Water Testing Kits: strips or drops?

Would appreciate informed opinons on this.

There are two basic water testing systems to test pH, ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, etc) on the market.

One system requires the addition of reagent drops to a sample of aquarium water and then the water sample color is compared to a standardized scale. The other system requires dipping a paper strip into the aquarium water and then checking color changes on the paper.

Which of these two approaches seems to be the most accurate? They both seem to cost about the same.

Aloha from Oahu.

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by ernesto on May 11, 2012 at 12:49am

drops

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Dan on May 11, 2012 at 11:09am

I've tried both. The drops take longer to do the test then the strips, but they do a better job.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Dylan on November 6, 2012 at 11:44am

definitely drops. the test strips are often innacurate

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by luis on November 6, 2012 at 3:20pm

I agree with dan and dylan drops are more accurate

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by thefisherman15 on March 22, 2013 at 9:08pm

Strips are useless - drops are much more accurate !!!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by DePreston on November 16, 2013 at 10:18pm

Strips are easy, but expensive and not accurate. Use the drops, you can get a complete kit for about $30 but you can do hundreds of tests, compared to a few dozen for nearly the same amount. I do them weekly and keep records of the results, it helps if something happens.