Test kits

[PaReeferJ]

I am in the market for test kits for testing phosphate and nitrates. What test kits are good. I am using Red Sea test kit for alk, mag, and cal.

 

[JimWelsh]

Salifert for nitrate, and Elos Phosphate Pro for phosphate. I've used Red Sea for nitrate, too, and while it gives similar results as Salifert, I find the Salifert nitrate kit to be MUCH easier to read.

 

[Cory]

Personally i like the hanna po4 checker for phosphate. No color chart to read, just digital. No3, i dont bother to check anymore.

 

[PaReeferJ]

Personally i like the hanna po4 checker for phosphate. No color chart to read, just digital. No3, i dont bother to check anymore.

You don't check for No3? What's the reason behind that?

 

[jsker]

It just myself but I prefer Red Sea. I have used Salifert test kits and they work well. As with the color wheel with Red Sea I just make sure that I have natural light (day light) when I read the scale

 

[Cory]

You don't check for No3? What's the reason behind that?

Because all my po4 reduction and no3 reduction come mainly from my algae turf scrubber. When po4 in my tank is .03ppm or less, no3 always read 0. Redfield ratio sort of. For my tank to read 20ppm no3 phosphate would need to be something like .5ppm. So i sort of know no3 based on my po4 levels.

Another reason is no3 isnt very toxic compared to ammonia. And lastly, i have a substrate free aquarium so i can constantly see where the leftover food is and detritus that will get converted to no3 down the road, which i remove weekly.