test kits

[rolltide]

What are the best test kits? Do you like the ones that are the strip tests or the one you add the drops to?

 

[mlm]

The strips suck. The drops are much better. A lot of people swear by Salifert and hate Hagen but I use Hagen with no complaints.

 

[chevron tang]

i personally prefer the powder tests. rolltide i posted on the baking soda topic about them. come to think of it it may be made by kent. ohwell like i said i'll check tomorrow.

 

[sleepy]

I like using the salifert test kits myself. They are a little more difficult to use, but they are extremly accurate. The problem with kits that use drops of solution is that you can never be sure if each drop is the same as the one before it, thus giving you false readings.

 

[fshhub]

drops if you completely invert the bottle are as accurate as powders if not more(some may be left in the envelope), both are good
but definitely stay away from the strips, they are way too easy to corrupt, way too easy, this is a definite fact with the strips in general(not jsut aquarium usage)
IMO, i have had good luck with aquarium pharmaceuticals, but most people do not like them, and i can see now where they could be difficult to read properly, so i would not reccomend them highly, i have heard good things aout seachem and salifert, a friend of mine uses tetra and i like the readings, the colors are not even close on the different readings, so they are easier to distinguish for most people

 

[broomer5]

FasTest & SeaTest are good IMO
Salifert is by far the best from my experience.