Bacteria in Water Test Kit - Includes Expert Consultation, Pre-Paid Return Mailer, Emailed Mold Report $40 Fee Required For AIHA Lab Analysis

For the price, this is a great test kit! There are two basic tests that can be purchased for testing bacteria in water. One involves putting your water sample in a purple solution. If it stays purple 48 hours later, the water is considered safe to drink. The PRO-LAB bacteria test involves mixing your water sample with an agar solution. If the water sample is contaminated with bacteria, small colonies of bacteria grow in the petri dish. The bacteria, in the first two days, until about a week, looks like tiny bubbles. After the week, the bubbles morph into mold spots (see attached photo). This method allows me to see the level of contamination by counting the bacteria colonies. The test recommends waiting 2 to 3 days before counting bubbles. If there are fewer than 6 bubbles the water is considered safe to drink. If you would like a more detailed analysis of the bacteria, you can seal the petri dish and send it to a lab for an additional cost.

Just what it says its for.

The test kit was sent out quickly. It was easy to use and was quite accurate in detecting bacteria. It isn't specific about the type of bacteria, but at least I knew that bacteria was present. A good product for the price!If you want to learn if your water is bacteria free or not, I recommend using the Pro-Lad test kit.

>indicates the presence of dangerous Coliform and E. Coli bacteriaThats what the description reads. I believe it should say Coliform OR E. Coli bacteria - because the directions simply say if you have less than 5 colonies it is probably safe and if more you should filter or take the optional $30 lab test (plus overnight postage).The way I see it only way to know which you have (coliform or E coli) is to send it in - so that is a VERY misleading statement.For those of you expecting 'professional' - sorry. It just shows you that you have stuff. After studying this subject I know that there are dangerous coliform, and benign coliform. Again - only by sending it in can you tell (maybe) - and again the wording is vague which may be misleading:>Optional lab analysis is available, which identifies the exact count and type of bacteria present.Type of bacteria? The lab I finally ended up using said there are too many type of coliforms, so I suspect this means it will tell you if it is E coli or ANY of hundreds of coliforms - I didnt bother calling to verify. I cant bother with a company that cant be straight up front.If you are OK with just knowing if there is ANYTHING in the water - go for it. It does that.

The form to submit to the lab indicates there is a fee of $40 which I was not expecting that :-(

We had fun doing this, me and my 5 year old, but we also got the job done. We tested our water ourselves (we have well) and saw just one small colony. So, we figured we were safe and the directions say they only recommend sending it in for the $30 testing if you see 5 or more colonies. But we sent it in anyway just to be safe. The report came back in about 3 weeks (a little longer than it said) that there was indeed just one colony and it was yeast. It said, specifically, no ecoli and no other common bacteria. This was fun, educational and made us feel better about our well water.

I was so excited to receive the two from Amazon, that I wasn't paying attention when I was doing the bacteria test of my tap water. I poured the contents into the petri dish, and the liquid was leaking all over the table!!!!!! If you look good at the petri dish, there was a small crack in it!I then went to open the second one, and there were two giant cracks in both halves of the petri dish. The kits are useless if there are cracks in them, as the test requires 48 hours of the culture to sit in the petri dish.I went to my local Ace Hardware and paid $15+ for one kit. Better than spending $8 on useless rubbish.

Testing your water for unwanted bacteria is very simple with this kit... then if you get questionable results you have the option to send your petri dish off to a labe for further tests.... The Lab work is about $40 . Our Local Extension service charges $46, ( not sure iuf they are tsting for mineral content as well I forgot to ask) I have 12 wells and test them annually ..