are water test strips reliable and if not what should i but instead?

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Harriet

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Jul 31, 2020
Messages
96
Location
Uk
i am really confused about if water test strips are reliable or not because i have been using tetra 6 in 1 test strips and they were almost run out so i bought some API test strips and the results are totally unreadable to me the ranges are too big and i can’t even tell what colour they are supposed to be are test strips even reliable and if not what should i buy instead my experience with the tetra strips has been good i’ve used them for years but now i don’t even know if my water is good quality or not,
 
My feeling is that strips are harder to read than liquid tests. So, from my PoV that makes liquid tests more accurate than strips because you are more likely to read them correctly. I use both, strips if i just want a quick check, liquid test if i actually want to know my water parameters.

When i do a test with both, i don't find differences in the readings, but there is more ambiguity with strips.

Liquid test kits are also more cost effective than strips as you get 100s of tests out of them.

API master test kit is commonly used, covers the basics and is considered reliable.
 
i will definitely look into the test kit you mentioned and will most likely order one shortly and compare readings to the strips. Thanks for the advice
 
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