Water testing kits - product reviews

Try Reef Aquatics in Durbanville.

 

So basically (unless you have a troublesome tank/starting a new tank) a full test once a week range from R837 to R1123 per year, nothing at all when compared to health and happiness of your fish.

Thanks for the breakdown @A new day , seems to me everything is ballpark in the same price range so it really just falls down to convenience of whats easiest to get wherever we live and our preference of brand/review of what we like.

 

Those prices are not right. A few years back you would have paid that.
Check out jungle aquatics website for more accurate pricing.

 

It is there. I always use jungle for a rough estimate. Most times you can get it cheaper elsewhere but sometimes they are cheaper.
Yip liquid tests does work out cheaper and also more accurate.

 

I got someone to bring me an API full kit plus the kH/gH kit. Cost around R600 and claiming to get 800 tests out of it you get a value of R0.75 per test. Very simple to use and you don't need a million reagents like Sera (God forbid you lose the powder scoop)

I just test whenever something looks funny in my tanks and I check the tap water now and again.

Test strips are not very accurate, liquid is the way to go!

 

Have to agree that I also rarely test water unless my gut feeling tells me mu fish are not themselves
I have found the strips to be useless and unreliable
I use Sera or JBL liquid and happy with either and the readings are same on both
I have the full Sera kit which I'd very comprehensive and just replace what I run out of

 

Agree used Serra and JBL for ammonia tests and they both give the same readings, so either or is a good product and seem to be the most popular in GP and readily available at most decent LFS.

BTW, I just got a cheap PH test pen. Tested it and its not at all bad. Seems to do the job perfectly, gives correct readings when I compared same test sample with Serra liquid ph test and is quick, easy and convenient to use when required, which is not that often.

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

 

well i did some math which is always not a good thing but my findings as follows:
i tried to source the tests from the same shop to reduce cost of delivery, this should give you a rough idea on the cost of owning test kits if bought from normal leading online stores that normal people will be exposed to

sera individual
NH4 R395/60 (jungle)= R6,58 delivery
ph R144,90/60 (petzone) = R2,42
NO2 R240/60 (rbm) =R4
NO3 R276/60 (rbm) = R4,6
=================R17,7
avg R4,40 for 4 tests
shipping rbm R85,petzone R100, jungle R95
total cost of ownership R1055,9 +R280 = R1335,9
total average cost per test R5,56 only 4 test
total average cost per test 4 metrics R22,24

salifert (rbm)
NH4 289/50 = R5,78
ph 227/50 = R4,54
NO2 240/60 = R4
NO3 326/60 = R5,43
KH 263/100 = R2,63
============R22,38
avg R4,47 for 5 test excluding GH
shipping rbm R85
total cost of ownership R1345 +R85 = R1430
total average cost per test R4,46 (64)
total average cost per test 5 metrics R22,34


sera
NH4 R395/60 (jungle) = R6,58
sera aqua test set (ph,KH,gH,NO2) R785/4 = 196.25/60 = R3,27 (rebel pets) assuming that the test kit does 60 test per metric as the individual kits
NO3 R295/60 = R4,91 (jungle)
============R24,57
avg R4,09 for 6 tests
shipping: jungle R95, rebel pets R135
total cost of ownership R1475 +R230 = R1705
total average cost per test R4,73
total average cost per test 6 metrics R28,38

nt labs - Aquarium Lab Multi-Test
(HN4,NO2,NO3,ph,GH,KH) 1000/200 = 5 (mcM)
delivery R138
========================R30
average of R5 for 6 test
Shipping:mcM R138
total cost of ownership R1000,00 +R138 = R1138
total average cost per test R5,69
total average cost per test 6 metrics R34,14


as at 2020/08/19, please check my math i maybe wrong, but this should help people to make a decision.
conclusion is that the sera test kits are cheaper per test average but the initial cost is high it will do more test
but if you are looking for lower initial cost the Nt lab is great and it gives you 6 metrics but wont do as many tests as the sera.
the salifert is some where in the middle of initial cost and of amount of tests.