GH/KH test kit?

2342 Views 8 Replies 6 Participants Last post by steveo, Feb 16, 2017

Kyrayne

Discussion Starter · Feb 2, 2017

So aggravated with my API GH/KH kit. KH isn't so much the problem but GH is giving me fits. My instructions say to add one drop at a time and shake after each drop and to stop when water changes from orange to green. First off, it never looks orange to me, maybe pale yellow and it never looks green maybe a greenish yellow. I have used distilled water to double check and it's no better. Am I wrong, but isn't distilled water supposed to be like 0 everything? Is there another brand of tea kit with more drastic color changes that my eyes can work with? My tap water is 38 TDS straight from the tap so the GH/KH should both be on the low side right? Can someone give me some pointers?

Save

1 - 9 of 9 Posts

Maryland Guppy

· #2 · Feb 3, 2017

Take 1 gallon of your distilled water and add about 330mg of MgSO4.
This should need two drops of reagent to change from orange to green/yellow in the typical 5ml sample.

You could also use a 20ml sample and it will take 4 drops to go from orange to green.
In 20 ml of water the orange is very faint but 4 drops makes the change.

Save

LadyHawk

· #3 · Feb 3, 2017

I'm not sure if this would be an issue or not, but did it freeze at any point? I know some of the kits are sensitive to temperature, and depending on where you live and if you ordered it online/it sat in the cold, sometimes that can affect the way the tests work.

Save

steveo

· #4 · Feb 3, 2017

Kyrayne said:
So aggravated with my API GH/KH kit. KH isn't so much the problem but GH is giving me fits. My instructions say to add one drop at a time and shake after each drop and to stop when water changes from orange to green. First off, it never looks orange to me, maybe pale yellow and it never looks green maybe a greenish yellow. I have used distilled water to double check and it's no better. Am I wrong, but isn't distilled water supposed to be like 0 everything? Is there another brand of tea kit with more drastic color changes that my eyes can work with? My tap water is 38 TDS straight from the tap so the GH/KH should both be on the low side right? Can someone give me some pointers?

Thanks for posting. I couldn't agree more!

Save

somewhatshocked

· #5 · Feb 3, 2017

OP: Have you tried the kits by Sera? Typically have to buy the two hardness test separately but I find them to be well worth it.

Have been using them for a couple years and they're a lot less frustrating and way simpler to read than API. More accurate, I think, as well (based on my own experience with them).

Save

Kyrayne

Discussion Starter · #6 · Feb 3, 2017

No, it has never been frozen.

Bump:

somewhatshocked said:
OP: Have you tried the kits by Sera? Typically have to buy the two hardness test separately but I find them to be well worth it.

Have been using them for a couple years and they're a lot less frustrating and way simpler to read than API. More accurate, I think, as well (based on my own experience with them).

I have only ever used the API kit. I will look for a Sera kit. Thank you.

Bump:

Maryland Guppy said:
Take 1 gallon of your distilled water and add about 330mg of MgSO4.
This should need two drops of reagent to change from orange to green/yellow in the typical 5ml sample.

You could also use a 20ml sample and it will take 4 drops to go from orange to green.
In 20 ml of water the orange is very faint but 4 drops makes the change.

What is MgsO4? Epsom salts?

Save

somewhatshocked

· #7 · Feb 3, 2017

I'm not sure if Southern Oak Aquatics is still in operation but they had them when I last ordered individual hardness kits.

Have also found them on That Fish Place, sometimes on Marine Depot and occasionally on Amazon for reasonable prices - from both Amazon and individual sellers.

Save

FishRFriendz

· #8 · Feb 3, 2017

I find it easier to use the API kit by taking multiple 5ml tubes and filling them all. Then the first tube I put 1 drop, the 2nd tube is 2 drops etc. of course I don't actually start at 1 since I know my tap is 5 to start with, so I start at 4 and use tubes from the master test kit to test to 8. It's way easier when you can see the before and after for each increment of reagent.

Save

Reactions: 4

steveo

· #9 · Feb 16, 2017

steveo said:
Thanks for posting. I couldn't agree more!

Follow-up; in fairness to API, I noticed my GH test kit was out of date by more than a year. Just got a new one today, and can now clearly differentiate when it turns from orange to green. I'm satisfied with this test kit.

Save

Reactions: 2

1 - 9 of 9 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.

Top Contributors this Month