How Accurate Are Tetra 6 In 1 Test Strips?

[Fizzy77]

Hi
 
I bought some Tetra 6 in 1 Test Strips off Amazon (Got them today) as we have been running our 2 tanks with out testing the water ourselves (only had two casualties, a cory randomly got thin and died over night and a danio got stuck in the filter )
We have had a friend test it every so often for us. When we had our 6ft tank years ago we had a master kit I hated testing the water and quite often messed it up or knocked things over (lol) so I thought strips would be easier,however reading through the forum and a few other places I see there are mixed reviews for them. Some say they are brilliant and accurate and others say they always give higher readouts than they should
 
So I just wondered what peoples opinions/experiences of them are?
 
Thanks

 

[daizeUK]

The main problem is they don't test ammonia, which is the number one thing you want to test for

 

[Fizzy77]

ah yes I didn't notice that until I did a test a minute ago (me thinks maybe I should have bought a master kit as amonia tests are exspensive)

 

[MBOU]

They are accurate enough in a sense, I use the JBL strips (better value and easier to read!) and if you know what you are doing, it will give you a "things are going ok, you need to do a water change or a oh my god its all going wrong" kind of idea of whats going on in the tank.
 
The reason they *aren't* accurate is you don't get precise readings.
 
They will however give you a good idea of nitrites and nitrates and ph and an easy way to keep an eye on mature tanks or check if something suddenly dies...
 
They cant put ammonia tests on with the others as the chemical used reacts with those on the other tests no body does a complete test strip with ammonia on.

 

[Fizzy77]

They are accurate enough in a sense, I use the JBL strips (better value and easier to read!) and if you know what you are doing, it will give you a "things are going ok, you need to do a water change or a oh my god its all going wrong" kind of idea of whats going on in the tank.
 
The reason they *aren't* accurate is you don't get precise readings.
 
They will however give you a good idea of nitrites and nitrates and ph and an easy way to keep an eye on mature tanks or check if something suddenly dies...
 
They cant put ammonia tests on with the others as the chemical used reacts with those on the other tests

no body does a complete test strip with ammonia on.

 
Ahh okay thank you, that explains the difference in opinions
The strips I bought were £7.48 with free P&P, might check lfs and see if they have ammonia kits. Will be doing a w/c today so will see what difference that makes on the results (hopefully it will be a good one)

 

[HayzH]

IME
 
they are rubbish...all the colours all run into each other so hard to read and not at all accurate.

 

[daizeUK]

If you're going to buy an ammonia test kit I recommend you get the Master kit.  It's only about £10 dearer from Amazon, the master kit is good value.

 

[MBOU]

It takes a technique for sure I use them enough times a day lol. I dip them in the water, give them a swish, take them out and holding it straight to the table, I give it a tap. Any excess water comes off and if you hold it straight when doing so, they don't run.
 
That said, liquid test kits are well worth investing in and they are very expensive. For the difference in price, I would not be buying the API test kits... all you have to do is search the name and every other person has problems with the kits, no idea why people still recommend them!
 
If paying out for a liquid test kit, the Red Sea and JBL ones are waaaaaaaaaaaaay more accurate, less prone to problems and much easier colour charts to read.
 
That said, massively underrated is the Salifert test kits! Even buying ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph individually, its cheaper than buying API, though in fairness you get 50 tests not 800 that API claim which is rubbish (though that number is divided by how many bottles there are). But with only a years accurate readings, its down to... how often are you likely to test the water!?

 

[the_lock_man]

I use the Salifert.
 
Everyone has issues reading the API ammonia, and getting a reading with the API nitrate.

 

[Fizzy77]

Thanks for all the replies, really annoyed now as I have the spare cash to get the ammonia test but not enough for a master!

 

[CoryLover95]

I used to use the Tetra 6 in 1 strips...trust me, you'll be a lot better off with a liquid kit.  I use the API, but as lock man says it can be hard to read the ammonia right.

 

[TallTree01]

I use strips as a ' testing test ' to see if I need to get it liquid tested by the LFS for free. Good system.

 

[CoryLover95]

I use strips as a ' testing test ' to see if I need to get it liquid tested by the LFS for free. Good system.

I used to do that too and it worked well, but when I got to the end of my jar I thought why spend the extra $11...they are cheap compared to liquid tests though.

 

[CJH0825]

The strips are good for a " quick, lets get a reading before work because I'm running late " kind of thing. The API master kit is always a good bet tho. Takes 10 minutes to run and you get accurate results. 

 

[andyxpress]

Agree with the posts above, test strips are great for cheap and cheerful water testing. The level of accuracy is fine for what most users require, however accurate interpretation of the results can sometime be a grey area. For a greater level of accuracy I would always go with a product with a digital readout.