Word to Newbs on Test Strips

[SaltLifeLove]

Dont use them! I will be the first to admit that I went out and bought test strips ... I religiously tested my tank with them and everything was going great, untill one day my Nitrates tested 40 (long after the cycle) and stayed that way for 2 days:bigeyes: For obvious reasons I freaked out and was worried about my corals. I took my water to the LFS and my nitrates were 0 ZERO! Basically I panicked for no reason, and then decided to buy my own drip tests and confirmed Zero nitrate status.
The strips also told me my pH was 7.8 when in reality it is 8.2

Long Story short, test strips suck and are inaccurate. I should have listened to everyone here on RC! Drips are worth the money!
OK thanks, and have a great night :dance:

[Flipper62]

Long Story short, test strips suck and are inaccurate. I should have listened to everyone here on RC!

Thats why we all are here.........I most cases....been there-scrap that.

I guess you just had see for yourself.

I dont even use the cheap test strips on my swimming pool.

[lordofthereef]

Not that I disagree that test strips aren't the best, but your experience doesn't really prove much. I have heard of people have similar experiences all the time with drip tests (and a variety of brands at that). I think a better lesson to be learned here is to realize that there are things that can go wrong with any test and that we shouldn't simply trust it "because it says so."

[PRDubois]

Strips are a good fast test to see where you stand. If you see an issue then you should use a good test to verify or have your LFS test your water to verify the problem.