The Puffer Forum

You guys are right: test strips don't work. I've been stubbornly using Jungle's 5 in 1 test strips for a long time, but a week ago I finally bought API's individual ammonia test kit, and then a couple of days ago I bought their individual nitrite kit, too (and I'll get the nitrate and pH kits next paycheck). The test strips show the presence of nitrites in a couple of my tanks, but the API test comes out 0...which means I've done a lot of needless panicking (and water changes) in the last 6 months. Oh well, I guess you could say a water change is never a wasted deed.

Partly why I balked getting the test kit before was that I looked at the complete kit, which can run many big bucks - whereas the strips are only $11 for 25. Then I noticed you could get the individual tests, which allows you to buy them one at a time, so you can afford it easier. And now that I've got a couple of them, I see it's really the way to go as it turns out to be WAY cheaper than those strips over time.

I guess it's better for it to show nitrites when you don't have them rather than not to show them when you do have it.
I've never used the test strips. You get more test out of the liquid. In the long run "way cheaper".

Yeah definitely.

Yep, I only use the strips for nitrates and then its only to look for something going higher than "normal".

So in that case it doesn't really matter if they are really 15 when the test says 20, or 10, just that they aren't drastically out of whack from what my tank *should* be at.

Ammonia and nitrites I use liquid tests, and actually at the moment I'm just using the liquid nitrate as well.. takes more time, and I have a habit of knocking over the tubes, but hey, its better than not knowing.

I use the strips as it's a lot faster, but I am really only looking to see if it reads anything higher than 0. Because on Nitrates it seems to read 10-15 or so higher than my test kit but I can take a quick look and see if I need to bring out the test kit or not.