Red Sea vs API - Ammonia Test Kit Accuracy Experiment

After a freak out this week over a supposed rise in my tanks ammonia level, I began to question my Red Sea ammonia test kits reliability. Since the start of my tank, the Red Sea has never show full 0 (yellow), always a very slight tint of green, but this week there was more green than normal. My nitrates and nitrites are currently 0.

So before taking drastic action with chemicals and major water changes, I decided to compare the Red Sea test Kit with another test kit, an API.

As a control, I would use a bottle of distilled water, which should most definitely give a 0 ammonia level reading. Then I would test my tanks water with both kits and compare.

Bellow are pictures of my test results. All of these pictures are straight out of the camera, no edits whatsoever.

Distilled Water Control Test:


Distilled Water Control Test with product boxes:


As you can clearly see, the Red Sea brand gave a false positive of ammonia on a brand new gallon jug of distilled water. The API read 0, bright yellow.

Tank Water Test:


Tank Water Test with product boxes:


Again you can see a clear difference in test results. The Red Sea test shows some ammonia, around a .1ppm to .2ppm reading, while the API brand shows no ammonia.

Both Tests side by side:




Clearly a difference in test results. The API is accurate, and the Red Sea gave me false readings on all ammonia tests. Now I'm not concluding that the Red Sea brand cannot be trusted, but I will not be using their tests from here out. Let me know what your thoughts on these results are, and if you've had any bad experiences with tests in the past.

 

Never used Red Sea so I cant say. But I will say any brand test kit can be bad or expired. So its always good to get a second test to verify, especially like in your case where something just doesn't seem right. There is no doubt that that Red Sea kit is bad, but that doesn't mean there all bad.

 

my red sea did the same exact thing. Always showed the same color as yours for ammonia never 0. now that i have all API test kits, my ammonia is 0. I hate the Red Sea kit as i found them to be very innacurate, api is much bettter.

 

Hmmm maybe it is a Red Sea thing. Glad I haven't used one.

 

Mine was the same.

When I setup My RSM250 the Ammo came down to .25 after two weeks. It stayed there according to the RS kit for another 10 days or so. I then tested my distilled water and it read .25. Used my FW API kit that showed 0. So I probably cycled in two weeks or so. The RS kit is broken ( I have 2 of them).

I am seeing issues with the alk test as well. Hagen reads 2.6 and RS claims 3.8. So I have no clue.

The PH, no2 and no3 tests seem to match the API results.

I am thinking Salifert, Lamott or Elos now.

 

Could be an expired kit. Personally I don't use Red Sea test kits anymore, ever since I had a magnesium test kit from them that read levels off the chart, while Salifert showed 1250.