API or Nutrafin Master test kits?

[Danny.]

What test kits would you guys go for?
Ive got the Nutrafin Master test kit cost £50 and comes with pH, pH Wide, Carbonate Hardness, General Hardness, Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite, Iron
But i hear people talking alout about the API test kits there about £25 here and only come with pH, pH Wide, ammonia, Nirite and nitrate.
I was wondering if API are a better test kit? I just got the nutrafin one because of all the things it came with for the price. Came in a nice plastic case with foam cut-outs for the regagent bottles to sit in

 

[taylorodw]

I haven't seen any comparison in accuracy... nor used the Nutrafin kit, so I can't comment on its ease of use. I would say it is mostly a matter of preference. The Nutrafin one has 3 more tests and is double the cost, but those tests are mostly important in a planted tank scenario. If you're not planted, they're the least important kits to have.

Just my opinion

 

[Saltair]

I like my API Kit, but next to newbie in the dictionary is my picture

 

[Vircomore]

+1 for API.

Gh, Kh, and iron tests are primarily for delicate plants and super-delicate fish. Unless you have a severely out of whack tap water, you should never need those tests and might as well save the money.

 

[cwt]

I have the API master kit and bought the GH/KH separately. Have used the latter mostly only for one tank whose pH keeps going down; unless you want to know how much buffering capacity there is in your water, it's not of much use. As for iron, if you have white decor in the tank and it turns orange over time, then you may have too much iron in the water (or a burst of diatoms) ;0 Seriously though, if there's an iron problem in the local tap water, you'd likely know about it already.

 

[Faile]

They're both decent test kits. It's just a matter of whether or not you need the extra tests or not.