reverendmaynard
New member
Hey folks,
I was originally into FW tanks, and so when I started to get interested in testing for more than PH, and saw the prices of individual kits at the lfs, I bought this Hagen Master Test Kit. Most of the tests have seperate color charts for SW. All the tests use little plastic bottles with a nipple on them to measure out the drops. They all give readings in ppm, no good/bad or high/low crap. The Nitrate, Phospate, Calcium and Ammonia tests are 3 parts, Nitrite and iron are 2 parts, and the Kh, Gh, and PH (high and low range) kits are one part. I can get more info on the testing method of each test if that's any use.
I've already gotten a PH monitor, as I really couldn't read the PH kit (where does purple fit between blue and green?) and I know not to bother with the GH test for SW.
So my question is, does anyone know anything about the accuracy of these tests? I've seen some articles where certain kits were evaluated, but I've only seen Salifert and SeaChem (of course that was after I bought the SeaChem Iodine/Iodide and Magnesium/Carbonate/Borate kits!). I know Hagen is generally considered an inferior brand, but these kits are much easier to use than the seachems, and they always give me consistent results. How accurate those results are without independant corroboration is another story however.
Any thoughts?
I was originally into FW tanks, and so when I started to get interested in testing for more than PH, and saw the prices of individual kits at the lfs, I bought this Hagen Master Test Kit. Most of the tests have seperate color charts for SW. All the tests use little plastic bottles with a nipple on them to measure out the drops. They all give readings in ppm, no good/bad or high/low crap. The Nitrate, Phospate, Calcium and Ammonia tests are 3 parts, Nitrite and iron are 2 parts, and the Kh, Gh, and PH (high and low range) kits are one part. I can get more info on the testing method of each test if that's any use.
I've already gotten a PH monitor, as I really couldn't read the PH kit (where does purple fit between blue and green?) and I know not to bother with the GH test for SW.
So my question is, does anyone know anything about the accuracy of these tests? I've seen some articles where certain kits were evaluated, but I've only seen Salifert and SeaChem (of course that was after I bought the SeaChem Iodine/Iodide and Magnesium/Carbonate/Borate kits!). I know Hagen is generally considered an inferior brand, but these kits are much easier to use than the seachems, and they always give me consistent results. How accurate those results are without independant corroboration is another story however.
Any thoughts?
