Seachem Amonia Alert

[foo]

Hi All,

Has anyone had incorrect readings from using the Seachem Amonia Alert Tabs?

I placed one of the Seachem Amonia Alert tabs in my tank recently and it has been reading Safe Levels of Amonia. But I recently did a water test using the conventional test tubes, the amonia reading went off the charts. It was like 4.00ppm or 8.0ppm (mg/L).

I would like to know if anyone has had false readings from using the Seachem Amonia Alert or is it rather accurate and trust worthy.

Advise from anyone would be much appreciated.

Pete

[Proteus]

I have never had an issue with the Ammonia alerts and on a couple of occasions they have given me an indication that levels were higher than they should have been.

Bear in mind, most test kits dont register "Free Ammonia", they only record "Total Ammonia"


INTERPRETATION: As little as 0.02 mg/L of free ammonia will produce a greenish hue on the detector surface. This corresponds to a total ammonia (both ionized and free ammonia) of 0.25 mg/L in marine water at pH 8.3. In freshwater at pH 7.0, this corresponds to 3.6 mg/L total ammonia. Free ammonia is much more toxic than ionized ammonia. As free ammonia, the ALERT color corresponds to about 0.05 mg/L, ALARM to about 0.2 mg/L, and TOXIC to about 0.5 mg/L. The ALERT concentration is tolerated for several days, ALARM for a few days, and TOXIC is rapidly harmful. This product is not recommended for use at acid pH

The other things that needs to be considered... how old is your test kit? as some reagents only have a life span of 6-12 months depending on how many times the bottle gets opened.

[DiscusEden]

Hi foo,

I recently had similar issues with different test readings from the Seachem Ammonia Alert & other test kits. Mine was because I was using Seachem Prime, which interfered with the chemicals used to get a reading on the other tests' kits.

I don't know enough about the products to give you a comparison, but I can tell you that I feel completely comfortable trusting my Ammonia Alert & ignoring the other tests.

If you're not using any Seachem products, I don't know what it would be. If you are, I found a visit to their FAQ site on their website (maybe Seachem.com ? - google'd tell you) very informative.

HTH

[foo]

Proteus,

My other test kits have been around for quite sometime... Its about 1 year and abit now....

I guess it might be time to get a new test kit too... just to be safe

[foo]

DiscusEden,

I do use alot of the Seachem products. I think it is the only product out in the market for water treatments that I fully trust.

I used Prime, Discus Buffer, Purigen and Safe. I even did 4 x the recommended dosage for Prime when I had those scary readings.

But since the majority have had good results from this product I feel alot safer and at ease.

Thanks for the feedback and assurance guys.