Copper test kits
- Thread starter Humblefish
- Start date
- Tagged users None
HotRocks
Fish Fanatic!
Agree! loving it!
Really hard to tell because the camera might capture a different color. Also API test color should be determined in indirect sunlightUsing coppersafe and api. What level would you give this.
It’s been a while since I used api, but aren’t you supposed to look from the top of the tube through the bottom?Using coppersafe and api. What level would you give this.
Humblefish
Dr. Fish
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2014
- Messages
- 22,424
- Reaction score
- 34,869
^^ Yes, with the white part of the card on the bottom.
Honored.... I am a big fan of yours!
Been using my Hanna for the past few weeks. You will be happy.
SeaJay
Well-Known Member
I got my Hanna Copper Checker on Wednesday. I will never use anything else again. Everything you may have read about how terrible the API copper test kit is, is an understatement. I lost a cinnamon clown, and have another fish struggling to recover from a copper overdose due to using the API kit & this being my first foray into copper treatment. Unfortunately it was all my LFS had on hand and I had to get treatment started.
Last edited:
Hi. I got my Hanna Checker recently and I tested for copper in my QT. At first it read at 0.32 then a second test immediately after revealed it to be at 0.25. Is it safe to assume that I have a copper level of around 0.27-0.3? Using Cupramine btw
Brew12
Electrical Gru
Probably, but I normally don't see that big of a fluctuation with my copper checker. Are you sure you are getting it very clean and have the 10ml mark facing forward each time?
HotRocks
Fish Fanatic!
+1 also make sure you get ALL of the reagent into the cuvette.
There is a slight learning curve when you start using the checker.
bigcheese
Active Member
Sorry for the confusion about the mls. The API kit calls for 5mls of sample water so I use a syringe to take 5mls out of the tank and place in the test vial supplied by the test kit. When all the water from the syringe it places in the vial, it goes past the 5ml line on the test vial.
I know I'm replying to a year-old post and know precisely zilch about aquariums compared to @Humblefish, but I do know my chemistry.
TL;DR: Notice the concave shape where the water curves up toward the sides of the glass and droops in the middle... it's called the meniscus. When you read a test tube (or graduated cylinder / pipette / etc.) you read it at the bottom of the meniscus*, not the top.
I verified the API tubes have the white line printed so the top corresponds with the marked graduation, so the bottom of the meniscus should just touch the white line for a precise measure. @solitude127's pic is spot on 5mL.
Hopefully someone reading this thread a year from now can find this useful.
*Super Nerd Stuff: There are some liquids that make a convex meniscus, mercury thermometers being one example. It's 'more scientifically rigorous' to state that you'd read the center of the meniscus, but we're all looking at water here. Also of note is TDS and temperature have an effect on the surface tension, which causes the meniscus to differ in height... lab grade equipment is often specifically graduated for certain temperature ranges or chemicals because of this. Fortunately, it's so minimal of a difference between SW and RODI or 60F and 80F that it's dwarfed by the (in)accuracy of any test kit we can get our hands on.
gobble
Well-Known Member
Why do you say the Seachem kit won't work for Copper Power? The kit says it works on chelated copper and my first measurement at 1.0 seemed accurate.
I don't want to kill my gem tang so if I need a Hanna checker I'll go buy it. But isn't my seachem kit ok?
I don't want to kill my gem tang so if I need a Hanna checker I'll go buy it. But isn't my seachem kit ok?
4FordFamily
Tang, Angel, and Wrasse Nerd!
All of the color kits are pretty inaccurate. Seachem kit is specifically designed to be more accurate for cupramine, their copper product. This is ionic copper with a useful range below 1.0.
In truth none of those kits come close to a Hanna checker and I’d highly recommend it for all copper.
JMM744
Valuable Member
This is so true. It’s an investment in a much more accurate tool. I tried the way you are doing it but my readings were way off. Actually higher then was necessary. My last qt I ran at 1.85 give or take .05 and was easily able to hold that with the Hanna tester. On the 3 rd. day I dropped to 1.52 which I could have never read with another tester.
Hope your gem tank sails thru the qt process. Beautiful fish.
Hope your gem tank sails thru the qt process. Beautiful fish.
