Freshwater Master Test kit

[djeff]

Either of these kits any good?

- Tetra Laborett Test Kit

- Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Freshwater Master Test Kit

Which one would you go with? I remember some kits in the past being very inaccurate and others were hard to tell the difference between colors... Any others? I don't want to spend to much on one

 

[Blazeherd2306]

AP, mine has worked good for me.

 

[Fluff]

I use AP as well and like it.

 

[djeff]

Sold! - Ordering the AP. It was nice to have a few opinions. My last test kit was a "dry" tab version that required about 5 solid minutes of vigorous shaking to get it to work, and after all that it was very hard to tell the colors apart.

This one looks much easier.

 

[fishyrican]

Looks like you have already made your decision, but for what it's worth, I have both and prefer the AP.

 

[aqh88]

Aside from the nitrate test all the ones I've used by tetra were hard to read or inaccurate. I do love their nitrate test though. For the aquarium pharm I like all the test kits but the nitrate one. That orange to red to darker red is hard for me to read.

 

[djeff]

Man, this is a cool forum - lots of replies!

From what everyone has said, the AP kit sounds good. Bummer about the Tetra Nitrate, but I figure that probably most of the 'master' kits have one test that they don't do as well as the others (at least that's the way it used to be)

 

[Fishyfanatic]

My vote is also for the AP test kit. When testing for Nitrates, if you can't determine what the level is because of the redness, do a water change. That's my rule of thumb. beacuse if you can't tell the difference, your Nitrates are too high anyways.

Welcome to AA djeff!

 

[aqh88]

That's why my nitrates are always 10 or below

 

[malkore]

I also use the AP kit for most tests, and have compared it to some rather expensive kits, and get results similar enough that I don't feel the need to spend money on wildly expensive (LaMotte/Hach) kits.

Whatever you do, avoid RedSea kits

 

[oscarbreeder]

Out of the two listed I would also pick the AP test kit.
But I really like the Hagen Master Test Kit.

 

[aqh88]

Except the aquarium pharm kit costs $14 and the hagen costs $60. Slight difference when aquarium pharm tests just as accurately as hagen. It does come with 3 more tests but most don't need an iron, phosphate, or calcium test. Especially calcium unless your doing saltwater. Even if you bought those 3 seperate they only come out to $25 and the hagen kit is $46 more. Where'd the other $20 go?

 

[rich311k]

I use the AP kit. I like it. It works well

 

[greenmaji]

bigalsonline sells the Hagan for 40 and I do think sooner or later it will be wise for everyone to have a PO4 testkit for controlling algae... HTH
I dont like AP's PH or NO3 testkits.. If I were to do it again.. I would order a Hagen Mastertestkit from bigalsonline.

 

[Jchillin]

Other than the irritating procedure for the AP NO3 test, I recommended it wholeheartedly. Never got a bad or inaccurate result. I would like to see a full spectrum Ph test, rather than having the high and low that are available now.

 

[oscarbreeder]

Except the aquarium pharm kit costs $14 and the hagen costs $60. Slight difference when aquarium pharm tests just as accurately as hagen. It does come with 3 more tests but most don't need an iron, phosphate, or calcium test. Especially calcium unless your doing saltwater. Even if you bought those 3 seperate they only come out to $25 and the hagen kit is $46 more. Where'd the other $20 go?

you get what you pay for.
IMO..you cant beat the Hagen Master Test Kit no matter what it costs.