Test Kits
- Thread starter gatorcsm
- Start date
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newreefers
Guest
I like Red Sea kits.
cliffrouse11bas
Active Member
From what I understand for amm, nitrite, nitrate go with fastest by aquarium systems and for alk, ph, and calcium go with salifert...
jja
Member
I have the red sea kit and it drives me nuts!!!!! I am color blind and the shades are so close that I do not know what the hell I am looking at and have to bring a water sample in to the lfs once a month to make sure I read it right. I am sure I am not the only person in this boat. I wish they made a test kit where it did not depend so much on slight variations of color! If anyone knows of one that doesn't please tell me!
jonthefb
Active Member
i love the seatest kit for amm, trite, trate adn pH, for calcium, alk, phosphate and others i use salifert. One of my water ecology profs up here at the univeristy, said that he has used the fasttest kits before(not sure on what) but he said that the color chips that come with the kit are extremely accurate when tested with solutions of specified levels. kinda reassuring!
anyhoiw
good luck
jon
anyhoiw
good luck
jon
mini-reefer
Member
Im glad you said that MLM. I just ordered the Hagen master test kit the other day so hopefully it will be here soon. I have read that they are accurate test kits.
IMO the Red Sea kits suck. The calcium kit only measures in increments of 50. The Alk kit never matches their sample colors. My test comes out a pure baby blue color and there isnt anything similar to compare it to with the kit. For $20 a kit its kinda frustrating.
I do use the aquarium pharmaceuticals kit for the basic tests (Ammon, trites, and trates). They seem to be accurate.
I guess if the Hagen kits dont work out I'll spend the big money on either Salifert or LaMotte.
IMO the Red Sea kits suck. The calcium kit only measures in increments of 50. The Alk kit never matches their sample colors. My test comes out a pure baby blue color and there isnt anything similar to compare it to with the kit. For $20 a kit its kinda frustrating.
I do use the aquarium pharmaceuticals kit for the basic tests (Ammon, trites, and trates). They seem to be accurate.
I guess if the Hagen kits dont work out I'll spend the big money on either Salifert or LaMotte.
gatorcsm
Member
With regards to the Salifert kits...
I heard that some of them use a powder... Which ones do? I've heard they are accurate.. Are they still very easy? What about time? I think it was the calcium one that used it for the titration.
Are there any turbidity kits that are go/no go? Something thats a quick check for zeros...
I use the redsea and the marine aquarium or something like that, and the marine aqua is nice, due to it being in low scale (ie .025 instead of .1 like the redsea)
With the redsea, I checked RO/DI, distilled, drinking, tap and spring water, all came up with .25 nitrites and .1 ammonia.. It never seems to read less than that... I was kind of concerned when my aquarium water read that, but after checking 5 different sources of "clean" water (4 that were bottled by someone other than me, all different companies (zephyrhills, clearwater systems, etc. etc.) I realized it was the test kit. I checked that I was doing it right, and it seems I was, anyone ever have this problem? I may have a defective kit...
I heard that some of them use a powder... Which ones do? I've heard they are accurate.. Are they still very easy? What about time? I think it was the calcium one that used it for the titration.
Are there any turbidity kits that are go/no go? Something thats a quick check for zeros...
I use the redsea and the marine aquarium or something like that, and the marine aqua is nice, due to it being in low scale (ie .025 instead of .1 like the redsea)
With the redsea, I checked RO/DI, distilled, drinking, tap and spring water, all came up with .25 nitrites and .1 ammonia.. It never seems to read less than that... I was kind of concerned when my aquarium water read that, but after checking 5 different sources of "clean" water (4 that were bottled by someone other than me, all different companies (zephyrhills, clearwater systems, etc. etc.) I realized it was the test kit. I checked that I was doing it right, and it seems I was, anyone ever have this problem? I may have a defective kit...
reef fool
Active Member
Originally posted by GatorCSM
With regards to the Salifert kits...
I heard that some of them use a powder... Which ones do? I've heard they are accurate.. Are they still very easy? What about time?
The Ca and NO3 salifert kits use powder. So does the strontium. The regular kits (Ca, Alk, NO3) are easy with a 5 minute wait for results on the NO3. The Iodide and Strontium are a little more complex.