im new with plants and i was just wondering what kind of test kit do i have to buy and and what does it test for?

You have a lot of choices. Some folks do 50% water change every week and then you don't need test kits because you'll never have more than twice what you dose every week. See "barrreport.com" The estimative index article.

I'm currently experimenting with doing very limited water changes and I only test for one thing Nitrates/NO3 once a week or two. Lots of test kits are innaccurate so make sure you double check them against a fixed solution that you make or buy. My Aquarium Pharmeceutical kit measures double what I have. I am currently using a Hach test kit which seems to test fairly accurately. It cost me about $25 with the fixed solution to test against. The LaMotte kit is about $60 and is supposed to be accurate too.

Anyway I use the results of the NO3 test to dose my KNO3 (covers nitrates and potassium) and then I dose my KH2PO4 (for phosphate) and traces in proportion to that. You can get all the ferts at "gregwatson.com".


Good luck, Bill