what chemicals / ingredients are used in my water testing kit?

[dustin wassner]

I have a small water testing kit that I use to check hardness and iron on our well water. I want to know what the powder actually is that is in the small packets I mix in the water when running each test. Anybody Know?

thanks,
DW

[Mac McQuinn]

I've never seen a test kit which uses powder, does the test involve a color change? For my espresso machine water tank, I've used test strips in the past, Seems like there should be strips available for your purpose also. Good luck.
Mac

[Bruce Page]

Try searching for the MSDS on the product.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

That depends on what they are testing for. If they are testing for Calcium, they may be using ethylenediaminetetra-acetic acid (see http://chemistry.bd.psu.edu/halmi/chem3waterhardnessS%2705.pdf)

If you are looking for Iron,
https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/46841/is-there-an-easy-way-to-test-for-the-amount-of-iron-fe-in-water
https://www.palintest.com/en/support/research-insight/iron-testing-which-method-use

or, just use soap
https://practicum.melscience.com/experiments/soap-test-for-water-hardness.html