# Digital Nitrate tester



## LaRougeRaven (Jan 24, 2015)

Has anyone ever used a digital nitrate tester? Instead of the liquid test kits?


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## Goldguru (Sep 5, 2016)

I have searched that until the internet said "UNCLE" lol.
I'm guessing your having the same issue as everyone trying to decipher the color chart?

heres what you do.
1st a lil background,im a stroke victim which left me partially blind & almost completely color blind,so i have to have my wife read the samples.
One cant imagine the Chit storm that created when I was impatiently asking "WELL?"
make a trip to your local dollar store,and look for a pair of these.
http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=789129&stc=1&d=1473095587

the color you are looking for is Blue.
take your color chart with you and when you find the right pair the 10-20ppm and the 40-80 will stand out completly to make them easily readable.
hope that helps. Gg


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## LaRougeRaven (Jan 24, 2015)

Goldguru said:


> I have searched that until the internet said "UNCLE" lol.
> I'm guessing your having the same issue as everyone trying to decipher the color chart?
> 
> heres what you do.
> ...


Nothing you said made any sense and did not help me. If this was a joke, then shame on you for spamming, if this is not a joke, then maybe pay attention before you reply to a post.


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## Goldguru (Sep 5, 2016)

Definatly not a joke.
Yes I did read the posted question.
testing Nitrates electronically is virtualy impossible for an @ home user for freshwater from what i found on the internet.
the proceedure involved requires a sterile lab & many 1000's of $ to achieve.
completly out of reach of the hobbiest.

what I was offering was a simple method for you to explore to help determine the difference between the colors on the test card's.
using a blue shade of film the color chart takes on very distinguishable changes.
the glass's are what i found that worked for me.(cheap $2)
If you have something Blue & transparent hold it to your test card & see the difference for yourself.
you may not find a noticable difference on your 1st attempt,dont give up & try more shades of blue.
my wife described the color as sky blue to me,about the color of a 5gallon bottled water jug.however you need only 1 layer,so cutting the jug would be required.

research how sewage plants detect & reduce nitrates from effluant to understand the scope of electronically monitoring nitrates.

If you find this post in error then sorry.
you will notice the so called pinpoint testers sold on the internet are far from accurate if you read enough reviews.
due to my handicap I was very close to ordering 1 until I read thru enough of the reviews, most user reviews on the net peaked around 2011-12, after that seems the general view was they were to unstable to regard acuracy over time,due to many uncontrolable user parameters & probe deteriation problems.
Also note that they are mostly used by reef tank user's.due to the salt content.
just trying to help.


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## LaRougeRaven (Jan 24, 2015)

Ah, okay, thank you. Sorry the post seemed really out of place. The other thing is Nitrites are tested with blue while Nitrates are tested with yellow and orange. 

I will look more into the what you have said though, thank you.


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## Goldguru (Sep 5, 2016)

no problem, i kinda figured that one would think my reply was off topic.
what made me think of that solution for me was when using camping tents & how one's perspective of known colors changed due to tent material color changing what you see.
i would guess that if your having trouble with other tests in the kit apply same method.
red,green,blue..RPG. those are the only colors used to make up what U see on a plasma or LED tv/PC monitor, end result is complete color spectrum representation.
good luck

PS we 1st tested using food coloring in a clear glass with water about 1 inch deep over the test card,simple but effective. try to make very slow changes to the water that helps narrow the shade to what is most effective change for you,then with that color in mind you can go on the "hunt" for either cheapo sunglass's or?...chose something flat so the bending light doesnt make it important to how you hold or view the sample.


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