Welcome Guest, Please Login or Register!
Register Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Support RL
Home Forum Aquarium Log Gallery Sponsors RHO Bookstore

Advice on test kits

Go Back   Reeflands Forum > Equipment > Tanks, Filtration & Basic Equipment
Sponsored Links
Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 09-23-2004, 11:16 AM   #1
Just Moved In
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Edwardsville, Illinois
Posts: 11
Advice on test kits

Can anyone give me some recommendations on Saltwater aquarium test kits. What are the best ones to buy, manufacturer, approx. price etc. and which ones to avoid. Any info would help. Naturally I want to test the basics but I would also like to hear about the more elaborate kits available.

Thanks in advance.

Gerry
gopsal is offline   Reply With Quote
Sponsored Links

Old 09-24-2004, 02:40 AM   #2
Citizen
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Los Angeles, California
Posts: 115
Send a message via AIM to cesar
I use The Saltwater Master Liquid Test Kit from Aquarium Pharmaceuticals. I purchased mine from www.liveaquaria.com and I think it works great. It comes with 4 test tubes, instruction book, color chart (for test results), and test solution bottles for 4 saltwater tests. High range pH, Ammonia, nitrite and Nitrate. I really like it IMO. I paid $16.99 for it and it was delivered to my door in 5 business days.
cesar is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-24-2004, 06:34 AM   #3
Council
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: ohio
Posts: 345
Send a message via Yahoo to jiggly75
Quote:
Originally Posted by gopsal
Can anyone give me some recommendations on Saltwater aquarium test kits. What are the best ones to buy, manufacturer, approx. price etc. and which ones to avoid. Any info would help. Naturally I want to test the basics but I would also like to hear about the more elaborate kits available.

Thanks in advance.

Gerry
The best and most accurate test kits are Salifert.
jiggly75 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-24-2004, 07:53 AM   #4
Citizen
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: s.e. fla.
Posts: 164
i picked up my salifert test kits at fishsupply. they were the cheapest
place i found & for hobbyist grade, salifert is the most consistant & accurate.

http://www.fishsupply.com/cgi-bin/f2...nuf&comp_id=SF
ricksreef is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-24-2004, 05:11 PM   #5
Moderator
 
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Louisiana
Posts: 19,412
I have several different Salifert test kits and not all of them are accurate. I have yet to find a Salifert boron test kit that works. The president of Salifert himself promised (twice!) that he was sending me a current boron test kit but I never did receive it. In his last communication he asked if he could simply wire me a refund. I got a refund for both stale (more than 6 years old!!) Salifert boron test kits from the online vendor and they informed me that they were unable to get replacements or refunds from Salifert.

I have a Salifert iodine test kit and I can only get readings on iodide. I have never been able to get a reading on iodate. The president of Salifert insists that this is due to "interferences" and that they are working on developing an iodine test kit that will be less susceptible to "interferences." So I have no way of knowing if my Salifert iodine readings are accurate or not. I usually measure between 0.06 - 0.20 ppm iodide. I have never added any iodine supplements because it is obvious that the food that I feed the fish is more than sufficient to maintain iodine levels at or above 0.06 ppm total iodine (iodide/iodate) in my system (0.06 ppm is NSW concentration of iodine).

I have a Salifert ammonia test kit but it doesn't even claim to be capable of measuring total ammonia (NH3 + NH4) below 0.50 ppm. I guess it's useful for measuring ammonia during an initial tank cycle but not much good for anything else.

I have used Salifert's phosphate test kit and their copper test kit but I can't say for sure if the readings are accurate or not. I have never had detectable readings of phosphate or copper in my tank. Obviously I did not expect any detectable copper results but I always wonder if the phosphate results are completely accurate. Maybe a more sensitive test would record a low level of phosphate.

I use Salifert's magnesium test kit and I'm not sure if I trust the results or not. I may look for a higher quality brand next time to compare test results. I have used Salifert's strontium test kit but I am not confident in the results, especially considering that the unit of measurement is 5 ppm and NSW is only 8 ppm Sr. I have used Salifert's activated carbon test kit to see if my GAC needs to be changed or not and I always get a result telling me that it needs to be changed, even when I test brand new carbon! I switched brands of GAC a few weeks ago and I will try testing the new stuff to see what happens. So either the test kit is unreliable or my carbon sucks.

I use Salifert's nitrite and nitrate test kits. I am reasonably confident that they are reasonably accurate. However, I intend to switch to LaMotte kits when I use up my present supply.

I use LaMotte kits for calcium and alkalinity and I am completely satisfied with them.

I have no experience with any other test kits.
__________________
Ninong
Ninong is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-24-2004, 07:55 PM   #6
Citizen
 
patsfan1130's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Mass
Posts: 240
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ninong
I have several different Salifert test kits and not all of them are accurate. I have yet to find a Salifert boron test kit that works. The president of Salifert himself promised (twice!) that he was sending me a current boron test kit but I never did receive it. In his last communication he asked if he could simply wire me a refund. I got a refund for both stale (more than 6 years old!!) Salifert boron test kits from the online vendor and they informed me that they were unable to get replacements or refunds from Salifert.

I have a Salifert iodine test kit and I can only get readings on iodide. I have never been able to get a reading on iodate. The president of Salifert insists that this is due to "interferences" and that they are working on developing an iodine test kit that will be less susceptible to "interferences." So I have no way of knowing if my Salifert iodine readings are accurate or not. I usually measure between 0.06 - 0.20 ppm iodide. I have never added any iodine supplements because it is obvious that the food that I feed the fish is more than sufficient to maintain iodine levels at or above 0.06 ppm total iodine (iodide/iodate) in my system (0.06 ppm is NSW concentration of iodine).

I have a Salifert ammonia test kit but it doesn't even claim to be capable of measuring total ammonia (NH3 + NH4) below 0.50 ppm. I guess it's useful for measuring ammonia during an initial tank cycle but not much good for anything else.

I have used Salifert's phosphate test kit and their copper test kit but I can't say for sure if the readings are accurate or not. I have never had detectable readings of phosphate or copper in my tank. Obviously I did not expect any detectable copper results but I always wonder if the phosphate results are completely accurate. Maybe a more sensitive test would record a low level of phosphate.

I use Salifert's magnesium test kit and I'm not sure if I trust the results or not. I may look for a higher quality brand next time to compare test results. I have used Salifert's strontium test kit but I am not confident in the results, especially considering that the unit of measurement is 5 ppm and NSW is only 8 ppm Sr. I have used Salifert's activated carbon test kit to see if my GAC needs to be changed or not and I always get a result telling me that it needs to be changed, even when I test brand new carbon! I switched brands of GAC a few weeks ago and I will try testing the new stuff to see what happens. So either the test kit is unreliable or my carbon sucks.

I use Salifert's nitrite and nitrate test kits. I am reasonably confident that they are reasonably accurate. However, I intend to switch to LaMotte kits when I use up my present supply.

I use LaMotte kits for calcium and alkalinity and I am completely satisfied with them.

I have no experience with any other test kits.
I am with Ninong on this one. I use Salifert for Ammonia,Trate,Mag & Phosphate and am relatively pleased with them but I use Lamotte for Ca & Alk
patsfan1130 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply



Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are On

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
lighting and test kits GoinSalt Tanks, Filtration & Basic Equipment 1 04-10-2004 03:03 PM
Salifert Ca and KH test kits? Pomme Tanks, Filtration & Basic Equipment 0 02-05-2004 04:12 PM
Test kit accuracy. Ninong Reef Aquariums 12 11-14-2003 12:12 PM
Test Kit's TomSeaman Saltwater (Fish-Only) Aquariums 6 10-15-2003 09:19 PM
? on Salifert Alk/Kh test Steve Reef Aquariums 3 07-22-2001 10:07 AM


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 03:47 AM.



Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.0 Release Candidate 3
Copyright ©2000 - 2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Search Engine Friendly URLs by vBSEO 3.1.0 ©2007, Crawlability, Inc.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76