Better water testing than colour-compare kits?

[Telek]

Ok, for those guys out there who aren't so good with colours (I actually do have deuteranomaly) I absolutely hate testing with anything that requires me to compare colours.

I already picked up a digital pH meter and digital TDS meter (for incoming water) but for the ammonia, nitrite, nitrite and alkalinity I'm still stuck with those "compare the colours" testing methods. (Currently using my girlfriend's eyes and an API kit).

Are there any other good testing methods out there (that don't cost too much!) that don't require me to compare colours?

 

[goisles1]

LOL.. I use the API Master kit as well and I ALWAYS grab my wife for a second opinion on my Nitrite Test. For me, it's impossible to know if I have ZERO, 5 or 10ppm of Nitrites. (I like to believe it's ZERO, but I doubt that's the case)

I can work with PH, Amm and Nitrate (as long as it stays a nice Blue color)

 

[Telek]

Well the ammonia and nitrite ones for me are particularly bad - the colour order looks like it's wrong on the sheet itself! For me it looks like the colour order should be 0, 0.5, 0.25, 1. On the pH scale I have no idea if it's 8.0 or 8.2, they look identical to me.

Last time I did the test my ammonia, nitrite and nitrate all came out as exactly 0. I even did the test twice to be sure. It was pretty strange to me that nitrates would be 0 as well. My "quick dip" sticks that I had left over from my previous tank also work for saltwter and also have alkalinity, but the scale only goes up to 300dKh and it's off the scale (I estimate 380-400 which I think is OK). I have to go get a proper test kit for that tomorrow, but anyway the nitrates on that test showed 20ppm. It's strange that the API kit would be 0 and the quickdip test was 20 (such a large difference). I guess for $10 we can't expect these things to be perfect. The API kit does say that it tests for nitrates and nitrites differently, so I guess that's why.