Test Kits

[TarkMalbot]

Just wondering how many test kits people have. Which ones are really needed and which are just to keep an eye on things? I have a Nitrite Kit, Amonnia and PH.

 

[CrashingWaves]

Just wondering how many test kits people have. Which ones are really needed and which are just to keep an eye on things? I have a Nitrite Kit, Amonnia and PH.

Those are the same ones I have.

God Bless,
Joshua

 

[SJ2K]

API Master test kit, does Ph, high range Ph, Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate.

 

[Thirdfloor]

My master test kit checks:
Ammonia
Nitrites
pH
GH
KH
and I bought a kit to test:
nitrates

 

[TarkMalbot]

So the others that people like to keep are things like Hardness, Gravity and Nitrates? Any others?

 

[SJ2K]

Gravity? Nope, Gh is General Hardness , there are loads of tests out there, most you wont need to worry about. To name a few:

1) Ph
2) High Range Ph
3) Ammonia
4) Nitrite
5) Nitrate
6) Gh
7) Kh
8 ) Phosphate
9) Calcium
10) Silica

As you can see, there are alot out there, the only ones you really need to worry about are, Ammonia, Nitrite and possibly Nitrate and Ph

 

[Gremily]

So the others that people like to keep are things like Hardness, Gravity and Nitrates? Any others?

Gravity (usually SG or Specific Gravity) is a measurement sometimes used to determine how much salt water contains, you won't need this test for a freshwater set up, but I'm not sure you even get a liquid/strip test for this.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

As SJ2K said for normal FW tropicals you only really need Ammonia and nitrite.

Nitrate is handy to know but you could just get this tested at your LFS. Same for PH and KH, good too know what they are to start with and check them every so often but as long as you are doing regular water changes and arent doing anything to mess with them (CO2, peat filter, RO water, etc) they shouldn't change that much.

Personally although they are not known for their accuracy I have used test strips in the past just to do a quick check on the tank. I dont trust them to give me an accurate reading and for that I use liquid test kits but to just quickly check everything is ok they are pretty good and should show if anything is badly out of place (I used Tetra ones and they where actually very close to the results my liquid kits gave).