Digital Water Testers?

[ltkettch17]

Does anyone here know of/use a digital water tester to cover all the usual aquarium needs? (pH, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, hardness, etc)

If so, what brand/model? How do you like it?

I don't know about anyone else, but I really don't like the standard 'vial and dropper' tests. I never feel like I'm reading the right number, comparing colors on a chart to colored water in a tube. It looks different in one room than another, different times of day, different levels of light. I know consistency is key, but I'm also the kind of person who likes to get the same number no matter what room I'm in or if it's sunny or cloudy outside.

thanks all,


btw: i'm new to this site, and it is flipping awesome. it's been a real treat to see some of the aquarium journals and pictures of members setups. i've read a lot of books and thought i had seen quite a few things. you guys have totally blown me away with some beautiful fish pictures and aquariums. thank you, thank you, thank you!

 

[kribensis12]

Lol, your welcome?

As far as digital testers go. Yes, they exist. Price, i think the temp ones ar elike 40 dollars. And ph ect. are int he hundreds. Like 120 a piece ( for the real good ones). But something in me dosent trust them. Not saying they arent good, but i dont think i would pay the price for them.

 

[mwood2]

after a quick google I found one for ammonia and PH but it cost 400-500 bucks. Thats just the first one that showed up but it shows that it exist at least.

 

[Corleone]

There was a similar thread recently. I found a pH one that costs only $50, it has to be periodically recalibrated, and the calibration kit is $16 with ten charges, so while it has accuracy on its side, the initial cost and cost of running is higher than drop kits. I saw digital ammonia testers in the $150 to $200 range, but some were gaseous ammonia only, others didn't specify enough to know if they'd work for aquariums.

 

[kevinthecow]

They do exist, but they're pretty expensive at some point. .__.

They're hard to find, if you plan buying one then go online plx.

You lfs might not have one.


Also, WELCOME TO FISHFORUMS! Dont make stupid moves liek what I did when I first joined

 

[andywg]

As noted above, digital meters exist but to get any sort of reliable accuracy you will be spending a fair amount and spending a lot of time calibrating.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

we've got a pH one, it was a cheapy one for about £10/20, I don't trust it now even after calibration and just use my API kit.

Yeha it can be frustrating with the colour charts and effects of the light but what you have to remember is that once you're past the initial phase of fishkeeping when the tank is new and being cycled the test results actually become less important. Save any disasters the ammonia and nitrite will always be 0, nitrate test kits are unreliable anyway and readings should be taken as indicative not accurate and again pH will usually hold pretty steady. The only time I test now is if I think something may be wrong and if I was to see some ammonia or something like that popping up then the actual amount of ammonia is fairly irrelevant, it just matters that I've got some now and need to deal with it until I get a 0 reading again. Weather it's 0.25ppm or 0.5ppm of ammonia actually won't really make any difference to anything I do.

Accurate readings are really most important when cycling, for most fishkeepers (save the odd mini cycle for whatever reason) this amounts to around 2 months of their total fishkeeping experience which can be 20/30 years +

So in summary, just learn to deal with the slightly dodgy colour charts

 

[Truck]

i know theres something similar in the vivo which is crap.

 

[ltkettch17]

Thanks for the replies, all. It's pretty much the same feeling I've been getting. I was just hoping that someone had found some miracle product that was well hidden on the web. It would really be nice just to have some kind of probe in the tank with a loose cord that you could plug into your laptop every now and then.

I only do my tests once every other month and I really don't have any problems. If the test kit was more accurate and speedy, I would do it more often. The most time consuming part is filling up those little vials. Does anybody have any tips for that?

Also, what do you use to test hardness?


thanks again!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yes, use a syringe! can get them from any chemist and then you can just easily suck out 5ml or whatever from the tank and squirt it into the vial!

 

[andywg]

I was just hoping that someone had found some miracle product that was well hidden on the web. It would really be nice just to have some kind of probe in the tank with a loose cord that you could plug into your laptop every now and then.

You can. Look into marine computers. The downside is they cost a fair old amount. You can even have them set up to publish the results tot eh web or to send you a text when the parameters do something you don't want (say the pH starts to crash towards 7 in a marine tank).

 

[mike os]

cheap handheld meters are a waste of space.

for decent Ph, TDS and ORP see RO-MAN.COM, about £40-50 IIRC, these are well worth the money

for the rest you are going to spend real money, companies like D-D do some computers but you are talking several hundred to get the set