[Wei]

Where and what brand of test kits would you recommend? Online stores seem to always have better prices than my LFS.
I need tests for
pH
kH
gH
ammonia
nitrite/nitrate

thanks

 

[malkore]

big als or drs foster smith

 

[IUnknown]

http://aquasales.com/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/asstore/testkits.html?L+aquasale+pmsf8116+1104785865

 

[Wei]

I dont have enough money for the lamotte. I was thinking along the lines of Aquarium Pharmaceuticals. I plan to test pH, nitrite, nitrate, ammonia, kH, gH, and maybe phosphate. Will going with Aquarium Pharmaceuticals for all those tests be ok?

 

[Rolo]

AP for GH and KH does a great job. Of the cheap NO3 kits avaliable I like AP the best, but still would go for a Lamotte anyday. I think the low range pH kit is too hard to read. Haven't tried AP for phosphates but RedSea has worked flawlessly for me.

 

[Wei]

I guess being a poor college student Lamotte is out of the question. I dont even think if I had a ton of money that I could justify paying 190$ for a testing kit when there are others for under well under $50. Do you people that buy Lamotte get the whole package or each test individually?

 

[Rolo]

No, not many are buying the whole array of Lamotte. The most commonly bought Lamotte kit is the nitrate one, (<$50) since many of the cheaper nitrate kits are just inaccurate, have poor readability, etc. I wouldn't buy it for other parameters when the cheap kits work fine.

 

[malkore]

LaMotte phosphate kit is also pretty popular...its good at low ranges, under 1.0ppm, which is what we need to know most.

 

[Wei]

oh ok that makes a little more sense because those prices for everything is ridiculous. Anyways I might just do that buy Aquarium Pharm products for everything but nitrate and phosphate. Thanks for your help everyone!

 

[Wei]

OK I've decided to get the Aquarium Pharm's
Master Test Kit (pH, high pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate)
kH and gH

should I get two sets? How fast will I go through one of these. And are the bottles the same ones(size and # of test) as the individual bottles?