NS Mike D
In the arena.
Have you ever done a back to back test to see the variance in your reading a test kit? I know I struggle reading this test kits and try to keep my own bias out of it but man is that hard.
I was low on my Red Sea KH test which expired as per the label three weeks ago. So the new bottle of reagent arrived today so for fun I did two tests.
Here we go!
The exp 3/20 reagent
for reference it starts blue as expected
At Green just about 7.0 dosed. =. 3.6 Meg/l. 9.8 dkh
and dumped the rest to illustrate yellow
The new test
starts out blue
7.2 used, 3.6 Meq/l 10.1 dkh
A little over shoot to confirm yellow
A few observations
1. The green seems to back slide to blue, After I took the picture of the first sample, I had second thoughts and added a few drops, and it appeared to be anywhere between 9.8 and 11.2 dkh. (see 3rd point) The second test could have easily been read as 3.0 Meq/l 9.8 dkh before I decided to add one more drop.
2. There was a slight difference between the vials on the white sheet and holding them up to daylight (window light). There was a bit more blue hue on the paper, and more yellow hue to the window in both samples
3. The syringe plays a HUGE role. The older syringe numbers were a little faded but more importantly original syringes stick making it hard to add reagent one drop at a time. This has been the case for as long as I can remember. It was particularly problematic when I decided to add more reagent to confirm I was at green and not blue green. Instead drop by drop, it blasted another .1ml. It turned the vial green/yellow and so there as no way of knowing where that occurred The syringe that came with the refill today was clearly more smooth and I was able to add reagent more precisely - drop by drop.
Order syringes and keep them on hand. If a new syringe isn't smooth, throw it out and replace syringes as needed. It makes a difference .
Aside from my syringe issue, Red Sea did improve the way the reagents read ,but it still is by no means a precise line in the sand,
I was low on my Red Sea KH test which expired as per the label three weeks ago. So the new bottle of reagent arrived today so for fun I did two tests.
Here we go!
The exp 3/20 reagent
for reference it starts blue as expected
At Green just about 7.0 dosed. =. 3.6 Meg/l. 9.8 dkh
and dumped the rest to illustrate yellow
The new test
starts out blue
7.2 used, 3.6 Meq/l 10.1 dkh
A little over shoot to confirm yellow
A few observations
1. The green seems to back slide to blue, After I took the picture of the first sample, I had second thoughts and added a few drops, and it appeared to be anywhere between 9.8 and 11.2 dkh. (see 3rd point) The second test could have easily been read as 3.0 Meq/l 9.8 dkh before I decided to add one more drop.
2. There was a slight difference between the vials on the white sheet and holding them up to daylight (window light). There was a bit more blue hue on the paper, and more yellow hue to the window in both samples
3. The syringe plays a HUGE role. The older syringe numbers were a little faded but more importantly original syringes stick making it hard to add reagent one drop at a time. This has been the case for as long as I can remember. It was particularly problematic when I decided to add more reagent to confirm I was at green and not blue green. Instead drop by drop, it blasted another .1ml. It turned the vial green/yellow and so there as no way of knowing where that occurred The syringe that came with the refill today was clearly more smooth and I was able to add reagent more precisely - drop by drop.
Order syringes and keep them on hand. If a new syringe isn't smooth, throw it out and replace syringes as needed. It makes a difference .
Aside from my syringe issue, Red Sea did improve the way the reagents read ,but it still is by no means a precise line in the sand,
