Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

It suppose to be a quantity test, but its not. I bought it when i started to fight some serious algae problem in one of my planted tanks. For quite some time here was no need to test. I do water changes regularly, plants are growing, fish do fine. But now I have a problem, and was looking for a sours of it. I bought this kit and it tells me that Nitrate level in my tank is up to the sky. More often water change didn't help. I checked my RO water and Nitrate was high there too. I bought a new membrane - same problem. Since there was other people complaining about same filters, I decided that filter is bad and changed the whole system.($200) That one part of the story. Of course I looked at my tub water. Nitrates up to the sky, to the level when water is non drinkable - 80 ppm. I would think that test kit is bad, but bottled water and water from my new ROsystem was reading 0 as it should. So I contacted my water district, made them come and collect samples. They called me back and send me a lab report. 6.5 ppm which is higher than average, yet its withing the standards and there is a huge difference between 6 and 80. To be sure I send my own samples to the accredited lab (not the nearest fish store,) and got the same 6 ppm . That test cost me $90. SO. This test is telling you if there are some Nitrate in the water, but not able to tell how much with any kind of accuracy. That makes this test completely useless. I don't need test to tell me "more than 0 nitrate", i know it is more than 0, it's impossible to keep it at complete 0. I need test to tell me what is my Nitrate level. And this is what this test is absolutely not able to do. waste of my money. more than that. $21 kit itself (not illegible for return). $212 for a new filters (now I am not sure that my old filter really was so bad) and $90 for the lab test. $323 total. Not to mention all the hassle of dealing with water district, delivering samples to the lab, and, of course, shearing my concerns with friends and neighbors. Dear API, thank you very very much. I think I will never forget this. Your former customer.