Test Kits suck

[TANGOMAN]

I hold in my hand the worlds smallest violin...wha, wha, wha...
(Who am I, the master of mis-information, mr. know-it-all...?
Aaah, just given' ya' a hard time I share many of your frustrations and I don't want to sound like some kid in the playground, "Oh ya' well my dad can beat up your dad..." but I'm color blind. I hate doing water tests !!! "Honey, what color matches best with this one..."
Optometrists told me long ago I could forget about a career in aviation or electronics...hmmm, maybe thats why NASA never calls me for an interview...?
I know the third bottle of reagent for ammonia tests is double the volume of the first two...what's up with that ??? I often use Salifert kits but most commonly I use the Hagen. I find them consistant and sometimes I can even get test results all by myself. Sometimes.
I don't do water tests nearly as often (aside from Ca) as "they" say I should. Reckless ? Lazy ? I try not to think so. I found over time a stabilized system was just that...stable. I wish my 90g was stable !!!
What are your thoughts Bob ??? ...

[Delphinus]

... Salifert, that's the one I couldn't remember. Heard that one is good too.

I think for the money that the Hagen kits really aren't bad. Canadian_Man & I compared Ca and Alk values between Hagen and Seachem and the numbers matched evenly. The difference being one is a $10 kit and one is a $60 kit. I think, however, on a number-of-tests-per-kit basis the kits are reasonably even matched as well. So I guess it's a question of "pay a little but go back to the LFS sooner" or "pay more now, and not have to re-order for a while." Suggests to me that for the budget-inclined (or should that be "budget-DEclined") the Hagen's are a good choice.

Of course, if you're colour blind (or just have a hard time deciding "which hue of green is most like this hue of green .... and guessing which two hues your vial fits between .... no, THAT's not subjective at alllll ... ), this don't help us folk like that very much.. :P

[Josh23]

Well its good to hear that Im not the only one who hates test kits but I guess we are stuck with them.
Thanks for everyones input.

Oh and by the way my Dad could beat up your Dad (laughs)

Josh

[chicki]

I hate hate hate hagen test kits. I bought a seachem calcium test box about a year ago now and am still using the same one. I test at least twice a week, usually alot more then that. It's definitely the best one...IMO

[Josh23]

WOW

You test twice a week some times more.
That is a lot of testing.
I test once every couple weeks and I think some find that more then enough.

[Doug]

I only like Salifert for both alk & calcium. Although I found the FasTest alk kit to be as good and much cheaper, but hard to find.