SalifertNitrate Test Kit

I compared the results on one of these to a Hanna checker, was fairly inaccurate or perhaps hard to read and therefor inaccurate when you want a specific ppm reading BUT for most uses and with a more 2-5ppm or 10ppm to 20ppm "range" result its fine. So if you just want a reading within a range. Which will be acceptable for most of us.It'll tell you if you have none, some or plenty that's that's sure.The hanna checker is over a pound per test.. so i guess you get what you pay for.

Get your water tested quickly with this gem of a ki!!

I was having trouble measuring nitrate in my fish tank. The widely recommended API Master test was useless. Our tap water is 30ppm NO3 already. In the API test, 40 & 80ppm are indistinguishable. The machine-readable JBL strips also don’t work in this nitrate range. The Salifert test works perfectly. Most Importantly, it’s much better designed that the API. Firstly, the sample vial is square with flat sides, so that you always look through a consistent amount of solution. Then the reference card has space with a white background to place the sample vial to compare to each reference concentration in a controlled way. The test is a simple single colour, not some complicated arbitrary range of colours. You just judge the depth of colour. As a professional chemist, this system makes much more sense to me. In a single chromosphere system, the Beer-Lambert law tells you that the concentration is directly proportional to the absorbance divided by the path length (the amount of solution you look through). Now for the satisfying bit, the test is neatly designed so you can look down through a small path length, or sideways through a long path length. So, if you have a low nitrate concentration, you can use the long path length for accuracy, or conversely, if you have a high nitrate concentration, you can use the short path length. Nice! I will be buying more Salifert tests in future - and no more API.

The testing is very easy to do and takes less time than other well known brands for testing nitrate. The levels of nitrate in my aquarium are fairly low and as a readily the test solution is very hard to compare against the colour chart shades in the lower range. There is another way to read this through the side of the vial and take a 10% reading of a higher colour which does help. Having read other reviews I did think this would be easier to identify all ranges of nitrate, but not so.

Does the job, great for testing nitrate levels in your reef tank

Very good instructions, this Nitrate test kit is straightforward and easy to use.Gave me consistent results of the Nitrate level in my tank where other testing kits were not as accurate.Very happy with purchase.

I purchased this product to help my A-Level geography students conduct a water quality survey in a local river. The instructions were simple to follow and the results were readable within three to four minutes. Of course, this test kit can't give you laboratory-spec results and the readings are within a general rather than a specific parts per million range. That said, for what it is it represents a good start before more precise laboratory-based work.

I think Salifert test kits are good value for money but I am unsure about the accuracy copared with more expensive kits. Considering i am more concerned about variations in test result they work well and given teh amount of testing i do they work out very cost effective.