So I was at my LFS & the I was talking to the owner about test kits & how most of them aren't designed for the low levels that we in the shrimp hobby have to keep our water partameters at, I mentioned that there's noting out there that does low range of calcium or in particular nitrates & without even flinching he said "Salifert does!". I was a bit apprehensive at first& asked if it will do as low as 5ppm(most test kits only go down to 10ppm) & he told me it would go as low as 0.2ppm, gob smacked I said I'll give one a try & see how it goes.

When I got home I opened the box to check the contents, looks simple enough!

I started to read the instructions & found there is a high range & low range reading, but what confused me was the fact that you don't have to do a different test for the two different ranges. I started to do the process,

1ml of tank water with the syringe provided, then add 4 drops of the liquid reagent

Then you add a spoonful of the powdered reagent & swirl for 30sec(don't shake)

You wait 3mins & then check against the chart from the top down, simple enough huh?

Now this is where the test gets very cool indeed, if the test reads below 10ppm from above in the "high range" then to change to the "low range" you just look at the same test sample through the SIDE, that's right, same sample but looking through the side & then you divide the chart numbers by 10 to give you the "low range" reading values. i.e. 100ppm from the top becomes 10ppm from the side, 2ppm from the top becomes 0.2ppm from the side, etc, cool huh!

All I can say is MIND BLOWN!!! I am a total Salifert convert now & have already ordered the calcium kit & will post up a review of that one as soon as I get it. Apparently the guy who owns Salifert does one thing & that is design & refine test kits for aquarium use, which is why they are so good, he doesn't have a million different products in his range so he can concentrate on making his test kits the best there is. Anyway I thought I'd share this with you guys cause if you are having the same problem that I was & couldn't get a reading on any normal test kit then this is definitely the test kit for you. If you want the details of the store I got this kit from just PM me & yes they are online & deliver for a flatrate. :victorious:

Thanks Squiggs.....awesome ! Just what the mad scientist in me LOVE !

Just researching again last night on a electronic nitrate tester, but seem too expensive and requires constant calibration.... So this would be great.

Now to also find a reliable electronic PH tester, that doesn't require constant calibration. :-)

Glad to help dude, if I find something that works well then I'm gonna tell people so they can benefit from the success that I've found. :encouragement:

If you find one BB then definitely let me know! :victorious:

I use the Calcium test kit and it has good resolution.

Marcus you could probably afford one of these, right?

Wish I had one!

As flash as a Rat with a gold tooth, WOW

Bob

That's awesome….as soon as they make one as a "pen", I'll get one ! LOL….Must be EXPENSIVE !

Great info Squiggles, you gave us all the info but no price, then again, suppose all i have to do is google the suppliers for that.

Hahaha, the price is on the top left corner of the box in the first pic, just wanted to do a product review without the advertisement at the end, lol :congratulatory:

Dahhhh, not very observant but then again i am old and that's my excuse and i am sticking to it.

Lol :victorious:

..... I am a total Salifert convert now & have already ordered the calcium kit .....

This is the Calcium Test Kit I was telling you about! I like it.

this nitrate testkit looks awesome. I just got the aquasonic one after being mightily frustrated by API.. wish I knew of this a week ago! :-)

I bought a Salifert NO3 test after reading Squiggles review too. It's an excellent kit. Happy to say the results from this and the API Nitrate kit are generally pretty close too. 

That said, testing Nitrate with a liquid kit and colour chart just sucks. Luckily it's not acutely toxic and not too much to worry about most of the time. 

 

To confirm BB's suspicions, yes Nitrate probes are very expensive. When I was at uni our lab probe was about $500 (probe only) and you can comfortably double that figure now. Hanna make a portable Nitrate photometer that's probably cheaper, but I'd love to see them bring out a "checker" at an even more reasonable price. 

 

Too bad Rev. API Nitrate is frustrating but it works. I haven't seen an Aquasonic kit for a very long time but I don't have any nice things to say about their old ones. Too bad because I'm a big supporter of their brand generally.