FISHLIPS Posted January 6, 2011 Report Share Posted January 6, 2011 (edited) is there anything out there as far as an electronic device to more precisely read parameters? amonia ph nitrite nitrate etc. I agree the test strips are junk but how acurate are the test tube kits? I often wondered this because my job has be doing maintenance in different lighting.....natural and house lighting,when testing water in unnatural light it doesn't seem to be very accurate,just by moving around with a light behind you the color can often look different. Edited January 6, 2011 by FISHLIPS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayba Posted January 6, 2011 Report Share Posted January 6, 2011 (edited) There are meters out there, but be prepared to sell a kidney to pay for them LOL! I use a ph meter, about 50 bucks on ebay, but for the rest a 30 dollar test kit is hard to beat. When in doubt, waterchange. Edited January 6, 2011 by Jayba Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbrent Posted January 6, 2011 Report Share Posted January 6, 2011 An ion chromatograph should work.....Start around 20k Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ishkabod Posted January 6, 2011 Report Share Posted January 6, 2011 An ion chromatograph should work.....Start around 20k If thats all then i'll take four.... But seriously when useing my test kit i stood in my bright bathroom light and in the living room and the one that gave the clocest colour match to the background is the one i went with in terms of shade. When it comes to MOST aquarists the only parameters we are concerned with is Ammonia and Nitrate. PH really only for fish that you want kept at a different PH and even then a general sense of the ph is usually enough. test tube kits really are the only affordable way. Some people mostly use test strips for general weekly tests and occasionally test with the tube kits to be sure of accurate measurments and to double check if there is a problem. You can get them but the ones i have seen were anywhere from 250 and up EACH. Hope this may shead some light on the subject for you(sorry for the pun but i couldn't resist) L Oh i forgot to mention that they reccomend that the electric ones be re calibrated every year? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubr0ke Posted January 6, 2011 Report Share Posted January 6, 2011 Heres a guide to calibrating your test kit Nitrate, KH, etc... Test Kit Calibration Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grunt031 Posted January 8, 2011 Report Share Posted January 8, 2011 There are aquarium colorimeters available for the parameters you indicated. There are available for a number of shops from the states an cost about 170.00 US a piece. Unfortunately they only do one parameter each. Colorimeters If you have are difficulty with reading of colors and suggestion is use a piece of white paper behind the vial and in a brightly lit room. Also with the liquid tests they have expiry dates as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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