JBL ProAquaTest Easy 7in1 is a tub of 50 dip strips that reads seven water values in one go. You dip a strip for two to three seconds, shake the water off, wait a minute and read it against the colour scale on the tub. JBL lists it for aquariums, ponds and well water.

Key Features

• Seven values on one strip: chlorine, pH, general hardness, nitrite, nitrate, carbonate hardness and CO2.
• A minute from dip to answer: two to three seconds in the water, then read after one minute.
• 50 strips in the tub: enough for a weekly check on several tanks for most of a year.
• Nothing to measure or mix: no vials, no syringes and no reagent drops to count.
• Covers ponds and well water too: JBL lists all three uses on the pack.
• A fast overview: the quickest way to find out whether anything is badly out before you reach for a proper test.

Using Strips Well

• Dip once, briefly, and do not swish the strip about. Agitating it washes the reagent pads out and reads low.
• Hold the strip horizontally after dipping so the pads do not run into each other.
• Read it at the stated time. Strip pads keep developing, and a strip read late reads high.
• Read in daylight against the tub, not under aquarium lighting.
• Close the tub immediately and take one strip out at a time. Humidity in an open tub ruins the rest, which matters in this climate more than most.

Good To Know

• Strips have an expiry date and the pads drift as they age. A tub that has been open a long time will quietly give you the wrong answer.
• Keep the tub sealed, cool, out of direct sun and away from children. Humidity is what ruins strips, and it ruins them quickly here.
• Strips give you an overview, not a measurement. If you are about to dose a treatment or adjust pH on the strength of a reading, confirm it with a drop test first.
• The nitrite and nitrate pads in particular are read as bands rather than numbers, so treat them as rough.