# API test kit



## dwl0222 (Mar 6, 2011)

Can someone help me with this thing? I'm setting up my tank and just wanted to get some preliminary numbers as a baseline. My ph seems to be around 7.6 (photo attached shoes PH and high range PH), my KH turned from blue to yellow at drops 14-15, but my GH (which is supposed to turn green) doesn't seem to want to change from yellow. I was at about 18 drops then started doing 2 drops at a time for a few turns. After I got to about 24-26 drops I just squirted in a bunch and still no change of color. Is this normal?


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## TryingPlanted111 (Dec 22, 2018)

Ok so you have very high general hardness. Not great, but shouldn't be terrible with mbuna. If other people are keeping them successfully in your area with the local water supply, you should be ok. 15kH is also extremely high but again, mbuna SHOULD tolerate it (though they won't love it) and on the bright side you won't be getting any pH swings any time soon.

Were you fully inverting the test tube after each drop? If you don't do this it screws up the test for hardness and kH.


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## dwl0222 (Mar 6, 2011)

TryingPlanted111 said:


> Ok so you have very high general hardness. Not great, but shouldn't be terrible with mbuna. If other people are keeping them successfully in your area with the local water supply, you should be ok. 15kH is also extremely high but again, mbuna SHOULD tolerate it (though they won't love it) and on the bright side you won't be getting any pH swings any time soon.
> 
> Were you fully inverting the test tube after each drop? If you don't do this it screws up the test for hardness and kH.


Well that's not what I wanted to hear...just a couple years ago or so I kept Central American Cichlids no problem. That's the direction i was going for again. I find it hard to believe my water would change that much in a fairly short amount of time. Yes at first I was inverting after each drop, until I got to about 20 drops and got tired of waiting. At that point I just wanted to see if it would ever turn green lol.


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## dwl0222 (Mar 6, 2011)

Ok well I may have found an issue....the last 4 digits on the code printed on the bottle, which I think is the bottled date" is 10-11. So my kit is potentially 7 years old. Gonna get my hands on a new kit and see what happens.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Which test kit has that 10-11 date on them?

I've found that IF the test solutions have been opened that they should be used within 3 years or your results may be skewed.


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## dwl0222 (Mar 6, 2011)

Sorry I should have been more clear. The master test kit with PH, Ammonia, Nitrates etc etc is brand new. The GH/KH Kit has a date of 10-11 on it.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

No problem! I would get the new GH and KH tests which you did mention.

I'm not real sure what is going on with the pH colors, are you testing the tap water or the tank water?

Also, do you know what your tap water source is ... private well, city/county well, lake or other? You could always check your local water authority's website for their annual water report as it may be helpful to know the source water as well as if they add 'stuff' that may alter parameters.


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## dwl0222 (Mar 6, 2011)

Deeda said:


> No problem! I would get the new GH and KH tests which you did mention.
> 
> I'm not real sure what is going on with the pH colors, are you testing the tap water or the tank water?
> 
> Also, do you know what your tap water source is ... private well, city/county well, lake or other? You could always check your local water authority's website for their annual water report as it may be helpful to know the source water as well as if they add 'stuff' that may alter parameters.


The PH shown there is tank water, but it's from the tap and has nothing added to it. No fish, no chemical buffers or anything. Filters are running with sponges n biomax etc. I haven't even started my cycle yet as I found out my header is broke and need to replace it, and beneficial bacteria probably won't grow in cold water. Tap water is city/county.


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## dwl0222 (Mar 6, 2011)

Ok so I finally got my hands on a new GH/KH Kit. Results are- GH 8 drops and KH 9 drops. So much better than before and I'm assuming it had to do with the expired kit. I'm going to post pictures of my PH/high range PH if I could get some opinions. I think it more closely matches 7.6 on the regular PH test than anything on the high range PH test, would you agree? Not sure why the pics keep showing up sideways...


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

It is 7.6 on low range because that is as high as it can go. My interpretation is that you have 8.2 pH and should use the high range test.


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## dwl0222 (Mar 6, 2011)

DJRansome said:


> It is 7.6 on low range because that is as high as it can go. My interpretation is that you have 8.2 pH and should use the high range test.


Thanks. I was aware that 7.6 is as high as the regular test will go, but just thought it was the closest match in my opinion. I thought the high ph had a little of a reddish hue to it as opposed to the more brownish color of the card. But that's why I asked, I wasn't really sure how exact of a match it would be so wanted another set of eyes on it.


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## Thalas_shaya (Mar 10, 2014)

Plus one. The high range pH looks like 8.1 or 8.2 to me.


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## dwl0222 (Mar 6, 2011)

Thanks everyone for your input. So I was curious as to the water measurements coming out of a couple faucets in the house compared to the tank water. So I tested a basement faucet and the 1/2 bath which is where I get my tank water from. The PH at both faucets was about 7.5-7.6, the tank water is around 8-8.2. The hardness at both faucets is GH 300, KH 200. The hardness in the tank is GH 150-160, KH 140. I assume the drop of hardness is from my pieces of driftwood, but what's causing the rise in PH? I have rocks in the tank that I swear I tested a couple years ago....but I'm wondering if it is them? I'll post a short video showing them, maybe someone can identify the type of rock without me having to pull them out. Thanks!


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Check the pH from the tap after it sits on the counter for 24 hours.


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## dwl0222 (Mar 6, 2011)

DJRansome said:


> Check the pH from the tap after it sits on the counter for 24 hours.


Done. Got a cup of water from the tap set aside, I'll test tomorrow.


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## dwl0222 (Mar 6, 2011)

DJRansome said:


> Check the pH from the tap after it sits on the counter for 24 hours.


Ok so tested water that was out for about 26 hours, it did read about 8.2 compared to 7.4-7.6 from the tap. So is it just normal for water to rise in PH after being out? Guess not much I can do then and I definitely don't want to mess with chemicals etc....


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Fairly typical.


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