Ammonia Test Strips.

[GRJ]

Hi all, i am going through cycling with my new tank at the minute, i have 5 fish, 2 zebra danios and 3 platies(and thier fry which i found this morning ) and i am doing 20% water changes every other day so its not to mch stress on the fish. I was wondering about test strips. I have liquid test strips for ph, nitrite and nitrate but test strips for ammonia. Are these strips ay good and are they accurate. I am getting a master test kit in a few weeks which is all liquid tests as i am not sure if the ammonia test strips are any good or not, apart from being expensive,( £7.99 for 25 strips ). Anyone know about this type of thing?GRJ.

 

[dthoffsett]

Paper test strips aren't accurate, however they'll do until you get your liquid kit.

 

[part-timer]

yip, the paper test strips are getting a bit of a reputation for not being too accurate nor reliable after any period of time. Liquid test kit all the way for sure.

 

[Lynda B]

drop test kits rock..... strip test kits.... um.... don't rock.....

 

[rdd1952]

It has always boggled my mind that 5 in 1 strips don't test for ammonia which is the absolute most important thing you need to test for when cycling a tank. As already stated, strips are terribly inaccurate. Get yourself a good liquid master test kit. It will cost you about $24 and is much cheaper in the long run that strips.

 

[Lorna]

Thats good to know. I was curious about those testing stripes as a friend from work uses them. I have a API master testing kit which I find great. But now I know that the testing stripes are really no good I think I will just keep using my testing kit.

 

[gilaesther]

The API master test kit is terrific, it covers everything, and lasts a LONG time, even if you test everyday.

 

[GRJ]

Thanks everyone for that, i have ben and got the API Mini Test kit today which has the liquid ammonia test in it and i ahe just tested the ammonia level and it did give a different reading than the test strip, which potentially could be dangerous to the fish. DONT USE TEST STRIPS!!!! I will never use test strips again. The other thing i notice was that on the PH testing, there are two, a high range PH and a low range PH. I thought it was a bit strange that the one i purchased only went up to PH7 on the colour chart.

 

[rdd1952]

Because the pH range is so wide, the liquid tests have both a high and low pH test to cover both ends of the spectrum. Unless your water falls very near the break point, you should only need to test with one of them although both are included in the kits.