At work we use Red Sea...and before you cringe, remember there is a plus or minus on ANY kit.
We use Red Sea because they are easy to read, and easy to use, and relatively inexpensive. They also come with an expiration date, so you know if they are "fresh" or not. Old test kits should be discarded, no matter what the brand, as they can give false readings too. While you may have just bought the kit, you don't know how many days/weeks/months it sat on a shelf at the wholesaler/retailer...
Salifert, LaMotte and Hache test kits are reputed to be the best, and the latter two are painfully expensive.
An important thing to remember...in addition to testing your water, learn what your animals do, watch their behavior. There's a lot to be said for "intuition". I can look at my tank and know everything's fine, and of course I test periodically to be sure, but if something's wrong, I can TELL just by looking. Also...if something's out of whack, what did you do that's different? Journalling your tank activities/purchases/removals etc, will help you know why things went well or went wrong.
IMO that common sense is just as important as all the expensive test kits and gadgets in the world.
OK....off my soap box...
Jenn
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Member of the "J" Crowd & the BRW Crowd!
LFS Owner: Imagine Ocean
Just keep skimming, just keep skimming, just keep skimming, skimming skimming! What do we do? We skim, skim, skim!
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