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Review on 🐟 Aquarium Products Freshwater Ammonia Test Strips, 100 Count by Doug Virden

Revainrating 3 out of 5

Not very accurate but good for monitoring changes

I like this product because it's relatively quick and easy. Regular ammonia testing takes about 15-20 minutes to show accurate results, but it only takes about 3 minutes from start to finish. This product has one major drawback and that is accuracy. The test has never been anywhere near accurate compared to the other two traditional test kits that use a vial and chemical drops for 15-20 minutes to display results. I think this is a good "quick" test, but should not be used as the only test. Now I use the strips to track changes in ammonia levels rather than trying to get accurate readings. Ammonia should always be as close to 0 as possible, but I actually try to keep it under 0.25ppm. The test strips always tell me the ammonia level is around 1.0 which is not safe for my fish, but both my regular test kits show the ammonia level to be between 0 and 0.25ppm which is safe for my fish. So the test is not really accurate, but it registers changes. When the test strip shows it's above 1.0ppm I usually see a slight increase when testing with test kits. At first I thought it was going to expire soon like some of the other reviews said but my bottle is good until April 2013. I recommend this product as a quick test to track changes, but I don't recommend it as the only one. the test you are using. Monitoring water quality is important, and high levels of ammonia are toxic to most fish, so knowing exact levels is important.

Pros
  • Aquarium Test Kits
Cons
  • Very expensive