Best most accurate test kit ?

[truels2]

I went to my local fish store who are usually pretty knowledgable with fish keeping . The guy told me to stay away from the "master" salt water test kit because the liquid is not as accurate as using the test strips. How true is this ? I always thought the opposite .

[HarryPotter]

Not true.

 

Salifert is the best test kit in terms of accuracy

[PicoSavvy]

Try Hanna checker that what I am planning on buying. Some of those test kit colors are hard to tell the difference

[HarryPotter]

Try Hanna checker that what I am planning on buying. Some of those test kit colors are hard to tell the difference

I'd teccomend Hanna for phosphate and alkalinity, but the reviews for the calcium are pretty bad

[markalot]

Salifert for everything IMO, Hanna ULR Phosphate checker if you must but the Salifert Phosphate kit using high resolution per the instructions is pretty good. Test strips are just bad, really bad.

[PicoSavvy]

Thanks for the warning on the calcium checker I almost bought it

[ReefWeeds]

Salifert for everything IMO, Hanna ULR Phosphate checker if you must but the Salifert Phosphate kit using high resolution per the instructions is pretty good. Test strips are just bad, really bad.

And from my experience, only measure high levels of stuff. Like above 20 in nitrates What the heck good is that?? Made that purchase mistake obviously

[HarryPotter]

And from my experience, only measure high levels of stuff. Like above 20 in nitrates What the heck good is that?? Made that purchase mistake obviously

Duh test strips are to see if a fish is dead or just playing possum

[Hig789]

I use the Red Sea pro kit. Once you figure out that you are just looking for a color change they are pretty easy to use.

 

About the cheapest Alk test you are going to find. And it's as accurate or more accurate than any of the other kits.

 

http://www.reef2reef.com/blog/a-diy-alkalinity-test-by-randy-holmes-farley/

[MikeTR]

Salifert for everything IMO, Hanna ULR Phosphate checker if you must but the Salifert Phosphate kit using high resolution per the instructions is pretty good. Test strips are just bad, really bad.

I'm not impressed with the Salifert calcium test. The CA-2 bottle is crap, can't control the drop size or the number of drops easily. Nitrate is good.. I guess. It's either light pink (okay) or darker pink (not okay).

 

#### red sea. Inconsistent between tests, bad reagents.. #### off. I'm still recovering from their garbage kits.

 

API alk kit tests dead accurate with the fancy Hanna checker. I'm usin API for the calcium also at the moment.

 

All test kits suck.. stability is more important. Don't matter if alk is 8 or 9.. but the damn kits need to be more reliable from kit to kit.

[markalot]

I think the API Calcium is pretty darn good, just too many drops.

[Elo500]

[quote

 

API alk kit tests dead accurate with the fancy Hanna checker. I'm usin API for the calcium also at the moment.

 

 

The Hanna checker can read the color of the API tests? So they use the same regents?

[HarryPotter]

The Hanna checker can read the color of the API tests? So they use the same regents?

No- it gets the scale wrong. It can recognize the color change but the quantified number is incorrect

[Hig789]

I'm not impressed with the Salifert calcium test. The CA-2 bottle is crap, can't control the drop size or the number of drops easily. Nitrate is good.. I guess. It's either light pink (okay) or darker pink (not okay).

 

#### red sea. Inconsistent between tests, bad reagents.. #### off. I'm still recovering from their garbage kits.

 

API alk kit tests dead accurate with the fancy Hanna checker. I'm usin API for the calcium also at the moment.

 

All test kits suck.. stability is more important. Don't matter if alk is 8 or 9.. but the damn kits need to be more reliable from kit to kit.

It took me a while to figure out mine. I don't have anything to compare the calcium kit to but the API alk kit and my Red Sea I have identical(except for the decimal) to that DIY test I posted above. There's no way you can be wrong with that DIY test as long as your ph meter is calibrated. That's why I like it so much. No color change to look for just a number and it's cheap as hell as long as you already have a good ph meter.

[StevieT]

liquid is not as accurate as using the test strips.

 

 

Find a new LFS or talk to someone else there.

[HarryPotter]

 

 

Find a new LFS or talk to someone else there.

 

Or break out chuckling, give him a creepy smile, and punch him in the nuts.

[truels2]

I knew that couldn't be true about the test strips . That's half the reason I made the post to confirm it .

[Hig789]

Sounds to me like they are lazy and don't want to take the time properly test their paying customers water.

I knew that couldn't be true about the test strips . That's half the reason I made the post to confirm it .

Assuming this is what they use if you take a sample in for them to test.

[MikeTR]

The Hanna checker can read the color of the API tests? So they use the same regents?

No, I meant in comparison. I have both. My alk reads 8.6 with hanna and the color change with API starts at 8 and turns yellow at 9. So i know it's somewhere in between.

[shaneandjohn]

I have found success with Elos Test kits, just the main 3 > MG, KH, and CA. I have not seen them mentioned. They are not cheap, but appear to be very accurate to me. I will have tested at home, and then gone to the only 2 reputable stores local to me to have them test as well. Both use Elos, and their numbers match mine. #myexperiance.

 

 

Shane

[evan38109]

I've been surprised at how I like different vendors for different tests.

 

Right now, I really like the Hanna Checker for alkalinity and phosphate. I find the tests super easy and reliable and they have higher resolution than many other test kits. Lots of kits can tell me that my alkalinity is between eight and nine, but the Hanna Checker tells me that it's 8.9.

 

I'm really liking the Nyos kit for nitrate. It's the simplest I've used, requiring only two reagents, and I find its scale the easiest to read. At the low end of the range, it's pretty easy to differentiate between zero, one and three ppm. All of the Nyos kits kits seem pretty solid to me, and I've started using them as my go-to for magnesium and nitrate. Calcium...I still haven't decided if I prefer the Nyos or Hanna.

 

API...don't bother.

 

Red Sea is...fine. Not great, but it works. I find there's a degree of guess-and-check with the color range. For instance, we'll pass around the test kit for the office tank and one person will read 5ppm nitrates when another says 20ppm. Me, I've gotten used to what the color range looks like, so I'm pretty comfortable interpreting the difference. Again: it works fine, and if you can't make a tank work with Red Sea test kits, it ain't the test kits' fault. But I think you can probably do better these days.

 

Somehow, I've never used Elos or Salifert. I consistently hear great things, but I can't speak from personal experience.

 

I have a soft spot in my heart for Seachem. I'll use them for the less mainstream parameters like Iodine/Iodide and Iron, and I also use them for my freshwater planted tank. To me, I imagine that the company is just completely run by chemists, which makes me trust it so much more. For instance, they include a reference sample with every test. Whenever I've tested it, it's been spot on.

 

Good luck!