What water testing equipment to use?

I'm wondering what water testing equipment are most people using for freshwater native tanks? I tried the cheap-o 5 in 1 test strips and their color chart seems like it won't be very acurate at all. My wife could pick up something at Petco or Petsmart tonight if they stock something that is good. I'd like to test for the basic Amm., Trite., Trate, PH, but not sure how many other tests i sould be doing. I know i have hard well water with higher total mineral content but i can mix water from my softened water in the house to try and match the lake water the fish will be coming from. It will be planted with sunfish types. Thanks in advance for any help! Cory

Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate are really only an issue for the first couple months when setting up new tanks, adding a large fish load, or if something happens that kills off your biofilter bacteria (medicine, power outage, mechanical failure). After the first couple months, pH is about all I ever check, (and salinity for brackish fish). If your water is hard then it probably has high alkalinity too and pH drop will be slow. A cheap bromothymol blue liquid test kit is fine the pH range you'll be interested in. If you were collecting in acidic swamp waters you might want a meter for pH measurements below 6.0, but I doubt that's an issue where you are.

I have a Jungle company Quick Dip, 6 tests in one strip. It was $7 and it reads nitrate, nitrite, total hardness (DH), total chlorine, total alkalinity (KH), and pH. I used to have a Tetra Test Laborett which was vials and drops.

Comparing the two, there are pros and cons to both. Here is a list:
Test strip pros: Cheap ($7). Small (fits in my hand). Works for some things.
Test strip cons: Not all that accurate. Doesn't test ammonia.
Chemical drop pros: Very, very accurate. I felt cooler when testing the water. Has ammonia and nitrate and even carbon dioxide tests.
Chemical drop cons: Expensive ($20+), large, crystallized and was no longer accurate after only a year or two.

Huh. I was about to write that test strips were long lasting, but apparently on the bottom of the bottle here it says this container only is good until 2012/09, which gives it about a one year use time. That's about how much I got out of my test drops, too. Huh.

Anyway, yeah. The laborett was definitely accurate and fun to use. It involved adding drops until the color changed. But it was $20. So when it crystallized after a year, precipitating out of solution, I replaced it with the $7 test strips. My tanks are very very stable and no matter how much you test them they're still fine. I actually have a Walstad setup where the plants are the filters, so no matter how long the tank goes between water changes the nitrate never reaches 30 ppm. So my tank is kind of boring to test and I don't normally do it. But that's because my tank is old and well established. For new tanks, knowing the progress of the growth of bacteria that convert ammonia to nitrite to nitrate is very essential. Check out slide 8 of this powerpoint: http://www.ag.auburn...tion Design.pdf and this article http://www.fishkeepi...ing-article.htm and this product: http://www.fishkeepi...ing-article.htm
yeah, so, test kits are important if you want to avoid killing those pretty fish you just added to the tank.

Every new fish tank should either have a bottle of Quick Start, a lot of live plants, or an ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate test kit. Or, if you know how long the cycle takes (40 days), a piece of decaying meat and some time on your hands. That's how I'm cycling my new saltwater tanks. I just threw in some dog kibbles and am waiting a few weeks. Some of the older more experienced fish keepers tested their tanks over and over and found that every week, two weeks, whatever time period, their tank nitrate would be at 40 ppm. They'd do a water change, test, wait, test, and after exactly that time again their nitrate would be at 40 ppm again. So after a while you don't need to test it to know to do a water change. Whatever works, you know? Just don't expose fish to ammonia or nitrite.

Edited by EricaWieser, 29 June 2012 - 06:23 PM.

I have the Tetra Test thing like Erica- I think it was given to me or something, but that is what I use on those rare occasions when I feel the need to test something. It's a good kit, not too expensive, and covers just about everything.

For field tests I have a couple of meters from Hach - pH and TDS.

If I just had the bucks and did a lot of testing I would go with LaMotte.

This is what I use for my larger recirculation system.

http://www.ebay.com/...=item35be580324

I've got a meter that is used for Koi ponds for salinity and another meter for PH.

I also have a YSI 550 for D.O. and temperature although I primarily use it for temperature.

Edited by az9, 28 July 2012 - 10:30 PM.

I also use the API Master Test kit az9 linked to. It's ok. I don't really like the color difference on the Nitrate between10-20ppm and then again for 40-80. The colors are just too similar. It's not that big of a deal whether it's 10 or 20 but it just annoys me. But there a big difference between it reading 40 or 80 although it's not big a deal since if it's 40 I'm going to doing a water change. But if's it's 80 that could really be a killer. I'm getting better at reading the Ph but those colors are too similar. I never used the High Ph so that was a waste and I no longer check Nitrite but it's still a better deal than buying them all separately and I don't know if others are any better.

I tried the API 5 in 1 dip strips but the Ph always read lower and I just didn't like the colors changes on it either.

I agree with you on the colors being similar in the nitrate range but I don't worry about nitrates and don't understand what the big deal is. I've never seen it effect the fish that I raise in high densities; they're healthy and grow rapidly. I do a daily 10 percent water change though -- due to the density of my fish in my Recirculating systems -- which are really just large aquariums.

I routinely run plus 80 + in nitrates and all the texts I have on growing out fish in an RAS say not to worry about it.

Is it the species some raise here that may have a lower tolerance vs. myself? I raise bluegill, yellow perch, and smallmouth bass in my recirculating systems.

I don't know why you guys do so much testing.... I haven't owned a test kit for anything in probably 20 years and I've been keeping fish for over 30. Change your water regularly, keep an eye on your fish. If they look unhappy then it's probably time to change their water.

Cheers
Peter

I kind of agree with Peter, back in PA I tested very rarelyand didn't have any problems. Now that I'm down here in Myrtle Beach, I was curious as to what the differences were in water parameters.
I quickly found that my PH would drop from 7.6 to 6.2 in about two weeks in the tank. I got to thinking about hardness and buffering, particularly regarding my goodieds. I tested and found that the water has a carbonate hardness of about 50ppm. So now I'm trying to decide what or if there I should add something to the tanks to raise the buffering capacity. The fish seem to be doing fine and growing, but I want provide the best environment that I can.

Harry Knaub

I agree with you on the colors being similar in the nitrate range but I don't worry about nitrates and don't understand what the big deal is. I've never seen it effect the fish that I raise in high densities; they're healthy and grow rapidly. ...
Is it the species some raise here that may have a lower tolerance vs. myself? I raise bluegill, yellow perch, and smallmouth bass in my recirculating systems.

Yes. Your fish are special. I once waited for months to get some neolamprologus multifasciatus (Lake Tanganyikan cichlids, from Africa) then killed them all with a nitrate 'peak' (under 50 ppm).

African rift lakes and the oceans have such a large volume that they dilute nitrate and the fish who live there never have to learn to tolerate temporary peaks. Our small ponds and rivers have nitrate peaks quite frequently, so pond fish are forced to tolerate nitrate if they want to survive in their home environment. Their nitrate tolerance makes them much more forgiving of our home aquarium setup. By extension anabantoid are the very easiest; with their labyrinth organ they don't even need oxygen rich water.

Makes sense to me Erica.

I also know that centrarchids are very tolerant of nitrites. LMB don't uptake nitrites at all according to a study I have.