Where To Get The Cheepest Water Testing Kit?

[lil-x-me...x]

heyaa,

going to get my fish and plants for my 48ltr either tomorrow or next saturday. (if not sooner than next saturday)

only problem is, ill be most likely going to pets at home to get them, as they are the only ones with the fish i want. (and to be fair, their tanks around me are pretty good, as they have just added new ones and all the fish look fine, apart from the odd ones.)

Do pets at home sell water testing kits? it was ages since i had one, and i just had like a little peice of paper stuck onto my tank...

is it a strip i should get? or what else?

how do you test for them? im a bit new to this part of fishkeeping lol x

 

[Truck]

go for liquid more accurate

API master freshwater test kit £18 delivered on ebay

 

[fish.com1]

heyaa,

going to get my fish and plants for my 48ltr either tomorrow or next saturday. (if not sooner than next saturday)

only problem is, ill be most likely going to pets at home to get them, as they are the only ones with the fish i want. (and to be fair, their tanks around me are pretty good, as they have just added new ones and all the fish look fine, apart from the odd ones.)

Do pets at home sell water testing kits? it was ages since i had one, and i just had like a little peice of paper stuck onto my tank...

is it a strip i should get? or what else?

how do you test for them? im a bit new to this part of fishkeeping lol x

Pets at home sell the API fershwater master test kit (which is the one you want) but for 27.99 or thereabouts. You can get one off ebay for 20 delivered.

You want a liquid based test kit(like the API one) because they are mjuch more accuratte than strip tests which don't really work.

 

[lil-x-me...x]

how much are test strips then? and how much for a test water kit!? £27! £18 is a bit much atm...mite have to wait till easter on that one! lol x

 

[Truck]

how much are test strips then? and how much for a test water kit!? £27! £18 is a bit much atm...mite have to wait till easter on that one! lol x

test strips £10 and theres no point in buying them theyre highly unreliable, well most hobby test kits arent that accurate but they do the job, with liquids being the best!

 

[lil-x-me...x]

so how would you use the other test kits?

 

[jonp]

Will second that about the test strips -in my humble opinion (as a newbie who had some problems with cycling tank) they are a waste of £10....go for the api master kit

The test strips showed my tank as zero ammonia and nitirite where as the liquid tests at the same time revealed ammonia at 8ppm and nitrite off the scale.

 

[Truck]

so how would you use the other test kits?

the liquid ones you just put 5ml of water in the test tube to the white line and add the re agent as stated, but do not get this stuff on your skin!!! or breath it in! as one of the re agents is hydrochloric acid (not good!) and a few others are harmful if ingested, but it isnt as daunting as it sounds

 

[lil-x-me...x]

right ok then x will think about it then

 

[WILDER]

The only api test kit that not very good is the nitrate one, its not that accurate, so I buy tetra nitrate test kit instead.

 

[Truck]

The only api test kit that not very good is the nitrate one, its not that accurate, so I buy tetra nitrate test kit instead.

second that, i have trouble with mine, and one of the re agents is HCL2 so will burn you, not sure about the tetra re agent though

 

[rdd1952]

I totally agree on the strips. They are very inaccurate and in the long run terribly more expensive than a liquid master kit. A pack of 25 5-in-1 strips (which don't even test for ammonia) will cost almost as much as a master kit. But you will get 4 times as many test from the mater kit for not much more money.

 

[trickyspark]

I totally agree on the strips. They are very inaccurate and in the long run terribly more expensive than a liquid master kit. A pack of 25 5-in-1 strips (which don't even test for ammonia) will cost almost as much as a master kit. But you will get 4 times as many test from the mater kit for not much more money.

Yes, I bought 2 bottles of these test strips. They only thing they "test" is your patience.

The first time I brought a bottle home, I thought it would be so much better than having to mix chemicals and reagents, possibly
spilling them. I took one out with tweezers, dipped it in the water, read it and tossed it. The next day I open the bottle
and all my test strips had a reading on them. They had gotten no water in the bottle, the only moisture could have been
from the humidity in the air, and I don't live in a sauna.

The second bottle did the same thing.

Then I bought a Tetratest Laborett from Walmart.com, for some reason their store doesn't carry it, but the website does.
It tests for ammonia, nitrites, carbonate hardness, general hardness, and ph for both freshwater and a seperate test for saltwater ph.
It comes all in one box, test tube, instructions, syringe for drawing out the required amount of water for the tests, color charts, everything.
It wasn't a bad price when you compare buying seperate tests for ammonia, nitrites, etc, run around $9-$12 US on average.


You can check it out at http/www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3635399 , it costs around $16.00 or so.