Test strips work as well as Api kits

[GaryE]

Test strips are as accurate as API reagent kits. I keep seeing the mantra that they are untrustworthy repeated as truth, but see no back up.

I tested both side by side as I was preparing to collect wild fish in a warmer place, and wanted to be able to quickly and conveniently test natural conditions. The strips were superior to the API kit as they tested for more parameters, including hardness (crucial). But where they overlapped, the readings were consistently the same.

The main difference was price per test. Strips are expensive. Even if you factor in the need to buy hardness kits to supplement the incomplete API equipment, the liquid tests are cheaper.

I use neither under normal circumstances, but strips held up in my tanks, and later out in the field.

Myth busted, as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Colin_T]

You need to try other brands of test strips and kits to see if there are any that do better than others.

 

[Back in the fold]

I bought one of those Fancy Dan API Master Test Kits and rarely , if ever , use it. Sometimes I get in a Young Frankenstein mood and get it out and play with it and all is well all the time. I wasted $30 bucks. I could have use that money on something way more useful. Back in the olden days we didn't have them and life went on. Put that in your pipe and smoke it !

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Test strips are as accurate as API reagent kits. I keep seeing the mantra that they are untrustworthy repeated as truth, but see no back up.

I tested both side by side as I was preparing to collect wild fish in a warmer place, and wanted to be able to quickly and conveniently test natural conditions. The strips were superior to the API kit as they tested for more parameters, including hardness (crucial). But where they overlapped, the readings were consistently the same.

The main difference was price per test. Strips are expensive. Even if you factor in the need to buy hardness kits to supplement the incomplete API equipment, the liquid tests are cheaper.

I use neither under normal circumstances, but strips held up in my tanks, and later out in the field.

Myth busted, as far as I'm concerned.

I think I know which thread sparked this rant, and the person was getting different results from the dip strips compared to the liquid test. Are you saying you trust the (brand unknown) dip strips over the liquid test kits?

I did some tests using my remaining dip strips comparing them to the liquid test kits too, when I got my first liquid kit. My impression was s that strips are easily ruined by water dripping down as you shake them off, making the colours run and potentially contaminating the other results you're reading, while the liquid kits seem more sensitive and able to detect a problem earlier.
I also trust @Essjay here, since she's a trained and educated chemist who knows what chemicals are used and why, while I'm just some yahoo. But the way I've seen her explain it makes sense to me.

Your one sample size of one dip strip brand compared to one test kit doesn't really "myth bust" anything. Just anecdotal evidence, same as mine.

 

[Essjay]

There are two problems with those 5 or 6 in 1 strips. They don't test for ammonia, and they give iffy results if they've been allowed to get damp. Keep them in an air tight container, good; leave them out in the open, especially on top of a fish tank, not good.
Something to be aware of if using strips to test GH - some brands only test as high as 180 ppm/10 dH. If you have hard water, they'll still read 180 ppm no matter how hard it really is.

Liquid reagent test kits can also 'go off'. They should be kept in the dark somewhere cool. And they should be replaced a year after opening as air will have got into the bottle to fill the volume left by removing drops, and oxygen in that air can cause slow decomposition of some chemicals.

 

[GaryE]

True, it is anecdotal. I get a little annoyed at the 'everyone knows that' approach to test strips. Both are imperfect tools, but neither should be rejected outright. I used tetra and API test strips, as well as some ancient strips from the lab at the school I worked in, for pH only. The school ones were awful, but they were probably bulk purchased many years earlier.

Looking on Amazon just now, there are a lot of brands I haven't seen.

For reagents, it was all API. I haven't seen other brands sold around here.

One key point I should have added - I was testing for pH and hardness, with zero interest in ammonia. The strips I took with me did have ammonia tabs on them though.

 

[Back in the fold]

@AdoraBelle Dearheart Yahoo ? All of us are yahoo's !

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I get a little annoyed at the 'everyone knows that' approach to test strips. Both are imperfect tools, but neither should be rejected outright.

ETA: I'm an idiot and unfairly blew up at @GaryE by leaping to the wrong conclusion and assuming he was talking about me, when it wasn't anything to do with me at all. @GaryE , I'm so deeply sorry, and ashamed right now. It was wrong for me to make that assumption without even giving you a chance to respond before assuming the worst. I was wrong, and I'm truly sorry!
Not going to delete or remove this since I don't believe in running from consequences, the embarrassment is mine, and anyone who has seen this deserves to see that I was in the wrong, and not for me to try to hide from my actions. But I truly mean it when I sincerely apologise. You've never been snide or taken shots at me before, so I don't know why I thought you had now, only that the memory of that post was fresh in my mind, and I unfairly jumped to the wrong conclusion.
Edit over, see follow up post, original post below unchanged.

See, this is why I'm also annoyed, and frankly, insulted right now.
You made this thread after reading this thread that came up last night, right?

Off the chart Nitrite and nitrate readings

Hi, I'm at a loss. I don't want to drip feed but also don't want the post to run to pages. I'm 3 months in to keeping fish, so still new. Using NT Labs - multi-test kit - aquarium lab Summary I have off the chart nitrite reading- 4.0 (which comes with the label deadly) and 40.0 nitrate...

www.fishforums.net

Where I said;

Liquid test kits, when the tests are done correctly, are more accurate than dip strips. I use the NT labs one too now, the API freshwater master test kit is good too. I would always trust the results from a liquid test kit over a dip strip.


Bear in mind that I'm far from an expert, this is mainly my suspicions about what's going on;

So you got annoyed at this, right? But one, that's assuming that I'm just mindlessly repeating something I've read here, and that I don't have a brain in my head and looked into it for myself. It's dismissive as heck, and I'm not in the right mood for this either.
2. Look at the totality of the circumstances. Thread topic already complex, beginner to the hobby experiencing potentially deadly levels of nitrites in her tank, and wanting to believe the dip strips telling her all was fine because she admitted to being sick of doing water changes, over the liquid test kit that was warning her about high nitrites.
We know that changing out the substrate in a tank can cause a mini cycle. We also know that many planted tank substrates, as she'd used, are known to often leech ammoni a and other stuff into the water. She'd done both at once, so chances are, her liquid test kit was the one to trust. She also asked not to be overwhelmed with science talk, so didn't seem the time for a complex discussion on the relative merits of each.
3. Using the liquid kit, she was getting high nitrite readings for her tank water, but none when she tested her tapwater. So even less likely to be user error.

On the balance of probabilities, if she trusted the liquid kit and followed my advice, she'd have to do a bunch more water changes than normal for a week or so. If she trusted the dip strips, she could lose her entire tank. So yeah, I generally trust the liquid kits over dip strips, but especially in those circumstances.

Sometimes I repeat good advice or steps I've learned from others here. But never mindlessly parroting, always trying to learn for myself, and never claiming to be an expert, in fact, often stating that I'm far from it, and only trying to help and give my own impressions, and always open to being corrected.
So seeing a snide thread that seems in direct response to a post I made where I believe someone's tank was in a pontential crisis, and seeing that dismissive

I keep seeing the mantra that they are untrustworthy repeated as truth, but see no back up.

Myth busted, as far as I'm concerned.

Yeah. I'm not an expert, and don't have the decades of experience you and other old school keepers have either. I usually have a lot of respect for your experience, as I've said before when asking you for info and advice. But I'm not a brainless, parroting bimbo either, and the insinuation has hurt.

 

[BrianK]

I use both, kind of switch back and forth. The results vary only slightly for me. I assume the liquid tests are the more accurate if they vary. The place they seem quite different is the GH and KH for me. The strips always show the water as being a bit harder.

 

[GaryE]

See, this is why I'm also annoyed, and frankly, insulted right now.
You made this thread after reading this thread that came up last night, right?

Off the chart Nitrite and nitrate readings

Hi, I'm at a loss. I don't want to drip feed but also don't want the post to run to pages. I'm 3 months in to keeping fish, so still new. Using NT Labs - multi-test kit - aquarium lab Summary I have off the chart nitrite reading- 4.0 (which comes with the label deadly) and 40.0 nitrate...

www.fishforums.net

Where I said;


So you got annoyed at this, right? But one, that's assuming that I'm just mindlessly repeating something I've read here, and that I don't have a brain in my head and looked into it for myself. It's dismissive as heck, and I'm not in the right mood for this either.
2. Look at the totality of the circumstances. Thread topic already complex, beginner to the hobby experiencing potentially deadly levels of nitrites in her tank, and wanting to believe the dip strips telling her all was fine because she admitted to being sick of doing water changes, over the liquid test kit that was warning her about high nitrites.
We know that changing out the substrate in a tank can cause a mini cycle. We also know that many planted tank substrates, as she'd used, are known to often leech ammoni a and other stuff into the water. She'd done both at once, so chances are, her liquid test kit was the one to trust. She also asked not to be overwhelmed with science talk, so didn't seem the time for a complex discussion on the relative merits of each.
3. Using the liquid kit, she was getting high nitrite readings for her tank water, but none when she tested her tapwater. So even less likely to be user error.

On the balance of probabilities, if she trusted the liquid kit and followed my advice, she'd have to do a bunch more water changes than normal for a week or so. If she trusted the dip strips, she could lose her entire tank. So yeah, I generally trust the liquid kits over dip strips, but especially in those circumstances.

Sometimes I repeat good advice or steps I've learned from others here. But never mindlessly parroting, always trying to learn for myself, and never claiming to be an expert, in fact, often stating that I'm far from it, and only trying to help and give my own impressions, and always open to being corrected.
So seeing a snide thread that seems in direct response to a post I made where I believe someone's tank was in a pontential crisis, and seeing that dismissive




Yeah. I'm not an expert, and don't have the decades of experience you and other old school keepers have either. I usually have a lot of respect for your experience, as I've said before when asking you for info and advice. But I'm not a brainless, parroting bimbo either, and the insinuation has hurt.

Nope. I hadn't read that one... I am guilty of many things, but I didn't respond to your post in the least.

 

[Fishmanic]

I bought one of those Fancy Dan API Master Test Kits and rarely , if ever , use it. Sometimes I get in a Young Frankenstein mood and get it out and play with it and all is well all the time. I wasted $30 bucks. I could have use that money on something way more useful. Back in the olden days we didn't have them and life went on. Put that in your pipe and smoke it !

Yeh...instead of the testing kit, you could have bought another set of parts for your ship build that you'll never finish in a million years.

 

[Back in the fold]

Yeh...instead of the testing kit, you could have bought another set of parts for your ship build that you'll never finish in a million years.

Hey ! I looked at it today. That's gotta count for something.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Nope. I hadn't read that one... I am guilty of many things, but I didn't respond to your post in the least.

@GaryE , I'm so deeply sorry, and ashamed right now. It was wrong for me to make that assumption without even giving you a chance to respond before assuming the worst. I was wrong, and I'm truly sorry!
Not going to delete or remove that post since I don't believe in running from consequences, you didn't do anything wrong by sharing your opinion on testing kits, the embarrassment is mine, and anyone who has seen this deserves to see that I was in the wrong, and not for me to try to hide from my actions. But I truly mean it when I sincerely apologise. You've never been snide or taken shots at me before, so I don't know why I thought you had now, only that the memory of that post was fresh in my mind, and I unfairly jumped to the wrong conclusion.

I truly am sorry! It's out of character for me to go on the attack like that without good cause, and I'm so sorry that I did now! I really hope you'll be able to forgive me, but either way, I genuinely apologise for this.