Test Kits

Rocketman said:

would my Hagen Nitrate test kit detect nitrogen, or do I need to buy another?

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Not too sure what you mean by this, it will detect nitrogen in the form of nitrate, but if you're looking to measure nitrite or ammonia then you'll need kits specific to those compounds.

I use the Hagen kits and have had great results. I can reproduce (within test kit error) the values that my water comission reports for pH, KH, GH, and NO3. My NO3 and PO4 kits detect the NO3 and PO4 that I dose by about as much as I'd expect, so pretty happy there.

I've also heard folks say that the AquariumPharmaceuticals kits work well, although I've never used them myself, so there's another option.

I don't think that there is a K test kit, but in truth I've never looked, so there may well be. But I don't think that either K or Fe are necessary to test for. Read Plantbrain's sticky on using KNO3 and KH2PO4 as the sole source of K and see if your tank falls into that category. If not, simply use Chuck Gadd's dosing calculator to determine how much you should be adding and follow Tom Barr's estimative index: in a nutshell dose enough at after your weekly 50% then perhaps a half dose midway through the week.

Earlier this year I tested five nitrate test kits - Wardely, Jungle, Tetra, Aq Pharm. and Hagen,. Up to 15 ppm the first four reported about the same on several samples. The Hagen kit was consistenly lower by about 90 percent. After after talking to Hagen, I tried a second kit and got the same result.

Maybe they just had a bad day in the factory?

I've used Aq Pharm for several years and I am quite happy with it.

Bill

I've never used the product, but that would be my guess. And in that case, yes, the test kit should detect it.