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Ok, so far I have an ammonia test kit. Also a nitrate test kit. I've become really familiar with that one..
Now that I'm in the habit of testing for nitrates I'm in better control of the water quality and this directly benefits my fish and saved my otos too

What kit would be most important to get next. Would it be a PH test kit ? Or a different one ? There seem to be different levels of ph test kits, eg - high range ? Can someone explain this ? Which one is best ?

The Amazon Nut...

Hi,
Routinely I would test pH, nitrate, GH, and KH.
You should be able to find a "master kit" that has
reagents for each of them in one box. That would
be less expensive than purchasing A kit for each.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

yup, the master test kit, sometimes called test labs or something like that, for 19.99 you get ph, ammonia, gh, kh, nitrite, and chlorine. pretty good deal since a set of GH and KH are 10 dollars already. petsmart usually have those, or petco, i think they are 29.99 regular price though, often times one of them would have this on sale for 19.99.

Master Test Kits cost quite a bit more here bnut still worth it. . . you don't want to be paying up to $15 for each test. I like the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals and Hagen ones personally, as they've always been fairly reliable and are widely available. I think last time I was at PetSmart they were going for about $60.

Thanks for the tips so far

I would buy the kit but I already have the ammonia test and nitrate test. To add a ph test kit would cost $10.

If I already have 2 types of tests, shouldn't I just get the ones I'm missing separately ?

ph, nitrite, gh, kh ?

The Amazon Nut...

I just thought about my last comment. 4 types of tests would be at least $40. so if I can get all the missing tests in a kit for $40 or less then it's worth it and I may have extra ammonia and nitrate tests. I'll check it out, thanks guys

The Amazon Nut...

yea im having the same problem, well I have been fish keeping for almost 10yrs now and I have rarely used the PH test kit, because i know that the water ph of the tap is 7.8 and certainly the fish i have do not mind that ph.
Im just wondering also what other test kits i need other than ph-which I now never use-that is vital to the fish? nitrate, nitrite, hardness...help..

Friedrice,

If all is going well in your tank and it's cycled, you don't really need ammonia or nitrite.. You know your ph, which will remain pretty constant.

The most important test for you will be Nitrate, (it was for me, that's for sure) I test this constantly now in my tanks.. This will tell you when it's time for water changes etc.. The most important test kit in my opinion. The liquid test takes a minute longer but is cheaper than the strips. I use the Nitrate Test Kit made by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals. Takes only a couple minutes for a test, I test weekly. If you need a full test kit...

I found a Tetra test kit at Big Als for $30. which to me is an amazing price. Has Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, ph, gh, kh, and a formula thing to figure your co2. Each test alone ranges from $10. to $17. It's easy to use and I recommend it. Hope this helped




[span class="edited"][Edited by DaFishMan 2004-08-19 11:02][/span]

The Amazon Nut...

thank you fish man, i didnt know that!

Glad to help

The Amazon Nut...