Most aquarium problems are invisible until a fish shows it. API liquid reagent kits and dip strips read pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, hardness, phosphate, copper and calcium in minutes, with colour charts calibrated for freshwater, marine and pond water. Start with a master kit, add the single tests your tank needs, and treat only what the numbers say.
The one kit every freshwater tank needs: liquid reagent tests for pH, high-range pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate — 800 tests in a box with four glass tubes and a colour chart.
View details: API Freshwater Master Test KitThe marine master kit: liquid tests for high-range pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate with saltwater colour charts — 550 tests, four glass tubes and a storage tub.
View details: API Saltwater Master Test KitDip one strip, swirl twice, read five results: pH, KH, GH, nitrate and nitrite in under a minute. Packs of 25 or 100 for the weekly routine check.
View details: API 5 in 1 Test StripsA mercury-free salicylate liquid test that reads ammonia from 0 to 8 ppm in fresh or salt water — 130 tests with charts for both. The single test every new tank needs.
View details: API Ammonia Test KitDip-strip ammonia test reading 0 to 6 ppm in fresh or salt water — 25 strips for a daily check while a tank cycles or new fish settle.
View details: API Ammonia Test StripsLiquid test for nitrite, the second poison of a cycling tank, reading 0 to 5 ppm in fresh or salt water — 180 tests from a single reagent bottle.
View details: API Nitrite Test KitLiquid nitrate test reading 0 to 160 ppm in fresh or salt water — the number that tells you when the next water change is due. 90 tests, two reagents.
View details: API Nitrate Test KitThe freshwater pH test: one reagent, 250 tests, reading 6.0 to 7.6 — the band where most tropical community fish and plants live.
View details: API pH Test KitpH for hard, alkaline water: reads 7.4 to 8.8 for marine tanks, African cichlids and alkaline tap water. 160 liquid tests, fresh or salt.
View details: API High Range pH Test KitFrom the API Pond line: a liquid pH test that reads the whole 5.0 to 9.0 span in one chart — for ponds, and for any water you know nothing about. 160 tests.
View details: API Wide Range pH Test KitTwo drop-count tests for general hardness (GH) and carbonate hardness (KH) — the minerals that decide whether soft-water fish, shrimp and plants feel at home.
View details: API GH & KH Test KitA single drop-count test for carbonate hardness in fresh or salt water — the reading that predicts pH stability and sets the dose for pH buffers.
View details: API KH Test KitThe reef keeper’s calcium test: reads down to 20 mg/L so corals, clams and coralline algae get the calcium they build with. Two reagents, glass tube.
View details: API Calcium Test KitReads free and chelated copper from 0 to 4 ppm in aquariums and ponds — essential for holding a copper-based parasite treatment at a safe, effective level. 90 tests.
View details: API Copper Test KitReads phosphate from 0 to 10 ppm in fresh or salt water — the nutrient behind most algae and green-water problems, and a brake on hard-coral growth. 150 tests.
View details: API Phosphate Test KitThe Freshwater Master Test Kit. It covers pH, high-range pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate — the five readings that tell you whether a tank is cycled and safe — and a single kit lasts for hundreds of tests.
Liquid reagent kits are the more precise of the two and are the better choice for diagnosing a problem or monitoring a new tank. Strips are faster and cheaper per test, which makes them ideal for a weekly routine check once a tank is stable.
Test ammonia and nitrite every day or two while a tank is cycling, then pH, nitrate and hardness weekly once it is established. Test immediately whenever fish look off colour, gasp at the surface or stop eating.
Many of the single-parameter kits — ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, KH, copper, phosphate and high-range pH — are labelled for both freshwater and saltwater. Ponds have their own master kit and 5 in 1 strips, and the wide range pH kit covers all three.
Yes. Jungle Aquatics in Fourways, Johannesburg stocks the full API testing range and ships anywhere in the country; current pricing and stock are on jungleaquatics.com.
Available in South Africa
South Africa's leading pet and aquarium store since 2007 — with the API range on the floor in Fourways, advice from people who test water every day, and easy ordering from anywhere in the country.
South Africa
