Test Kits

[PSreef75]

Hello, I am new to reefing and am looking for advice on good not horribly expensive test kits. I am currently using API Salt Water Master kit and hear they are not very accurate? I have been looking at Red Sea, Salifert or possibly taking the leap to Hanna . I have a 32.5 AIO and a 110 with canister filter with soft corals, a few basic fish, crabs, shrimp, and snails.
Thank you

 

[tbrown]

You're going to get a thousand opinions.

Personally, API works for some of the "lesser important" tests. I use them for Alkalinity, Magnesium, and Calcium for decent ballpark figures.

For Phosphates I could never see the colors so I prefer Hanna Ultra Low Range Phosphate.

Same with Nitrates - Hanna is easy and accurate.

pH can be as simple as a pH pen from Amazon rated for water.

Those are about the only tests I run on my tank. What are your plans for the tank?

 

[gbroadbridge]

Hello, I am new to reefing and am looking for advice on good not horribly expensive test kits. I am currently using API Salt Water Master kit and hear they are not very accurate? I have been looking at Red Sea, Salifert or possibly taking the leap to Hanna . I have a 32.5 AIO and a 110 with canister filter with soft corals, a few basic fish, crabs, shrimp, and snails.
Thank you

I've tried a lot of them, but you can't go wrong with Salifert for everything except for Hanna ULR Phosphate.

I sold all of my Hanna checkers except one and went back to salifert - an expensive circle exercise over many years.

But as said above you'll get a million opinions - this is just one of them :-)

 

[Airedale Reef]

If Hanna checkers are in your budget, I would highly recommend. Deciphering color hues was a no go for me, and being able to actually see concrete numbers was a game changer, and set me up for success. . As mentioned above you will get plenty of opinions here, but here is what I use to test my parameters

Hanna: Big three: Alk, Nitrate and Phosphate (I do own the mag and cal testers as well, but they were a but too complicated for me (Cal needs freshwater, and I do not always have that on hand).

Salifert: Mag, Cal

API: PH

Salinity: I purchased an Imagitarium Refractometer from Petco.

The hana checkers were an initial investment...at $60 each, it can be a chunk of money especially when spent on a checker instead of that fancy torch lol. Ive used mine for multiple years, and glad to have them.

 

[PSreef75]

You're going to get a thousand opinions.

Personally, API works for some of the "lesser important" tests. I use them for Alkalinity, Magnesium, and Calcium for decent ballpark figures.

For Phosphates I could never see the colors so I prefer Hanna Ultra Low Range Phosphate.

Same with Nitrates - Hanna is easy and accurate.

pH can be as simple as a pH pen from Amazon rated for water.

Those are about the only tests I run on my tank. What are your plans for the tank?

Thank you for the reply sounds like it is not always a one fits all situation.I am still trying to figure out what I am going to stock my 110 with. It is cycling still with just some live rock but my thought is mostly corals with a few fish and some crab and shrimp. My 32.5 currently has the above in it already but may switch to just clowns and anemone’s.

 

[PSreef75]

Hello, I am new to reefing and am looking for advice on good not horribly expensive test kits. I am currently using API Salt Water Master kit and hear they are not very accurate? I have been looking at Red Sea, Salifert or possibly taking the leap to Hanna . I have a 32.5 AIO and a 110 with canister filter with soft corals, a few basic fish, crabs, shrimp, and snails.
Thank you

I've tried a lot of them, but you can't go wrong with Salifert for everything except for Hanna ULR Phosphate.

I sold all of my Hanna checkers except one and went back to salifert - an expensive circle exercise over many years.

But as said above you'll get a million opinions - this is just one of them :-)

Thank you I appreciate the feedback and will take all this into consideration.

 

[PSreef75]

If Hanna checkers are in your budget, I would highly recommend. Deciphering color hues was a no go for me, and being able to actually see concrete numbers was a game changer, and set me up for success. . As mentioned above you will get plenty of opinions here, but here is what I use to test my parameters

Hanna: Big three: Alk, Nitrate and Phosphate (I do own the mag and cal testers as well, but they were a but too complicated for me (Cal needs freshwater, and I do not always have that on hand).

Salifert: Mag, Cal

API: PH

Salinity: I purchased an Imagitarium Refractometer from Petco.

The hana checkers were an initial investment...at $60 each, it can be a chunk of money especially when spent on a checker instead of that fancy torch lol. Ive used mine for multiple years, and glad to have them.

Thank you

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I would try Salifert, hanna or Red Sea. I personally use a mix of salifert and Red Sea as hanna's are expensive (but they are worth the cost though)

 

[PSreef75]

I really appreciate all the feedback this very enlightening and helpful. This forum is awesome and I can tell will be very helpful as I develop in this hobby.

 

[Dom]

Hello, I am new to reefing and am looking for advice on good not horribly expensive test kits. I am currently using API Salt Water Master kit and hear they are not very accurate? I have been looking at Red Sea, Salifert or possibly taking the leap to Hanna . I have a 32.5 AIO and a 110 with canister filter with soft corals, a few basic fish, crabs, shrimp, and snails.
Thank you

I feel that API gets a bad rap because of the inaccuracy of their ammonia test.

But there is a place for API in the hobby.

I like to use them for frequent testing, and when something shows out of range, I use my Hanna and Red Sea tests as a confirmation.

Testing with API is better than not testing at all (something people do without when they are trying to stay within their budget).