humonia/ammonia/test kit question

[George]

I poured about a pint of aged humonia into 350 gals of water and a couple of days later still getting no reading of ammonia using the Freshwater Master Test Kit.  Strange it seems to me that the test tube stays perfectly clear, not even turning yellow to indicate 0 ppm.  Any thoughts?

Also, does anyone know of a source for ammonia in Jacksonville, Fl? 

thanks

George

 

 

[TCLynx]

Check ace hardware, you can probably buy a whole gallon of it.

 

Now if your test kit isn't even giving you yellow, I'm a little worried that there might be something wrong with the test kit reagents.  You might take a sample into an aquarium shop (maybe pet smart?) and see if they can do a water test for you to see if perhaps you have an old or bad test in the kit.

 

However, check this blog post out, it might explain a mystery.

 

[George]

Thanks for the link.  I'd read that but couldn't find it again.  Will check Ace on my next day off.

TCLynx said:

Check ace hardware, you can probably buy a whole gallon of it.

 

Now if your test kit isn't even giving you yellow, I'm a little worried that there might be something wrong with the test kit reagents.  You might take a sample into an aquarium shop (maybe pet smart?) and see if they can do a water test for you to see if perhaps you have an old or bad test in the kit.

 

However, check this blog post out, it might explain a mystery.

 

[claude saunders]

At the risk of admitting my own stupidity, I had a problem with a clear ammonia test which I interpreted as a zero reading. So I kept adding ammonia. Turns out I didn't follow test kit instructions by putting in drops from Ammonia Test #1 Bottle AND Ammonia Test #2 bottle AND waiting 5 minutes for color to develop.

As an engineer, I find this really embarrassing. But following Occams Razor principle, the simplest explanation is often the best...

[George]

Yes, it is embarrassing.  I had a solid 8.0 reading on ammonia for a couple of weeks.  The bacteria had plenty to feed on.

Happy gardening

Had to start over on cycling (another sad tale) and hope to put fish in one week from today.

claude saunders said:

At the risk of admitting my own stupidity, I had a problem with a clear ammonia test which I interpreted as a zero reading. So I kept adding ammonia. Turns out I didn't follow test kit instructions by putting in drops from Ammonia Test #1 Bottle AND Ammonia Test #2 bottle AND waiting 5 minutes for color to develop.

As an engineer, I find this really embarrassing. But following Occams Razor principle, the simplest explanation is often the best...