Test Kit Info

[abraham]

That's a good idea. Anyone else have any input?

Abraham

 

[IFLY2HIGH]

I use A.P. test kits, but I see that one of the online places now carry Sailfert. I used them for my saltwater testing and they were much better than the others, but also more expensive. More like a chemistry kit for testing water. I'll be switching slowly to them again.

 

[abraham]

yeah, I also used salifert for my salt tanks. I didn't realize that they made kits for freshwater.

Abraham

 

[tomdkat]

This is the exact thread I was looking for.

I'm ramping up to start a 55g FW and I'm looking at test kits (among other things).

I'm looking at these two:

Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Freshwater Master Test Kit
NutraFin Test Master Lab Kit

I'll start searching for threads on the AP Master Test Kit since the AP test kits get recommended a lot here. I'm interested in an "all-in-one" test kit, if possible.

Peace...

 

[Aqualung]

I use AP and Red Sea. I prefer the AP over Red Sea any day, especially the KH/GH tests. They should be shot for those ones

If you run out of a particular test, like I just ran out of nitrates, you can order just the kit you need.

I also bought a box of 24 extra test tubes. Now I can test all my tanks on Friday and THEN wash all the test tubes. Heck of a lot faster than testing, washing, testing, washing, repeat 10 more times, blargh!

Roan

I use the AP Master Kit, but was considering the Red Sea kit for my next purchase since it is more complete. What exactly do you find better about the AP kit?

I like my AP kit but don't like the fact that I had to buy a seperate nitrate test. I had to order it online because none of the stores sold a nitrate test (which I found surprising).

 

[tomdkat]

I use the AP Master Kit, but was considering the Red Sea kit for my next purchase since it is more complete. What exactly do you find better about the AP kit?

Are you looking at the Red Sea Deluxe Freshwater Lab Kit or one of the marine lab kits?

I like my AP kit but don't like the fact that I had to buy a seperate nitrate test. I had to order it online because none of the stores sold a nitrate test (which I found surprising).

Why did you have to buy a separate nitrate test? According to the AP Master Kit link I posted above, the AP Master Kit comes with a nitrate test.

Peace...

 

[hurricanejedi]

My AP test kit included high and low pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. I bought their gH and kH too. The only thing I don't like about them is I have a hard time matching colors sometimes when ammonia gets a little higher and some of the pH values don't match up very well and sometimes they do. Pretty easy to use though. I like the instructions on the back of the card.

 

[Aqualung]

tomdkat - Yes, it was the freshwater kit I was considering.

My AP "Master Freshwater" test kit came with ammonia, nitrite, high and low range ph, and gh tests. I bought it a couple of years ago, so apparently the newer kits do include a nitrate test. Good to know!

(Edit) - apparently that is a different Red Sea kit than the one I was looking at. The one I was considering was much more complete.

Either I'm losing my mind or they are making a lot of changes to the test kits. The Red Sea kit in my Big Al's catalog (from last year) was much different than the one shown on the website. Also, it looks like AP has switched the gh test to nitrate since I bought my kit.

 

[Aqualung]

Ok, I'm not losing my mind :clap:

I just found my Big Al's catalog and it lists the tests in the Red Sea Deluxe Fresh Lab as follows: ph, alkalinity, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. So apparently they have recently changed it. I wonder why?