API Phosphate test kit

[kidrobot]

sup guys i just finished checking my new batch of saltwater i made its been sitting inside the 5gal bucket for about 24hrs right now im confused with my phosphate results im getting a different color from the card that came with it..the salt im using is Red Sea Coral Pro salt..im wondering if this color in the test tube is 0ppm or high?

 

here it is

[chrisoppie]

Knowing their test kits, I would say it's between 0 and .25, leaning more toward the 0.

It is almost near impossible to get the two colors ever to match for an accurate test.

I use this method, in your test kit's case, your sample has so little green (I know this is a digital photo) it appears almost off white, if there was higher levels, as your card shows, it your sample would have a more green/blue . I apply this "sliding color scale to all my tests, I use for API. I never get a 100 percent match on the PH. Now that I think of it there is one I can see the sample matches the card 100 percent the Nirtite, it has been 0 (blue) for a while.

Thanks,

Chris

[CSoli921]

yeah... im pretty sure thats what i get too and i assumed it was 0ppm

[disaster999]

i have the same problem with it...its near impossible to read and compare the colors

[nano-paul]

i have the same problem with it...its near impossible to read and compare the colors

I would say 0 also.

[The Nomad]

I'm using the same kit and have worked mine down from +1.0 to zero. I think you are at zero.

[disaster999]

so i want to get something straight. from i understand, phosphate is what enables algae to grow in our tanks. people use phosguard or chemi-pure elite to remove phosphate so algae will not grow. so if my tank has 0 phosphate, why do i still have algae problems?

 

sorry if i totally got this wrong, just something i want to understand

[The Nomad]

so i want to get something straight. from i understand, phosphate is what enables algae to grow in our tanks. people use phosguard or chemi-pure elite to remove phosphate so algae will not grow. so if my tank has 0 phosphate, why do i still have algae problems?

 

sorry if i totally got this wrong, just something i want to understand

Possibly because the algae is sucking it up thus giving you a false zero.

[justaguy2]

Possibly because the algae is sucking it up thus giving you a false zero.

 

That's one possibility, but algae really doesn't require much of anything to grow other than light. It is, after all, one of the earliest life forms on the planet.

 

Introducing nutrients, like phosphorus, will assist it in growing more rapidly, but it will grow with next to nothing. It can and does also consume nitrogen (a primary plant nutrient just like phosphorus) and any waste in the tank will lead to nitrates (a form of nitrogen).

 

Algae happens.

[Lolli631]

I have the same kit and same end color. I compare it to the freshwater card in the kit. Dont know why but it matches 0.