. Anyone use strips versus liquid I hear strips can be very unreliable I think I agree, long story short tank has been running for about 4 weeks, Les was closed on a whim I let Petco test my water, yeah I know mistake, guy tells me my ph is at 7.0, tested my self with liquid, 7.0 huh??? Glad I didn’t start dumping stuff in my tank as was suggested!
Red sea pH / alk combo is a reliable and affordable test. Test strips are pretty much junk. For nitrate and ammonia I think the API test is ok but that’s about all I would use. When you are ready to test phosphate do yourself a favor and get a Hanna checker. Phosphate is notoriously hard to test and the Hanna checker is the best. Welcome to R2R! Check out the sticky posts at the top of each forum, they’re really good for common issues.