API Pond Master Test KIT Pond Water Test Kit 500-Test

The shades of colors can be a bit difficult to distinguish between, but it does a decent job.

Checking out pond...

Tested my KOI pond. testing was simple and I was happy that all test fell into the correct reading. It was nice to know I was taking good care of my KOI fish. Thank you.

I've used this in conjunction with a friend who also bought the same kit. We wanted to get an idea on how the water quality in our small private lake is? The testing is simple enough. Grab a sample of water and fill the test tubes that came with it up to the fill line. The one down side is comparing your sample with the enclosed color chart. It shows different colors depending on the angle of light streaming through the test tube. Accuracy is subjective to how well you see colors. But for the price it gives you an idea of how well your water measures up.

Easy to use

Test kit advertised to test/measure pH, Ammonia, Nitrite & Phosphate. My purchased kit arrived with the following solutions: 3 bottles Ammonia (includes one bottle #1 & two bottles #2) two bottles Phoshate (one #1 & one #2) and one bottle Nitrite. No solutions to test pH. Otherwise, the kit arrived very quickly, neatly packaged, and appears to be a smart and simple solution for pond testing.

The original API test kits I bought several years ago had glass test tubes and were easier to read and compare the levels to the chart. This is the third kit I've bought in 7 years. I was very happy with the first two. I bought this last one last November and was disappointed to find that the glass test tubes were replaced with plastic. The problem with plastic is that it is permeable and some of the colors stain the tubes- especially ammonia and pH. I diligently wash and brush the inside of the tubes but the stains persist. The color-tinged tubes make it difficult to accurately determine the exact levels. Fortunately my pond's ecosystem remains pretty healthy but I've been having a problem with nitrite levels over a few months. What is extremely frustrating, and actually unsafe, is the chart for the nitrites in this particular kit. It looks nothing like the depiction in the ad, which are really easy to decipher and delineate. The one in this newest kit is actually quite useless. The subtlety of colors are so minuscule you can't tell if there's no nitrites or toxic levels of nitrates. See pictures for comparison. Also once the solution is mixed in water it is very pale in color compared to my last kits. In other words they're not nearly as vivid as the chart colors show. The color in the tube looks as though it's been diluted despite that I'm using 5 ml of pond water as instructed. I'm currently on the hunt for a more accurate test system that actually uses glass tubes if anybody knows of one?

It’s not all there! No bottle of nitrate tester, the information says 3 colored coded card, only one I think it’s one that comes with directions. Three of bottles were leaking. Very disappointed.