Any chemists with lab access?

dan223

Custom User Title
I see a very common reacurring topic here in the chemistry forum. Being which test kits are decent, bad etc. etc. Ive seen salt mix breakdowns and comparisons and that had to be alot more expensive and time consuming than making some reference solutions for alk, cal, ph,phos,mag, and then buying some major brand kits and seeing how close they were and most importantly who's way off. I dont have the access but would, as I imagine a few others would, be willing to chip in a couple bucks to cover the kits. It would be reassuring to see some accurate comparisons.
Anybody willing to?
 
People run these types of tests frequently. One of the issues is that test kits can fail over time, and manufacturing errors seem to cause problems as well. There's a number of brands that seem to produce kits that usually are fine.
 
It would be interesting. I'm always tempted to sneak a sample of my aquarium water into our ICP-MS to check metal concentrations. I don't think anyone would really care, I'm just lazy I guess.

I'm not even motivated enough to check mundane things like pH, density, etc. I've found the test kits to be ok. You just need to go slow and make sure you stop as soon as you hit the endpoint.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15428020#post15428020 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by gypsyboy38
You just need to go slow and make sure you stop as soon as you hit the endpoint.
Speaking of endpoint, say it goes from blue to yellow like the kh kit. It starts a dark blue then light blue, then one more drop and its light green, is that the end point or if it takes 2 more drops to reach yellow is that the end point?
 
It depends on where the test kit manufacturer decides the endpoint is. Since they are the ones that create the standards that you are referencing, your endpoint needs to be the same as theirs. I would imagine (hope) that this occurs at the color that they specify. If the kit is used correctly, the only discrepancy should come from going a fraction of a drop over/under.
 
Back
Top