Which brand of Test Kit should I buy?

[GobyMan]

Which brands are the best? Which are the worst? I find myself needing to replenish a few and was wondering what people thought.

[diffeq]

I find that the fast test, test kits are very easy accurate. Red Sea also isnt bad.

[tyoberg]

Nitrate (NO3) and calcium kits are more problematic--I would buy Salifert. I put zero trust in redsea calcium kits. Nitrate doesn't have to be very accurate though as it is non-toxic, and a ballpark figure is as good as a pinpoint one.

 

If you buy a phosphate test kit, make sure the minimum resolution is no greater than 0.03ppm (buy salifert).

 

pH, ammonia, nitrite, alkalinity are all pretty easy and reliable tests. I have Aquarium Pharm. kits for those and they work fine.

 

Ty

[JROC]

The cheapest!! :-)

[mysk]

I use fast test I have had no problem with them

[diffeq]

I havent had any trouble with fasttest kits for NO2 and NO3. I have the Sailfert kits for Ca and KH/ALK. The only thing I dont like about sailfert is that they tend to be a little pricey....at least here in orlando.

[tyoberg]

The redsea fasttest that I bought for calcium indicated 660ppm for freshly mixed synthetic saltwater (which is actually about 370ppm). Buy a good calcium kit.

 

Ty

[Leonard]

Usually, you get what you pay for with test kits. Hach and Lamotte make the most consistent and accurate test kits available to hobbyists. Fortunately, there are some more affordable test kits that are fairly accurate. Salifert has a good product line, as well as the AquaPharm's Dry Tab test kits (suprised?).

[jay2k2]

i have a seachem test kit it does the job

[Sahin]

Salifert or Tetratest.

[Mr_Spam]

I just got the sailifert kits and LOVE them! I had red sea kits before and were crap. They couldn't meassure one test accuratly.

I will NEVER buy a red sea test kit.