Freshwater Testing Kits

What do y'all think the best freshwater testing kit on the market is. I've put three tanks through the nitrogen cycle while using API Master Test Kit and I think its a pretty good kit. Sometimes it is hard to tell the difference in colors. What are your thoughts about this product? Would you choose a different product? Why?

 

I personally like the apI masterkit because its so widely available and is a lot cheaper than say the seachem or nutrafin tests. I do agree that sometimes the colours can be hard to tell apart but it's easier if you hold it up in natural light with the colour card behind it.

Also not really a kit but for individual tests I have surprisingly found the best ph test to be one designed for pools! It goes from tinted yellow to bright red and the little colour indicator is the actual tint suspended in clear plastic so it's very easy to tell.

 

API masterkit. If you’re having trouble with the colors, try putting them against a white piece of paper.

 

I don't see how that will help. There are white spaces between the scales.

 

I switched to Salifert testers because I hate all of the snake oil products that API sells and I refuse to give them anymore of my money. You do not need half of the testers in the API master kit.

 

I switched to Salifert testers because I hate all of the snake oil products that API sells and I refuse to give them anymore of my money. You do not need half of the testers in the API master kit.

I agree that if you buy everything the manufacturers say is necessary it'll cost you $500 bucks and you'll have a cabinet full of stuff you can't or shouldn't use, but it's all manufacturers, not just API.

The Master Test Kit tests for pH, ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. I mostly use the nitrate test, and have to replace that part of it periodically, but I still like having the other tests available, in case I'm cycling, etc.

I'm interested in hearing about the Salifert test kit. I don't know anything about kits other than the API.