Test kits...

[richofoz]

I was just wondering what test kits people are using and if they'd recommend them.
I'm using an API (aquarium pharmacueticals) Salt water kit at the moment and I'm starting to wonder how accurate/sensitive it is.
Every single time I test the water, both ammonia and nitrate are undetectable and nitrate is always at aprox. 20ppm.
Have I just been super lucky with my tank or are these just a real basic kit designed to give you a rough idea of what the levels are?

Also I have finally started adding corals to my tank what extra test kits would people recomend?
I'm thinking calcium, phosphates... Any other really important ones?

Thanks for your time, rich.

[cutegecko3]

i bought a red sea calcium pro test kit.but its such a pain i prefer to use my old aquarium pharmaceuticals kit.i use a salifert kit to test for phosphate and i am very pleased with it.

[tanker]

I have heard bad things about aquarium pharmacueticals, but have never tried them myself. I have always used Salifert.

For fish only you will need Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite, and PH.

For a reef you will need the above plus--Calcium, alkalinity, and phosphate. (IMO)

[richofoz]

I was keeping fowlr up until a couple of months ago, so have tests for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, a digital ph meter as well as gh and kh.
Is KH the same as alkilinity?

[McCrary]

Salifert is a really good company, Lamotte is a little better and a little more expensive. They seem to work well, except for the phosphate which doesn't seem to work well. Merck makes a good phosphate test kit (its a liquid test), Hanna makes a good test that is digital, but more expensive than the $80 Merck at around $220 with the packets for 100 tests. The Hanna seems really expensive, but I think it is worth it to know what your phosphates are, plus the refills (packets) are around $20 for a 100. The Merck refill is like $50, so if you test phosphates a lot the digital can be a good investment.