Gear picks
Test kits
Testing is the one place where buying nice gear actually changes your results, because the number you act on is only as good as the kit that produced it. The split here is really about repeatability. A titration kit like Salifert gives you an accurate alkalinity reading if you read the color change carefully — and for a tank you keep stable with water changes, that's genuinely all you need, which is why it's the budget pick. The problem is the human in the loop: two people reading the same Salifert test can land a tenth of a dKH apart, and you specifically can drift over time without noticing. That's what the Hanna colorimeters fix. They remove the eyeball from the measurement and hand you a digit, so the trend you plot is real instead of a function of your mood and the kitchen lighting. We rate the Hanna alkalinity checker as the value pick because alk is the parameter you track most often and the one that moves fastest on a coral-heavy tank — a repeatable alk number is the single highest-leverage upgrade in this whole category. Calcium and phosphorus checkers follow the same logic if you're dosing two-part or chasing nutrients. The premium framing isn't a fancier device; it's owning the set, so every parameter you log is on the same repeatable footing. One honest caveat: colorimeters need fresh reagents and clean cuvettes, and a Hanna with old reagent is worse than a carefully-read Salifert. Buy the checker, but budget for reagent refills as a running cost.
Budget pick
Salifert Calcium test kit
~$22The calcium half of the classic Salifert two-part tracking set — read it alongside alk and you can see dosing drift before corals do.
- · Reads ~10 ppm resolution
- · ~50+ tests per kit
- · Pairs with the Salifert alk kit
Budget pick
Salifert KH/Alkalinity test kit
~$22The titration kit reef chemistry was written around — cheap per test, and the reference everyone else's accuracy is judged against.
- · Reads in dKH and meq/L
- · ~100–200 tests per kit
- · 0.1 dKH resolution by drop count
Value pick
Hanna Marine Alkalinity Checker (HI772)
~$50Reads alkalinity straight in dKH in under a minute with no color-matching — the upgrade most reefers make once they're dosing daily.
- · Direct dKH readout
- · Colorimeter, no eye judgment
- · Reagent packets sold separately
Value pick
Hanna Marine Calcium Checker (HI758)
~$50The calcium companion to the HI772 — ppm on a screen instead of squinting at a titration endpoint.
- · Reads 200–600 ppm Ca
- · Colorimeter readout
- · Reagents sold separately
Value pick
Hanna Phosphate Checker (HI774)
~$50Reads phosphate directly as PO₄ in ppm — easier to act on than ppb phosphorus if you're not chasing ultra-low nutrients.
- · 0.00–2.50 ppm PO₄
- · Direct phosphate readout
- · Reagents sold separately
Value pick
Salifert Magnesium test kit
~$25Magnesium is the parameter that quietly stalls your Ca and alk when it drifts — this is the kit that catches it.
- · Reads ~30 ppm resolution
- · ~50 tests per kit
- · Test monthly, not weekly
Premium pick
Hanna Phosphorus Ultra Low Range Checker (HI736)
~$50Reads phosphorus down to single-digit ppb — the resolution you need to actually run a low-nutrient SPS tank instead of guessing.
- · 0–200 ppb phosphorus
- · 1 ppb resolution
- · ×3.066 to convert P → PO₄
Premium pick
Red Sea Reef Foundation Pro test kit
~$60Calcium, magnesium, and alkalinity titrations in one box, calibrated to Red Sea's own dosing program — the one-purchase starting point.
- · Ca + Mg + alk in one kit
- · ~75 tests per parameter
- · High-resolution titrators
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