QUANTOFIX Phosphate Test Strips

A semi-quantitative test strip for phosphate, the nutrient that most often drives algae growth. Dip it, wait the stated time, and compare the pad against the colour scale on the tube.

Why it is measured

In a pond or a reservoir, phosphate is usually the limiting nutrient: control it and the algae stop, leave it and no amount of algaecide keeps up. In boiler water, by contrast, phosphate is dosed deliberately and has to be held in range.

Where it is used

• pond and reservoir management
• boiler water treatment
• wastewater discharge control
• detergent residue checks

What a strip can and cannot do

A strip gives a range, not a figure. That is enough for the great majority of decisions — dose or do not dose, discharge or hold, keep running or stop — and it gives the answer where the sample is, in about a minute, with no instrument to calibrate and nothing to carry back to a laboratory.

When a number has to be defensible — a regulatory report, a dispute, a limit you are close to — a photometer or a laboratory method is the right tool. The strip's job is to tell you whether you need one.

Practical note

Strips measure orthophosphate; phosphate bound in organic matter does not show, so a filtered sample and an unfiltered one can differ a lot.

Supplied in 2 presentations covering different measuring ranges.