# Who makes good water test kits?



## Mxx (Dec 29, 2010)

I found the Lamotte and Seachem test kits which compare as follows:

Seachem Test Kits - (75 tests in each) - priced on Amazon
Nitrate $12.19
Phosphate $18.47
Potassium = None
Iron = $18.73

Red Sea Reef Care Potassium Test Kit - (40 tests) = $44.10

Lamotte Test Strips:
Lamotted SciEd Insta-Test Water Test Strips; Nitrate and Nitrite Strips = $10.90
Lamotte Insta Test Copper & Iron Pool & Spa Strips, 25 tests = $21.00
Lamotte Insta Test Phosphate Low Range Pool & Spa Strips (50) = $11.50

Lamotte Liquid/Tablets Reagents Tests: (UK prices converted to dollars, which presumably are nevertheless much more costly than the prices they'd be available in the US)
Lamotte Nitrate 1-15 PPM (50 tests) = $58.99
Lamotte Phosphate Educational Kit (100) = $27.00
Lamotte Phosphate Professionat Kit 0-20 PPM = $79.30
Lamotte Phosphate Professional Kit 1-100 PPM = $97.16
Lamotte Iron Test Kit (50) = $68.29

Lamotte do have a Multi-test Colorimeter Drinking Water Test Kit, which comes with a digital photometer to take the readings, which is awesome... That multi-test does ph 5-9, chlorine, iron 0.1-3 PPM, Nitrate 0.1-25 PPM, Sulfide 0-3 PPM, has reagents for 50 tests, and costs $215.32. So not all the test that I'd want, but a few of those would be helpful and I'd certainly prefer a photometer to trying to eyeball test results.

Lamotte also do have a Hydroponic Water Testing Kit: AM-41 Hydroponics Combination Kit Measures nine essential nutrients, including pH, Nitrate Nitrogen, Ammonia Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Sulphate, Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium and Iron, which I was quoted a price of $790 for though... And their HP-1: 4-in-1 test (50 tests) measures PH, Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium, at the bargain price of just $423!

So the Seachem tests average $0.22 for each individual test, the Lamotte strips average $0.43 per test, and the Lamotte individual reagent tests average $1.37 per test. 

Now, if I have a very large planted tank with say, expensive discus and which needs to look good as its in a prominent location, then I wouldn't mind paying a bit extra to obtain a relatively accurate result once or twice a month to ensure my parameters and dosing are stable. And I'd heard the Lamotte tests are the best, though pricey, but are they 6 times as good as the Seachem tests? Or are the Seachem tests perfectly fine to use, and legible to read accurately?


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## kamikazi (Sep 3, 2010)

Alot of people use the API Kit, here is a link
http://aquariumpharm.com/Products/Product.aspx?ProductID=67


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## Mxx (Dec 29, 2010)

I've seen them and know that they're pretty common, but are there other brands that are perhaps better, such as Seachem perhaps? I haven't used different types so with no basis for comparison I haven't a clue myself.


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## DetMich (Mar 18, 2011)

I have been using Elos PH/GH/KH test kits recently as I find them much easier to read/accurate than API's PH/GH/KH.


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## BradH (May 15, 2008)

Mxx said:


> I'm looking for a reasonably high quality test kit, but I'm not sure which brands to trust, I won't name names but the ones I'd tried using recently were rubbish and very difficult to ready with any accuracy. Whose would you recommend?
> 
> I'd also like to be able to test NKP levels as well as iron, to determine whether I have the necessary nutrients present and at the correct ratios, and whether my dosing is correct.


I wouldn't try to test for that stuff. You can tell by if your plants look good or not and if they are thriving and growing. Don't waste your money on those tests kits.

I know from reading your posts that you like to get technical about things. Just don't worry about it though. Throw in the plants, put in some root tabs if you need to for your substrate, and do some water column dosing. 

Besides, even if you did get a test kit for the npk, your going to have to calibrate them and still probably not get an 100% accurate reading.


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## Mxx (Dec 29, 2010)

It's true that the Lamotte test kits may be significantly over the top, for its not as if money is not object in my life right now. But if you end up paying $10 a month to do a few tests and adjust any dosing with the result that algae and other subsequent maintenance is minimized for a large tank then I suppose that's money and time well spent. 

Perhaps it is borderline obsessive to insist upon knowing the parameters, rather than either guesswork or ignoring them. I do admit that I enjoy the intellectual aspect of trying to understand the underlying ecology in detail, and trying to ensure that remains balanced, so I appreciate the aspect itself of knowing what is happening in my little ecosystem. 

Perhaps with a soil underlay much of this type of testing would be moot though, at least for quite a while, and in case I'm not doing much dosing. It does however seem that according to the usual practices a lot of people end up with significant problems such as algae blooms. So I'm happy to invent a better mousetrap so to speak, if my system would preempt these sorts of problems. 

The tests don't need to be all that accurate, so long as they could confirm the presence of the necessary nutrients and determine whether those are accumulating over time. And if I'm not doing weekly water changes then that is something which might be good to monitor. 

With my current test kit I however can't really tell whether my nitrates are 5 ppm or 50 ppm. If it's closer to the former then that's okay, but if it's the latter then I need to add more denitrifying medium to my biofilter. And conversely, if nitrates are depleted then I'd need to reduce the amount of denitrifying medium.


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## BradH (May 15, 2008)

I've never had an algae problem in any of my tanks, so I can't relate to that. The only algae that ever shows up in my tanks is green spot on the glass. i just throw in some nerites and they eat it. The only thing I would be interested in knowing is my nitrates.


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## Mxx (Dec 29, 2010)

I'm currently experiencing some green spot algae in a few places such as on my anubias leaves, as well as what I'd have to call black spot algae, which looks like the picture in this post - 
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/algae/84750-green-black-spot-algae.html


I can't figure out why I'm getting it, which I'm rather annoyed about and as I don't happen to that fond of the look of it, so I'm trying to delve deeper now into what is happening in my tank currently that might be causing it. I suppose that I could perhaps treat it through overdosing Excel, but I consider that to kind of be cheating. And I did pick up some Nerites now, but I'd certainly prefer to be able to control algae such as this purely through more natural means such as robust plant growth, as is supposedly possible to achieve. So if I can change my practices and set-up to preempt such algal growth then I'd certainly like to learn how to best do that.


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## BradH (May 15, 2008)

I don't know about the black spot or whatever that stuff is. Perhaps its just some type of green spot that looks black. I always hear it's a lack of co2 and phosphate, along with too much light that causes green spot.


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## Sharkfood (May 2, 2010)

While I agree that testing for NPK and iron (and most everything else in many cases) is totally unecessary for growing healthy plants, there are still other reasons to test, curiousity being foremost. Perhaps you might want to see what's already in your water, or try changing the environment in some way to see if nutrient uptake increases or decreases. Maybe you even want to see how quickly your root tabs are diffusing into the water column. 

In these cases, LaMotte kits can't be beat (by anything I'm aware of). 

Aquarium store kits aren't reliable/accurate/easy enough to read accurately to determine small changes in water chemistry, but are useful for giving the aquarist peace of mind concerning ammonia, etc..


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## Mxx (Dec 29, 2010)

Wow, up until now I'd been lazy and had been using test strips, despite that I'd heard them being described as inaccurate. I was however getting very high nitrate readings of about 100 which I suspected couldn't possibly be right. I was however not getting as much plant growth as I would have expected, so I nevertheless thought I might have excessive nitrates which are stunting my plants. 

And thus I just picked up a Seachem Nitrate test kit, as well as 2 litres of Seachem Pond Matrix to stick in my canister to lower my nitrates. And the Seachem test result showed that I have nitrates of, about 0.1 if any, but significantly less than 1 in any case. I even calibrated against their reference solution just to check. So how is 1000X for a margin of inaccuracy for test strips?...

Looks like I need to return the Pond Matrix, and take some of my existing Matrix out of my canister as well...

Still haven't decided between Elos, Lamotte, and Seachem for when I upgrade to a monster tank, but that may be a factor of my budget then at the time.


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## DaveK (Jul 10, 2010)

Mxx said:


> ...Still haven't decided between Elos, Lamotte, and Seachem for when I upgrade to a monster tank, but that may be a factor of my budget then at the time.


Of those test kits, the Lamotte ones are unquestionably by far the best. However, the lab grade test kits are also very expensive. You can easily get several aquarium hobby grade test kits for the price of one Lamotte test kit. In my opinion, most people don't need Lamotte test kits, so if your on a budget, go for Elos or Seachem.


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

DaveK said:


> Of those test kits, the Lamotte ones are unquestionably by far the best. However, the lab grade test kits are also very expensive. You can easily get several aquarium hobby grade test kits for the price of one Lamotte test kit. In my opinion, most people don't need Lamotte test kits, so if your on a budget, go for Elos or Seachem.


IMO, people do not need test at all, so that is a false argument for suggesting or denying the utility of a test kit to begin with.

If you bother to test, do a good job, use calibration standards, use a nice test color comparer that is easy to read, use a test kit that many have long stated are accurate.

Can you get very accurate measurements with 10$ test kits? Maybe for some things. If you like to guess and rationalize "it's good enough", "I do not need no calibration stuff"....then you are guessing for the most part to begin with.

The real question and answers we often find have little to do with the absolute values from the test kits. This is because the light and CO2 are poorly measured as well, if not even more poorly measured.
Or are their measure good enough? I seriously doubt it.

Why spend time doing measurements/labor/time/expense and do a slop job at it?

Do a good decent job that you can rely on.
A nice test kit and calibration is like a good light or a good CO2 system.......you do not need one, but they are well worth the $ if you intend to use them over time and rely on them.


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