API Ammonia 130-Test Freshwater and Saltwater Aquarium Water Test Kit

I worked in three pet shops as a teen and later managed the salt water department in a very large pet shop in Philadelphia. I have kept fish since I was five years old but have been on hiatus for the past 20 years and not had any tanks. These kits have been around for ages and are very accurate if you use them for their true intended purpose; freshwater community tanks or similar. Don't try and use the nitrite or ammonia for saltwater tanks of any sort (even though the kits say the can do salt water, they don’t do it well). Don't use the pH test kit for tanks that need exact pH values for high pH animals like cichlids (though this is less of a problem if you read below). These tests are extremely economical and provide many more tests per dollar than any other kits available. My son is six and my daughter is four. We decided to raise tadpoles twice this year and needed to monitor ammonia, nitrite, and pH. The 40-ish year old design of these kits still fit that bill perfectly and were exactly what we needed. I wish the scale on the pH kit went higher, but it goes high enough for community fish. Tadpoles here tend to like higher pH values of ~8.2 and the pH kit doesn't go that high. However, I got a rough enough estimate if the pH test indicated that the pH was off the chart high as water isn't going to go much above 8.2 unless you use chemicals inappropriately to alter ph. Ammonia and nitrite test kits worked perfectly as in the past and averted many potential tadpole disasters and crying children. We've kept snails, clams, some minnows, and loads of plants in the tank while the tadpoles have developed so the bio load was always changing. Still great kits even after 40 years at a very affordable price. Highly recommended for their intended usage scenario.

works fine

Hi since 1996 this was my first ammonia test kit and still being used today 2026 to monitor the Nitrogen cycle and if something questionable is happening in the aquarium. Yes there are more expensive electronic testing devices. Have compared them. API is still accurate and affordable

The api water testing kits are pretty much the gold standard for checking the water parameters of aquariums. This one just tests for ammonia, and is incredibly accurate. Easy to use, as well. Only takes 5 minutes and you can read your ammonia level by the color of the water in the test tube. It is tempting to try to save money and use test strips, and I did so, even when told by other aquarium enthusiasts that the strips aren’t accurate. I had what I thought was a newly cycled tank, using test strips and kept getting zero ammonia, so added my betta fish. Soon the fish was acting weird, like something was bothering him. So I got this test kit, and the ammonia was very high! And the test strip at the exact same time still read zero. So please do yourself a favor and go for the test tube rather than than the test strips!

Worked well

Truly a necessity, I'm doing a fish in cycle and have had the tank going for about a week now and my ammonia just tested to around 4 (really bad), did a 70% change and got it down to 1-2 and will continue doing small changes until my tank is cycled. My fish and snail were acting perfectly normal too so it was definitely a surprise!

I am a ponder - have been for years, and frankly, the ammonia test is the one I use most. I bought a cheaper test kit, and found it to be utterly lacking in sensitivity and display. This is the one you want. Easy to use, easy to read and understand. Far better accuracy. Some tests are just too vague.

First time with a 10 gallon tank because our 8 year old wanted pet gold fish. The test kit helped us get through the cycling. And the kid had fun testing the water for ammonia! It is a chemistry lab introduction for the kid. Kid and fish are happy!

This is a good product to use when you are new to the hobby. Product is little costly but may be worth the price.

As described.

Easy to use

Essential for fish tank monitoring. Easy to use, clear results. Handy size.

Excellent product and service