours now.


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[dakar652]

neat! i was so disoriented when i realized i'm getting back into the hobby after Krystal Clear closed its doors. it's nice to know there's another local option now! this is literally the first i'm hearing about it, and I think i even googled aquatics stores in central MA last week and came up with basically nothing.

maybe if i get some time today i'll bring a test tube down there and see if he can help me figure this out.

 

[dakar652]

picture with better lighting and propping up the card so I can hold the solution 20cm away like it advises

 

[aresangel]

Are you still getting ammonia? And are your nitrates rising or steady? You may be days away from completing the cycle but I would ghost feed the tank to try to spike ammonia and see what happens to the nitrites just to be sure the cycles if complete. If ammonia spikes, and nitrites stay that same color I would think it would be the test kit.


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[dakar652]

nitrites are non existent...nitrates are falling...ammonia seems to be staying the same or falling veeeeerrryyy slowly.

 

[dakar652]

I would think it would be the test kit.


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This is probably the answer unfortunately. I looked for an expiration on the kit and couldn't find one, but I know for a fact it's over 3 years old.

 

[gurumasta]

https://www.facebook.com/Luckysaquarium/

The page says the are looking to open in May but it looks like they have limited hours now.


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Tropic Isle is in Framingham right near Worcester you could try there also..

- How long has this tank been running? Did you use live rock? Do you have any fish in the tank and if not what caused the original ammonia spike?

 

[dakar652]

i THOUGHT my live rock was cycled...it's not a spike per say, but doesn't seem to be getting better very quickly at all.

no fish...no livestock at all except whatever min feather dusters survived in the rock in my dunk tank in the basement for the last 2 years (no heat, just water flow)

i try to stay out of tropic isle...not sure if it's changed, but it used to be a cesspool about 15 years ago.

 

[gurumasta]

You could have die off from the rock.

What is your phosphate level at? You shouldn't have a constant ammonia issue if there isn't any livestock in the tank.

 

[dakar652]

there really shouldn't be any die off either...the rock went straight from my other tank into my holding tank and stayed there for 2 years...then from my holding tank into my new aquarium. my rock never really had much coraline growth on it to begin with, but one of the rocks has SOME.

i'm taking a test tube to Lucky's this afternoon at some point to shed some light on the subject.