How much should an Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Freshwater master test kit cost?

[WinterWind]

Online at petsmart.com, it was about 14 dollars, and other sites, it was around that much. Today, I went to Petco, and I saw it for $30! How much should it cost if I didn't buy online? Are they just ripping people off, or is that how much I should expect to pay anywhere?

[TrickyD119]

Unfortunately that is about right locally... My Petco sells it for that, my LFS sells it for $25. I bought it online, but yeah I doubt you'll get it much cheaper locally.

[Harlock]

My LFS had it for 30 I believe. They also had a 50 watt Tronic heater for $39.99 when I can buy one on Big Al's for... I think 16 bucks. The LFS has a higher mark up on supplies. That's why you buy your tank, stand and livestock there and order eberything else.

[lousybreed]

buy a tetra master kit you wont be dissapointed, same price and way more accurate. down side is that you can do less tests

[valleyvampiress]

I found a cheaper brand here if you're interested. It just doesn't have the nitrate test.

Red Sea FW Master Mini Lab
10.69
http://store.yahoo.com/afishybusiness/are25010.html

I've only ordered from a yahoo store once, but everything went smoothly.

[Kasakato]

I pay $35 for it.

[jasperfish]

I just paid $12.99 at big Al,s. not a bad price if you need more stuff cause the shipping was $7 for 1 thing or 4 things so it worked out pretty good for me. At my LFS the master Kit was $39.99.

[cdawson]

Online at petsmart.com, it was about 14 dollars, and other sites, it was around that much. Today, I went to Petco, and I saw it for $30! How much should it cost if I didn't buy online? Are they just ripping people off, or is that how much I should expect to pay anywhere?


IMO buying disposable test kits is a colossal waste of money, they expire and are almost never close to being completely used by that time. Spend 200 dollars on a quality electronic test kit. PH,hardness and nitrate probes can be purchased for as low as $50 each. They're far more accurate and don't expire.

[lousybreed]

IMO buying disposable test kits is a colossal waste of money, they expire and are almost never close to being completely used by that time. Spend 200 dollars on a quality electronic test kit. PH,hardness and nitrate probes can be purchased for as low as $50 each. They're far more accurate and don't expire.

you are assuming that $50 probes are going to last. I highly doubt it. I have been buying lab supplies for several years and I can tell you one thing. Cheap lab supplies are just like anything else that is cheap; they break and the accuracy is questionable. A quality double junction nitrate probe will go for around $300 same for hardness probe. Good pH probes can be had for $80-90. Then you must invest in quality calibration fluids and you have to buy a meter for the readout. A true good quality set up would run you about a grand when it is all said and done. In the QA world, good old indicator tests (like what cheap aquarium tests are) are prefered over probe measurments for somethings......

[cdawson]

you are assuming that $50 probes are going to last. I highly doubt it. I have been buying lab supplies for several years and I can tell you one thing. Cheap lab supplies are just like anything else that is cheap; they break and the accuracy is questionable. A quality double junction nitrate probe will go for around $300 same for hardness probe. Good pH probes can be had for $80-90. Then you must invest in quality calibration fluids and you have to buy a meter for the readout. A true good quality set up would run you about a grand when it is all said and done. In the QA world, good old indicator tests (like what cheap aquarium tests are) are prefered over probe measurments for somethings......

cheaper probes are still going to last longer and are going to be more accurate than regular indicator tests. I'm not sure what probes you're using, but I've never had any problems using standard probes. Regardless it's going to last you a few years, allow you far more tests that take less time. Electronic probes measure to the 0.1 not rounded by 0.5. If you use aquarium tests as much as I do, and I only have 7 tanks then probes are a much better choice for your time and money.

If you treat your electronic equipment properly you shouldn't have problems with them breaking that much. Calibiration solutions are dirt cheap too, $0.50 where I buy them.

[partsrep]

$15 at my LFS. I'm fortunate as my LFS has close to mailorder prices in the store.

[lousybreed]

cheaper probes are still going to last longer and are going to be more accurate than regular indicator tests. I'm not sure what probes you're using, but I've never had any problems using standard probes. Regardless it's going to last you a few years, allow you far more tests that take less time. Electronic probes measure to the 0.1 not rounded by 0.5. If you use aquarium tests as much as I do, and I only have 7 tanks then probes are a much better choice for your time and money.

If you treat your electronic equipment properly you shouldn't have problems with them breaking that much. Calibiration solutions are dirt cheap too, $0.50 where I buy them.

I understand where you are coming from but just because a probe measures pH down to 7.05 doen't mean that the last digit (or even digits) is significant because it could be on the same order of the standard deviation of the equipment. Also cheap probes probably are not certified after they are made for their accuracy claims whereas good probes are. I would say that cheap electronic probes are no more accurate than a decent "drop" test method. Also cheap buffers might not have the proper QA from the factory and they can also be off from stated values. Between buffer and probe accuracy problems you could be reading a ph of 8.05 and the real value could be 7.1. There is a reason why good equipment is expensive and that is because it has been validated all along the line.

Basically it is all you want in what you are buying. If you realize the downfalls of your equipment you are ahead of 95% of the people out there.