MetriTest 1.8% Glutaraldehyde Concentration Indicators

High-level disinfectants don't stay high-level forever. Every time an instrument is dipped into a glutaraldehyde solution, it dilutes the bath a little more — and once the concentration drops below its Minimum Effective Concentration (MEC), the solution can no longer be trusted to kill the organisms your reprocessing protocol depends on. MetriTest 1.8% concentration indicators from Metrex give sterile processing and endoscopy staff a fast, documentable way to confirm a solution is still effective before it's used on the next patient's instruments.

These single-use test strips are formulated specifically to verify a glutaraldehyde concentration of at least 1.8%. Dip, wait the specified read time, and compare the reactive pad to the color chart on the bottle — a straightforward pass/fail check that fits neatly into daily QC logs and supports Joint Commission and CMS documentation requirements. Each bottle contains 60 strips (item 10-304), so a single unit covers weeks of routine monitoring in a busy department.

Compatibility matters with concentration indicators, because a strip calibrated for the wrong MEC gives misleading results. MetriTest 1.8% is designed to work with McKesson 28-Day Glutaraldehyde (68-102800), MetriCide 28 (10-2800, 10-2805), and MetriCide Plus 30 (10-3200). If your facility runs one of those baths, this is the matched indicator — always confirm the strip lot matches your disinfectant before relying on the result.

A few practical notes buyers ask about: record the bottle's open date, since strips carry a shorter in-use life once the container is unsealed, and never test past the printed expiration. Test at the point of use, not just when a fresh bath is poured — dilution and evaporation happen throughout the reuse period. Used correctly, MetriTest 1.8% is the small, inexpensive step that keeps an entire high-level disinfection program defensible.