Best testing kit without paying an arm and a leg

[drewster]

I'm sick of my testing kit. I have the Red Sea Marine Lab kit and I hate having to guess which color the liquid is in the vial and compare it to a chart. It's ridiculous and silly to use. Can somebody recommened a good testing kit that basically does Nitrites, Nitrates, Ammonia, PH, Alk, and possibliy Calcium? I don't want to fork over $100 either. I also want something thats easy to read and you don't have to scratch your head over when figuring out what the level is. Thanks.

 

[bobsingh1]

I use Aquarium Phamaceuticals "Saltwater Master test kit" and loved it so far. The colors are pretty clear even though they are not highly distinguishable. The kit cost me $18 at petsmart store and does PH, Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate test. Have been using it for the last 3 months and I don't think I have used even half of it yet. My IFS use the same test kit.
For calcium, I use red sea test kit. I don't test any phosphates as I use distilled water for changes.

 

[beth]

AquaLab has test kits which I like because I don't have to peal

[hr]
out of foil wraps or mix water in little glass tubes for 15 mins. They are basically test strips that you dip in the water and wait a few seconds for it to turn color. The container has color chart to compare it to. Easy to use, easy to read. They are bit expensive though, but, so is wasted time.

[This message has been edited by beth (edited 06-01-2000).]

 

[dennish]

I recently bought a FasTesT marine kit (pH-Am-Ni-Na) specifically because I was so frustrated at trying to decifer the color of the tests (pH test in particular) with the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Test Kits. I basically had to guess from 8.0 to 8.2 to 8.4 depending on how I looked at the test tube. I got the FasTesT because it has a translucent color chip that slips in next to the test tube for very easy comparisons. It does take longer to run the full set of tests, and the little foil pouches could be easier to open, but at least I now know for sure that my pH is 8.2 and it feels good to have confirmation on the other results too.
-Dennis
p.s. FasTest and SeaTest (reef version) are made by Aquarium Systems (i.e. Instant Ocean)

 

[broomer5]

I am having similar problems reading my test kits. I have the Aquarium Systems fastTest for ammonia, nitrite and nitrates, as well as pH amd alkalinity. Also got their SeaTest kit for calcium, low-range nitrate and phosphate. They are pretty easy to read I suppose. But my girlfriend saw me holding the test viles up to the light the other day, trying to match up the colors to the scales, and I heard her starting to quietly laugh to herself a bit. I said what are you giggling about over there on the couch, and she said "honey you can't even get 2 socks to match in morning ... how you ever going to get that tank water figured out" LOL I do think I have a touch of color-blindness when it comes to these tests ~ LOLOL So sometimes I rely on her vision.
As far as testing goes, the colors are a bit tough to distinguish for the calcium test. But the rest are pretty clear cut. I would give Aquarium Systems good marks overall.

See ya'all