Wazza Posted April 11, 2004 Report Share Posted April 11, 2004 Hi, I am a bit colour blind and find it hard at times to read the ph colour chart, I know you can buy electronic ph testers, but are these any good and what type / brand would you recommend? Are there any electronic testers for ammonia, nitrate and nitrite? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren Posted April 11, 2004 Report Share Posted April 11, 2004 Haven't looked at anything but pH testers myself. I'd expect specialised testers for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate would be quite pricey. pH testers range in price from $60 on special to $120. You can buy really expensive lab-grade gear but the cheap ones will do for your tank. The problem with electronic pH testers is they need a certain electrolyte balance concentration to work effectively. You need about 40-60ppm carbonate hardness or more for the meter to be accurate. I have an electronic tester that doesn't work on my tanks because I only have 10-15 ppm carbonate hardness and 20-25 general hardness. I use RO water and add just enough of the salts to keep the pH stable between water changes. Thus I am fairly closely simulating nature... If you have a high enough carbonate hardness then you’ll be fine using the pH meter. Just keep it clean and check it’s calibration every 6 months or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbo Posted April 11, 2004 Report Share Posted April 11, 2004 My experience with electronic ph testers is that the probes don't last all that long and are quite expensive. Cheers Robbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted April 11, 2004 Report Share Posted April 11, 2004 Especially when an Oscar thinks it's food. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted April 11, 2004 Report Share Posted April 11, 2004 Don't leave it in the tank and the oscar won't eat it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted April 12, 2004 Report Share Posted April 12, 2004 Then how do you do a test?? No I don't take out a sample ! Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted April 12, 2004 Report Share Posted April 12, 2004 Take a scoop of water out in a cup. I tried just putting the tester in the water but found the heater turning on and off and anything electrical in the area threw off the reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pies Posted April 15, 2004 Report Share Posted April 15, 2004 I use an 'Pin Point' PH monitor. www.seame.com has them and orders over $75US are free international shipping. Robbo - These probes are designed to run 24/7 submerged in saltwater/freshwater and I know someone who has had one running for over 6 years now without issue. Also there are far cheaper 'pocket PH testers' that can be found for under $30USD. Just take off the lid, pop it in the water, read the reading, rinse and dap with a cloth or paper towel. Thats it. Note - all of these units require calibration every so often (6months to 1 year). Calibration fluid costs .99c USD and its thrown away once spent. All units measue .1 or .01 (the one I have) and are high quality. 'Pin Point' my American Marine have an excellent reputation. Colour chart tests are almot imposilbe to read, and I only found them usefull for high, medium or low readings with no accuracy. Other probes available are Temp, ORP, Dissolved Oxygen and Calcium (KH in freshwater not Calcium tests are availabel for saltwater). Probes for Nitrite, Nitrate, Iron, Amonia etc are all out of our price ranges (10s of thousands of dollars). Good luck Pies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted April 15, 2004 Report Share Posted April 15, 2004 Hmmm, Only $160ish. That's not bad at all, I paid nearly as mcuh for a crap Dick Smith one. And $210 for a digital salinity monitor...Hmmm...I'll take one of each, please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pies Posted April 15, 2004 Report Share Posted April 15, 2004 Digital salinity metres are a good 'checksum' indicator. For true accuracy use a refractometer for specific gravity, much more accurate and very easy to use, last for ever. If anyone is going to do an order from Seame please let me know, I would like some PH calibration fluid please. Cheers Pies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbo Posted April 16, 2004 Report Share Posted April 16, 2004 Cheers for that Pies, I must admit that my last experience with them was probably 10ish years ago. I must be getting old Robbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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