Which water chemistry test kits to buy?

I am new to the saltwater world and getting ready to set up my first saltwater aquarium. It is a 65 gal acrylic tank, wet / dry trickle filtration, skimmer, power heads and so on. I will be housing FOLR to start until I feel stable enough to dabble it the coral world. Which water chemistry test kits do I need to buy? And what has worked best for you. I just want to make sure my future fish are in a good home.;D

 

Here goes the first of 1,000,000 opinions... I have heard lots of good things about Elos test kits, that's all I'm going to buy from now on. No master kits are good quality, unfortunately. I would say spend the money on good individual test kits.
Hope I helped!

 

My .02
From what I can gather, I would think of it as everything else in life, not all vendors make everything to par.

Meaning, you may find API better for N2, but Sailfert better for P4 and ammonia., maybe Redsea for N3.

I know thats not very helpful, but from all the tests I have tries, it is apparent to me that not all test kits are created equal and not all vendor make all tests equally.

I hear good things for Sailfert, but no master kit available.


\Cheers

 

Okay thanks it sounds like it will have to be trial and error.

 

I would suggest elos kits as well.

If you are doing a FOWLR, a wet dry is not needed...you may want to start another thread on that.

 

I agree with that statement but I can only express my opinion and exp. I use API for the most part(saltwater and reef master test) and I also use Salifert. I havent used Elos yet but Im curious. I disagree with bmshehan's statement about master test kits, API works fine.

 

Which website/vendor do you guys recommend to buy from on the web? I am looking for Ca and Magnesium test kits. I do not know the importance of magnesium. Why is it important?

 

I recommend Salifert or Elso.

J

 

i only use salifert, have tried others.

 

I vote for API.