# reading the 5in1 test



## buzz1167 (Sep 23, 2011)

How important is reading the 5n1 test at the right time? It says an order to read them in and a time to read them at... really? Either 25sec for ph, akalinity, and hardness or 1 minute for nitrite and nitrate. 

I did one before and after a water change, to see if I need to change water more, and I think I do... But I had a similar problem both times...

Unfortunately at 25 seconds, the harndess reading is only half developed so it looks spotty. And the PH is way off the scale. At one minute, the nitrate is unreadable, because its gray, not a shade of pink at all.

If i let the thing set for about 2 minutes, then i can read all of the scales and they are in the range of "readability", however as it sets out for like 5 minutes the ph and hardness transform back to yellow colors... How can I tell if I'm reading it right? is it just a pain in the $&% and i need to get a better test or what?

I think, if i read them at about 1-2 minutes, i get

Before Change: 
80-160 Nitrate
0 Nitrite
75-150 Total hardness (soft - hard)
180-300 Total Alkalinity
<5.5 Ph ?? it never developed out of yellow ??

1-2hr After change:
0-20 Nitrate
0 Nitrite
25-75 Total Hardness (soft)
180-300 Total Alkalinity
7-7.5 Ph

Thanks,


----------



## CalvinKE (Mar 17, 2011)

mine sometimes screws up too but its usually good if you read it all after a whole minute, just make sure its level while the colors develop and if you cant figure out, petsmart does it for free and so do many lfs near where i live, so if you can, double check if you can if it seems way off, one time i had a reading that was completely wrong and im not sure how and my lfs checked it for me and said it was ok, so i guess some of the strips are just bad


----------



## Schwartzy61 (Jan 25, 2010)

I used to use the 5 in 1 test, but sometimes I found that it was hard to judge the readings. Now I just use standard test tube tests.


----------

