BIG THREE: What Test Kits are you using for ALK, CAL, MAG in 2021?

Do you choose a test kit brand and stick with it or are you willing to change?

  • Stick with it

    Votes: 139 31.8%
  • Willing to change

    Votes: 286 65.4%
  • Other (please explain in the thread)

    Votes: 12 2.7%

  • Total voters
    437

revhtree

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One thing hobbyists tend to go back and forth on are test kits and that's due to various reasons. I would like to hear what everyone is using for the big three (alk, cal, mag) in 2021! Which do you trust the most and why? Let's talk about it!

1. What brand test kits are you using for Alkalinity, Calcium and Magnesium in 2021?

2. Why are you using the test kits that you are using?


test.jpg
 

SPR1968

No, it wasn’t expensive dear....
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I use

Calcium - NYOS
Magnesium - NYOS
Alkalinity - Hanna

The NYOS are very simple to use and fairly accurate against Triton tests and the Hanna’s also very simple and easy
 

Uncle99

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Hanna ALK, fast and way way accurate. Can be done in less than a minute.
Salifert for CA MG, fast, easy, uncomplicated and accurate.
Can be done in less than 2 minutes.

The Hanna CA checker was too unreliable for me, the output varied way to much and it required quite a few steps.

The Red Sea MG was accurate but to time consuming have to shake for 15 seconds on every drop.
 

Auquanut

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I use Red Sea for the top 3. Switched from Salifert a couple of years ago. I just seems easier to use and easier to read. The consistency also seems good. When I purchase a new kit, I always test the new against the old, and they seem to be pretty much spot on.
 

DaddyFish

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ITS Exact iDip - for everything plus...
Hanna for copper because I already had it,
Amazon pH meter for quick checks between real testing,
Hydros pH probe in the big DT,
Amazon TDS meter for quick checks to verify my IceCap RO/DI system.

I think that's all of them! I never trust any single source of testing, never!

I'm partially colorblind and even with color-sighted family living with me right now (thank you Covid), there's rarely a concensus on color chart tests. I vowed to go "digital" and never look back. So far, so good.
 

Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

  • Ball valves.

    Votes: 75 51.7%
  • Gate valves.

    Votes: 74 51.0%
  • Check valves.

    Votes: 37 25.5%
  • None.

    Votes: 32 22.1%
  • Other.

    Votes: 9 6.2%
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