Liquid Test Kits And Test Strips

[moochy13]

all over the forum, as if its some sort of pre-programmed auto response i see "strips are crap, buy a test kit". regardless of a users situation, needs, etc, its the be all and end all response.

firstly, test kits are initially an expensive outlay. i just put mine up for sale because i barely ever use it. my tank is mature, stable, and i have had no deaths in a long time. my maintenance is above average to keep up with my slightly (unplanned) overstocked tank. of the 800 tests claimed in the kit, iver done about 10, almost always out of curiosity than neccessity, and a feeling i need to get my moneys worth from it.

so now i have a kit i paid 25 quid for that is gathering dust doing nothing other than being in the way. i just tested my water, and despite it being close to water change and filter clean day, the stats are fine.

secondly though, i took the kit to a friends, and tested his water for him. then out of interest he dipped one of his API strips in, and - believe it or not - it was sufficently accurate, more than i had anticipated in fact. some parameters were even giving the same reading . i brought a kit after being swayed by the inevitable "strips are rubbish" advice from here, and from my experince, for my situation, strips are MORE than acceptable. then theres the added 'bonus' of the extra levels a strip usually tests for that you dont get in the liquid kits. and i know theres at least one colour chart on the liquid test card that is pretty difficult to read against your test tube, certainly not the perfect solution its made out to be.

im not saying strips are better, thats simply not true. but i really dont think theres any need for every forum user to be told to get a liquid kit right off the bat. i think its dependnat on the fishkeepers situation, number of tanks and experience. i did a fish in cycle without ever testing my water, i just used common sense and erred on the side of caution. that didnt cost me 25 quid

id be interested to here from people who have actually, physically compared kits and strips themselves, rather than regurgitate what they hear on the forum. maybe it was because the kit and strips i used were both API ?

 

[MBOU]

Test strips arent awful, its just harder to get an accurate reading when something is wrong! Like you said, there isnt anything wrong with your tank, its stable and unlikely to have any problems, but when you are first setting up a tank and need really accurate readings, liquid test kits are far more accurate.

To be honest, i quite liked the Interpet tablet test kits, easy as pir and no fussing about wondering if you put in a drop too many etc.. but they are pointlessly expensive.

I would still advise people setting up to use a liquid test kit and once the tank is stable, just get strips.

 

[soybean]

Having compared api strip tests, nutrafin liquid tests and salifert tests all at the same time I can definitely say liquid was far mote accurate than strip and salifert more accurate than the liquid. It was the difference between the strip saying "yes, there's some ammonia/nitrite/etc in your tank" and the salifert saying " there is X amount of ... in your tank", with the liquid result being somewhere in the middle.

Strips are useful as a very quick test on an established tank but they're useless for accurate fishless cycling, and if a user is being recommended they buy a test kit it's usually because the tank isn't cycled and they need to know how to do it, not just because they haven't got one and are being told they "need one". If they've already added fish and are now doing a fish-in cycle, well, not everyone has common sense and nor will everyone believe just how quickly ammonia can build up. A drop test kit will show this more accurately than a strip test.

 

[micko]

Funnily enough I was having the same discussion with a friend last week. He uses strips and I use liquid. Going by his strips it said my tank was fine and using my liquid test it said it needed a water change. I didn't change the water in that tank for about 5 days and I was feeding fry (fry only tank) heavily to try and get them up a bit more as I don't have anymore room so I knew they'd need a water change anyway. We done the same on his tank and the liquid said he needed a water change and his strips said it didn't. He decided to do what his strips told him to do and I done the water change on the fry tank. He didn't change the water for another few days and only did when he noticed three fish dead.
There were no symptoms of disease in his tank when I was at his place whilst doing the tests.

There could be another reason as to why his fish died although I will personally put it down to the strips.

By the way, both products were API

 

[BigbruiserAl]

i did a fish in cycle without ever testing my water, i just used common sense and erred on the side of caution. that didnt cost me 25 quid

Not something to be proud off or encourged IMO.

Strips are not as accurate liquid FACT. If you buy strips they cost approx £7 the same ammoina liquid test cost approx £8, no brainer really, kits are different i have yet to see a strip test kit with same test as liquid to be fair price match. I belive most responible keepers will advise liquid to newbies as they are more then likely wont know the signs of a tank in trouble or ammonia posioning etc. Using strips as a experinced user on a mature tank though i cant see a problem with

 

[Mowbz]

The only issue i ever have with my API Liquid Reagent kit is getting a solid ammonia reading. If its "0" under the fluorescent tubes under the cupboard in the kitchen, it looks more like 0.25ppm in the lounge.


This is the worst bit;

For those that read my thread a week or so back when i had problems keeping ammonia down with a fully cycled external, it turns out there was possibly never 0.25ppm in the tank. Having done further tests every day over the last 10 days, if its showing 0.25ppm under the light in the lounge, it will show as 0ppm under the fluorescent tubes under the kitched cupboards. I did three 80% water changes on a 75gal over three days, and its looking like i need not have bothered.

The API kit is apparently "accurate", just a PITA to read the chart.

 

[ZoddyZod]

Question - Do strips now test for ammonia?

The API ones I bought a couple of years ago certainly didn't.

If the answer is still no - then you need a liquid test anyway.

 

[Mowbz]

Question - Do strips now test for ammonia?

The API ones I bought a couple of years ago certainly didn't.

If the answer is still no - then you need a liquid test anyway.

This is why i bought the API Liquid kit, couldnt find an API strip kit with NH4 test. This was after advice that API are one of the "better" and i couldnt find a Salifert one quick enough.