Expired Salifert Test Kit

[Neto]

Greetings

 

I bought new nitrate, alk and cal test kit from Salifert and compared to my expired test kits, see the results.. The biggest difference is the nitrate test, and even though the test kit expired some months ago, it makes me question the results of the new tests. Has anyone had issues with Salifert test kits? I have heard that expired test kits will only be slight off but wasnt expecting this much.

 

 

[A.ocellaris]

Yes, that's a lot. I compared two good kit from Salifert, got different results, but not that much. 

[malacoda]

I haven't had experience with expired salifert kits (I use salifert for alk and Ca and, since I test my 24g every 2-3 days, always use 'em up before the kits expire).

 

I have had experience with both Elos Phospate and Nyos NO3 kits that have expired though. And both were significantly off from the pre-expiration readings. 

 

My P and NO3 have been rock-steady at 0.008 and 1ppm for over two years. So I only test them once a month.  However, when I hit the ~10 month on the Elos Phos kit, I noticed a significant change in the reading.  Same with the Nyos kit. 

 

In each instance, when the new kit arrived and I re-tested, readings were back at the normal levels they always are.

 

I'm no chemist, but I have no doubt moisture, light, evaporation etc. will gradually degrade the contents.

 

I now make it point to replace test kits by the date on the packaging. AND to be a bit more 'suspicious' of any unusual reading they may give after I have them for 12 months.

Edited October 22, 2018 by malacoda

[astroboy]

My experience with expired test kits in general, including Salifert, is that they give a *much* lower NO3 reading than what the reality, like 25-50% less, I suspect depending on how long past the expiration date you're using it. Not really sure about other measurements....