tester kits

[barbtrave]

What tester kits do you need for a salt water tank fish and some corals not a full reef tank. what tester kit would you get? Single combined etc.

 

[Bearfan]

Some corals = full reef tank

Most people seem to think the Salifert line is the best

 

[captivereefs]

Salifert and seachem are the best. Go with nitrate, phosphate, PH, calcium and alkalinity and you are pretty much covered.

 

[DodgeRT]

Salifert and seachem are the best. Go with nitrate, phosphate, PH, calcium and alkalinity and you are pretty much covered.

Do they sell kits that contain all the tests you listed?

 

[captivereefs]

No. Seachem has 2 multi kits availible but they do not contain calcium.

 

[malkore]

And the Salifert brand doesn't put out a master test kit, at least none are listed in the catalogs I get. But considering each salifert kit is about $25...most people don't wanna drop $200 on test kits when they start up a reef tank.

 

[DodgeRT]

Is there anything cheap in this hobby? LOL

 

[the21kid]

airline tubing

 

[RMPD109]

I use the aquarium pharmaceuticals saltwater master test kit. It covers pH, ammonia, nitrite & nitrate. It uses liquid and test tubes to compare to a color chart. This kit is reasonably priced($15-$25). Just stay away from the multiple test strips. I had tied those and compared to my liquid tests and the y give some funny inconsistant readings IMO.

 

[the21kid]

I 2nd the AP SW Test kit....and that airline tubing is the cheapest thing we can buy...oh wait...that was my own post

 

[RLG2182]

What is used to test TDS? One of those digital read-out machines?

Tried calling LFS and none of them would be able to test my tap water to see how bad it is.

 

[the21kid]

You can grab a TDS meter off of Ebay for around 30 bucks

 

[revhtree]

oh wait...that was my own post

Could not help but snicker!

 

[malkore]

I went with SeaChems Marine Basic kit, and then a Reef Status for Calcium, and Salifert for Magnesium.
I already had a phosphate kit (SeaChem) for my freshwater planted tank testing.