Customer Reviews

Tetra EasyStrips 5-in-1 Test Strips, 25 strips

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

EasyStrips are a quick way to assess the status of your tank. The color pads indicate the level of your nitrites, nitrates, pH, alkalinity, and water hardness. While master kits will provide you with more definitive information (a numeric value for each level), the approximate value that these strips provide let you know what you need - that is, whether your aquarium is safe, and if not, what the problem is. I have compared the results of these strips to master kits. In my experience, they are reliable. There is not the bother of bottles and test tubes, and you will have results in less than a minute!

I've used multiple tubes of these strips but I've reached the conclusion that they don't work well enough to keep buying them.

On the up side, the strips are simple to use, and having the color chart on the tube itself means you don't have to keep track of a separate chart.

On the down side, though, are:

1) There are no instructions on the tube itself. If you didn't keep the instruction sheet that came in the box (and how many of us really do?) you may find yourself later wondering how long to dip, and how long until you should read the results.

2) The indicator pads on the strip are too close together and the indicator dye bleeds from one to another. This happens so quickly and often that I've found I'm always going through multiple strips to try to get a clear reading, particularly on pH.

3) This isn't a big deal, but it is an annoyance... I've honestly found that it takes me a lot less time to get an accurate reading with a liquid test kit than to wait 60 seconds for the Tetra strips to be ready for reading. I can rinse, fill, drop, cover, invert, read, empty, and re-rinse in about half as much time with my liquid kit.

When these objections are combined with the fairly high price of these strips, I no longer consider them a good choice.

These strips are very simple to use and I believe pretty accurate. Was very happy to have these after a heavy rain storm that caused my PH to crash in my Koi pond. It was good to know quickly and make a partial water change fast. So much faster and easier than the test tubes.

Update: Double thumbs up for Amazon customer service. They responded in a matter of hours with a full refund and marked the item as "under review".

I have used these strips in the past and ordered from Amazon because it was much cheaper than the pet store. The canister I received today had an expiration date of March 2010. I am sure the functionality won't be severely impacted, but in aquariums small deviations sometimes cause lots of problems. You might want to inquire about the date before ordering!

I emailed customer service and will update this review at a later time.

I've been using these for several years. They are so quick and easy to use that I test my Koi water more often than I used to. I really appreciate the total hardness test.

A couple of my fish (koi) died because these strips have been telling me my water perimeter was good. Of course I don't blame these strips for killing my fish but had it told me the truth, I could have done something to save them. the only reason I found out these weren't accurate was when I started noticing that strip after strip, despite the water looking very different each time, it told me the same thing! When I went out to get a proper kit, it told me different!!! I would get into details how I found it inaccurate but I'd rather skip that and just tell you to look elsewhere.

Do yourself and your fish a huge favor and buy a proper kit.