Box for the NH4 ammonium water test, 10.6 by 17.5 cm format, approximately 50 measurements

Contents of the ammonium NH4 water test: three reagent bottles, two glass test tubes, sampling syringe, comparator block and colour chart

Reading the ammonium NH4 test: both test tubes in the comparator block, placed on the colour reference chart

Table showing the proportion of ammonia NH3 in the NH4 reading, according to pH from 6.5 to 9 and temperature from 10 to 30 degrees

Ammonium NH4 water test, drop format

Name: Ammonium NH4 water test, drop format
Brand: JBL
SKU: J2412100
Price: 16.99 USD
Availability: InStock

$16.99

This test tells you whether your biological filtration is still doing its job. It measures ammoniacal nitrogen from 0.05 to 5 mg/L, in freshwater, pond and aquaponic systems.

A single figure is not enough to make a decision: it is your pH that determines the genuinely toxic fraction, and the same result can be harmless or critical depending on it.

Ref. J2412100·Water test

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The summary

What you receive: 3 bottles of reagents, 2 glass test tubes, a syringe, a comparator block and a three-band colour chart.
What you are measuring: total ammonia nitrogen, from 0.05 to 5 mg/L, across nine fields, in freshwater, in ponds and in seawater.
What the figure means: at a reading of 0.5 mg/L, there is 28 times more ammonia at pH 8.5 than at pH 7.
When to test: every day during cycling, then after a filter clean, a treatment or a pump failure.
How to choose: this test complements a test kit or is enough to monitor a start-up.
Three bottles: one corrosive and toxic to aquatic life, another highly flammable; they are dosed into a sample, never into the fish's water.

Drop test for ammonia nitrogen, from 0.05 to 5 mg/L, to be read alongside your pH

This drop test measures ammonia nitrogen from 0.05 to 5 mg/L, for about 50 measurements, in freshwater, in ponds and in aquaponics, where the FAO asks for a value close to zero. Read it together with the pH, which determines the toxic share. During cycling, test every day: its three reagents never go into the fish water.

Ammonium appears as soon as waste starts to break down, long before your fish begin breathing fast at the surface. It normally disappears within a few hours if the nitrifying bacteria are in place, so a measurable value in a well-established system always signals biological filtration that is no longer keeping up.

🧬 Ammonium and ammonia

The chemistry used measures the total ammoniacal nitrogen, that is, the ammonium NH4 plus the ammonia NH3, and the result is expressed in mg/L of NH4. Many people nonetheless assume they are reading ammonia directly, whereas the result only tells you the toxic share once the pH is known: the same value is harmless in acid water and dangerous in alkaline water. Ammonium remains practically harmless at the levels found in a pond, whereas ammonia attacks the gills from just a few hundredths of a milligram per litre.

🔗 The ammonium and nitrite pair

High NH4, nitrite at zero

Nitrification has not started: new tank, filter rinsed under the tap, recent treatment.

High NH4, high nitrite

Cycling is under way. This is the worst time to introduce fish.

NH4 at zero, fish in distress

Look elsewhere: oxygen, temperature, unstable pH. A zero is the expected result.

In aquaponics

Nitrates feed your crops, whereas ammonium must stay at zero.

Three handling details distort the reading more often than the chemistry itself. Read in daylight, with the test tube held against the white area, because a warm bulb shifts the perception of greens and blues. Use only the syringe and test tube from the kit, since a different volume alters the final concentration and therefore the colour obtained. Finally, be aware that the third reagent produces noticeably smaller drops than the first two: this is normal, and compensating by adding extra drops would skew the result.

The pH determines the share of toxic ammonia

The two forms coexist and their proportion depends on the pH, with the share of ammonia multiplied by about 10 for each pH unit gained. At 20 degrees, a result of 0.5 mg/L corresponds to 0.002 mg/L of ammonia at pH 7, but to about 0.05 mg/L at pH 8.5, when the chronic limit set for aquatic life is 0.019 mg/L. The same figure is therefore harmless in an acidic tank and over the limit in a koi pond, which makes measuring the pH inseparable from this one.

Replace the reagents without buying the glassware again

Only the bottles run out on this type of kit, whereas the comparator block, the test tubes, the syringe and the colour chart last for years. The ammonium reagent refill therefore gives you around fifty more tests using the glassware you already own. Get it with your first purchase if you are setting up a tank, since consumption is fastest during cycling. That way you avoid interrupting your monitoring in the middle of cycling.

🚑 When the value rises

A water change of roughly half the volume protects your fish within the hour, provided you use fresh water whose pH is no higher than that of the tank, otherwise the proportion of ammonia would rise instead of falling. Then reduce the feeding ration and look for the cause in the filter rather than in the water, since measurable ammonium almost always points to an insufficient or recently destroyed bacterial population. The nitrite test then takes over as the routine check once the value is back to zero, because it is the one that signals the second stage of the cycle.

🧤 Caustic soda, chlorine and alcohol

Reagent 2 contains sodium hydroxide and sodium hypochlorite, the active ingredient in bleach: it is corrosive, very toxic to aquatic organisms, and it releases a toxic gas on contact with an acid. Reagent 3 is an isopropanol solution, highly flammable, which irritates the skin and eyes and whose vapours may cause drowsiness. Store the kit away from the phosphate test, whose reagent is acidic, and away from any flame. During cycling, sampling is done every day, and each tested sample goes down the sink: a single test tube poured back would bring into the tank precisely the chlorine that your fish and your bacteria tolerate least. The NH4 reagent refill replaces the three bottles without touching the glassware.

Technical specifications

Measuring ammonium

Parameter measured: Ammoniacal nitrogen, expressed as NH4The reaction measures ammonium and ammonia together, and the result is shown in mg/L of NH4
Measuring range: 0.05 to 5 mg/LBelow 0.05 mg/L the test reads zero, which is the expected result on an established setup
The colour chart fields: 0,05 ; 0,1 ; 0,2 ; 0,4 ; 0,6 ; 1 ; 1,5 ; 3 ; 5You bracket the reading between the two closest fields; you do not look for the exact tint
Target values: Below 0.25 mg/L in an aquariumBelow 0.1 mg/L in a pond. These thresholds assume a pH close to neutral; above pH 8 they become optimistic
Tests per kit: Around 50Three reagents used up with every measurement
Manufacturer's reference: JBL 2412100, PROAQUATEST range

The procedure

Water volume: 2 times 5 mlTaken from the middle of the water column, never at the surface or against the bottom
The steps: Fill, add dose 1, dose 2, dose 3, wait, readThe three reagents in this order, without swapping any of them
Waiting time: 15 minutesReading too early underestimates the value
Total time: About 17 minutesHandling included
Reading: Colour chart, in daylightThree reading bands marked by pictogram: freshwater, pond and marine
A pitfall to know about: Reagent 3 makes smaller dropsThat's normal, you shouldn't compensate by adding more

Hazard labelling

Signal word: DangerReagents 2 and 3; reagent 1 is not classified
Pictograms: Corrosion, environment, flame, exclamation markGHS05 and GHS09 for reagent 2, GHS02 and GHS07 for reagent 3
Hazard statements: H314, H400, H411, H225, H315, H319, H336Burns and aquatic toxicity (sodium hydroxide and hypochlorite), highly flammable liquid, irritation and drowsiness (isopropanol); EUH031: toxic gas in contact with an acid
Precautionary statements: P101, P102, P303+P361+P353, P305+P351+P338, P501Label for the doctor, keep children away, rinse skin and eyes, dispose of in accordance with regulations
Precautions: Sink, ventilated room, out of reachKeep the bottles away from any flame, and never in contact with an acid
Measured sample: Poured down the sinkNever poured back into the tank, the pond or the system

To allow for in addition

The test that goes with it: A pH testWithout it, the ammonium figure tells you nothing about the real toxicity
Reagent refills: Reagents only, ref. 2412200Only the three bottles are replaced

12 further specifications are available in the detailed view.

In the box

3 reagent bottles with child-resistant caps
2 glass test tubes with screw caps
1 graduated sampling syringe
1 laboratory comparator block
1 colour chart with 3 reading bands, freshwater, pond and marine
1 multilingual instruction leaflet, French included

Manufacturer's values (instructions, three-band colour chart and safety data sheets). Aquaponic reference values from the FAO.

Manufacturer and product safety

Manufacturer: JBL GmbH & Co. KG
Postal address: Dieselstraße 3, 67141 Neuhofen, Allemagne
Contact: info@jbl.de
Website: www.jbl.de

Information provided under Regulation (EU) 2023/988 on general product safety.

A single parameter, or all of the water chemistry?

Ammonium is the first test for a new tank, and the only one you take out every day for three weeks. The three columns differ in what they let you see once the start-up phase is over.

The same NH4 value does not burn in the same way At 18 °C and pH 6.8, half a milligram per litre passes almost unnoticed. At 28 °C and pH 8.2, the same value shifts towards ammonia and burns the gills in a single night.

	Parameters covered	Drop test kits included	Ammonium NH4	pH, KH, nitrite and nitrate	GH, iron, phosphates, copper, silicates, oxygen	Reagent bottles (bottles)	Glass test tubes	Laboratory comparator block	Thermometer	Reagent refill sold separately	Price
Recommended Ammonium test onlyYour choice	1	1	Yes	No	No	3 bottles	2	Yes	No	Yes	$16.99
6-in-1 Aquarium Water Testing KitYour choice	6	5	Yes	Yes	No	9 bottles	3	Yes	No	Yes	$58.05
JBL ProAquaTest Lab water analysis case, 13 tests for aquarium and pondYour choice	12	13	Yes	Yes	Yes	23 bottles	12	Yes	Yes	Yes	$113.93

Ammonium test onlyRecommended

What you are measuring

Parameters covered1

Drop test kits included1

Ammonium NH4Yes

pH, KH, nitrite and nitrateNo

GH, iron, phosphates, copper, silicates, oxygenNo

Equipment supplied

Reagent bottles (bottles)3 bottles

Glass test tubes2

Laboratory comparator blockYes

ThermometerNo

Budget

Reagent refill sold separatelyYes

6-in-1 Aquarium Water Testing Kit

What you are measuring

Parameters covered6

Drop test kits included5

Ammonium NH4Yes

pH, KH, nitrite and nitrateYes

GH, iron, phosphates, copper, silicates, oxygenNo

Equipment supplied

Reagent bottles (bottles)9 bottles

Glass test tubes3

Laboratory comparator blockYes

ThermometerNo

Budget

Reagent refill sold separatelyYes

JBL ProAquaTest Lab water analysis case, 13 tests for aquarium and pond

What you are measuring

Parameters covered12

Drop test kits included13

Ammonium NH4Yes

pH, KH, nitrite and nitrateYes

GH, iron, phosphates, copper, silicates, oxygenYes

Equipment supplied

Reagent bottles (bottles)23 bottles

Glass test tubes12

Laboratory comparator blockYes

ThermometerYes

Budget

Reagent refill sold separatelyYes

Parameters and equipment of the two kits taken from their data sheets, compared with this test on its own.

Documents & manuals

Official manufacturer's instructions, in French

Six-step protocol, volumes and number of drops, and the ammonia toxicity table as a function of pH published by the manufacturer on the last page.

PDF · 2,7 Mo

Download

Estimate your
delivery time

Parcel of 0.12 kg, dispatched within 48 h by Colissimo or Chronopost to your home, as you choose during payment. The reagents are sent in their original box. The exact amount is shown in the basket. Once unsealed, this product can no longer be returned under the right of withdrawal (article L221-28, 5° of the French Consumer Code), for reasons of hygiene and health protection.

Frequently asked questions

6 questions

6 key questions

My test always shows zero, is that normal?

Ammonium or ammonia, are they the same thing?

No. Ammonium NH4 is practically harmless at the usual levels; ammonia NH3 burns the gills. Both are present in your water, and this test measures their sum, expressed as NH4.

It is your pH that sets the balance between the two, and the proportion of ammonia is multiplied by roughly ten with each unit of pH gained. The same result is therefore harmless at pH 6.8 and dangerous at pH 8.5.

At what value should you take action?

What should you do when the value is high?

Change roughly half the volume, using water whose pH is not higher than that of the tank.
Stop feeding for 24 to 48 hours.
Look for the cause: filter rinsed under the tap, a recent treatment, a dead fish, a pump failure.
Re-test the next day, then keep an eye on the nitrite, which will rise afterwards.

Never raise the pH during an ammonium spike: you would convert part of the ammonium into ammonia.

The test itself is always carried out on a sample: the reagents never go into the fish's water, and reagent 2 must never come into contact with an acid.

Why measure nitrites at the same time?

Is the test suitable for a garden pond?

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Ammonium NH4 water test, drop format

The summary