Porchfish

I have the opportunity to use the testing equipment at work, but I'm afraid the readings will be too precise for my small needs. ( hypothetical question, if my boss is reading this...)

The equipment will test ammonia, nitrites, nitrates,etc.

Think I will always show some reading for ammonia and nitrite, which everyone says should be 0. ( readout might be: e.g. 0.010 )

Don't want to freak out if I show numbers on the test.

Any input would be helpful.

( I already use the lab for pH, phosphate,Water Hardness and alkalinity just to see how my water is doing and I want to see numbers on these test. Again hypothetical...)

Pandora

We use lab equipment to test the fish water here at work, and yes, you will always get some reading for ammonia and nitrite. Nothing to worry about. For the purposes of a home aquarium, I would think if the levels are too low to show up on a test kit from a petstore, they're low enough not to worry about. For our zebra danio system, as long as they're below 0.1 mg/L we don't worry, and usually it's quite a lot lower. Nitrates are always going to be higher, so it shouldn't make a difference what kind of test you use there.