Life of a test kit

[wrasser]

What is the typical life of a test lit? I have some API test kits for calcium and phosphates that are 2 years old. Are they still good?

 

[rdnelson]

Several will tell you they were never good. LOL Is there a date stamp on the bottles anywhere?

 

[thanh386]

API weren't good when they were new .

 

[rdnelson]

Told you someone would say that. hehehehe

 

[patrick]

Liquid reagent test kits tend to last awhile. I have Salifert, but use API for routine testing. They are perfectly fine for the parameters where you just need a ballpark reading or where you are testing to make sure you have no reading at all. I use them for Phosphate and Nitrate. If I register any color change at all, I will then whip out the Salifert and run the low range test to get a more exact number. Personally, I have had more issues with bad test kits from Salifert and a powder reagent kit.......but those were several years ago.

To answer your specific question though, I have a couple API kits that are 3 years old and they still test as accurate as they ever did........at least according to the Salifert kits. In fact last week I tested my Ca and Mg with the Salifert kits and then tested the Ca with the 3 year old API kit and got nearly the same reading. Of course, the API Ca kit is only accurate to within 10 ppm.....which is good enough.