how big is the diffrence, what is the diffrence (besides the obvious one being a liquid one being a dip and done)
forgot to add a comma ghrammer isnt my strong suite. why is it generally held that they are inaccurate eveyone says this but why? liek saying jump off a bridge its fun and everyone else says so. what makes a liquid test kit more accurate then a dip and done kit? what is the diffrence (trying to rephrase and make the question more clear)Mitch, your question seems a bit backwards. It's the strips that dip 'n done.
It is generally held that the strips are inaccurate, but it is not clear if they are even consistently inaccurate or not. Although the liquid fresh water test kit costs more, it is more reliable for consistent accuracy - and if you're going to bother to test (and make decisions based on the results), you/we want the most accurate tests available. Otherwise, why bother testing at all?!
im trying to figure out WHAT makes them (test strips) more inaccurate then drops? everybody says everyone thinks drops are better but its all hearsay never heard any facts to back it up thats what im looking for here. everyone dogs the strips. why? and how would a strip get contaminated if its in a sealed container unless you are fingering them before you plop them in.I suppose that depends on how important it is to you to know exactly what your numbers are. If you are one that changes an arbitrary amount of water, then it's not very important that the numbers be exact. I change 80% of the water whenever I do a water change - for me the numbers are unimportant, so much so that I don't bother testing. If you determine the amount of water to change based on the test results, then it's obviously important that they be accurate. Test strips are said to be less accurate. To me, as long as they are not giving a false negative, they're working fine. If they give you a false positive, then you do a water change...doing an unneeded water change isn't a bad thing, though if you are constantly getting false positives then that would probably lead to some form of insanity. The chances of getting false readings from a liquid kit are far less. Too, the propensity for strips to get contaminated is much higher.
In high school I remember doing an experiment on accuracy vs precision. We used strips and also liquid reagents. The chemistry teacher felt that the liquid tests were more accurate than the litmus paper, and I remember that the results supported that. That was some 15 years ago, so unfortunately I cannot recall more than that.. still havent heard any solid evidence or facts
About 5x more per test. Throw in that you are possibly stuck testing for other test on the strip it only multiples that further.How much are the strips anyway?
Jeff.
that was the 80s alot has changed since then. untill someone can come up with some facts that back it its all hearsayIt all comes down to proper balance of nutrients. With test strips, you are getting a best guess ball park result. In the 80's, when I had a reef tank, parameters were more strict and I started with test strips and I suspected the results. Upon purchasing a more expensive liquid drop kit, the results were in favor of the liquid drop kits because the results matched how my fish were behaving. I scraped the strips and never purchased them again.
Strips are not cheaper if they give mediocre results.
Just because a company does not make something does not mean that there is something wrong with a product line. It costs tons of money to manufacture and market a product. If your return on investment is not good why waste the time and effort.Well,
I believe Seachem does not make test strips. If thats correct, then there's a good reason they don't.