Water testing kit

[mellissacolleen]

Need to buy a water testing kit. Unsure what kind to buy there is so many help!!


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[fish wrangler]

API Master Test Kit is what alot of people on here use. Read the directions tho...you use both ammonia bottle in one tube, and both nitrate bottles in a tube. It wont work if you just have one, and shake the nitrate bottle #2 for a long time

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[mellissacolleen]

Yeah I saw that one I was actually considering trying the strips are they any good?


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[fish wrangler]

I have no experience with strips. This is the first time I have tested my water in 3 years

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[sealife]

API is the best. Expensive though.
Strips are rubbish, in my opinion.

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[1998golfer]

Honestly, get the API Master liquid test kit. It's both very accurate, and, when you actually look at it, it is a ton cheaper in the long run than the test strips. It's not really much more expensive than the strips, and you get a lot more tests from the liquid test kit than the strips.

 

[trennamw]

Strips tend to give unreliable readings. I've had them tell me my water was clean when it was not.

The API test recommended above is what most of us here use. It costs much less in the long run than strips. Mine has lasted a year even with a period of daily tests.

The teeny booklet and instructions are confusing at first; I wrote with a sharpie on each bottle: the number of drops and the steps (some you shake, some you invert, some you read right away, some you wait to read).




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[Delapool]

+1 on strips being unreliable.

 

[dalto]

I also recommend the API liquid test kit. It is the cheapest of the liquid kits and relatively easy to use.

I have found the strips to be fairly reliable as long as they are not expired(they have a very short shelf-life). However, they are less precise so it is sometimes hard to figure out what is going on. You will also need two sets of strips since the all-in-one does not typically include an ammonia test.

On a per test basis the liquid test kit will be a lot cheaper.

 

[trennamw]

I wonder if the accuracy of the strips depends on the water chemistry? Those seachem stick on monitors say certain parameters lead to inaccurate readings. I did find that in high ammonia their pH reader was whacky. I know they are different from strips but perhaps the same principles apply.


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[Delapool]

I wonder if the accuracy of the strips depends on the water chemistry? Those seachem stick on monitors say certain parameters lead to inaccurate readings. I did find that in high ammonia their pH reader was whacky. I know they are different from strips but perhaps the same principles apply.


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It could be possible but for me I'm dealing with pretty standard soft, tap water that the strip tests should work for (climb off soap box).

The cardboard strips I find tend to under read for nitrite and nitrate. Idk, I've just found them unreliable. The only one I found close is kh.