Demosthine

Hello All.

I new into the Saltwater hobby and am in week three of cycling my new tank. I purchased the NutriFin Master test kit and it is great. It's very simple to use and came with everything I needed. I do like the kit a lot.

The only drawback I find to it is that the graphs are not the most accurate, especially considering the angle of the light and type of light can have a drastic effect on the vial's color.

I've seen some electronic testing devices online, but haven't looked into them much. My LFS specialist has never used them and they don't sell them, so he couldn't comment.


How accurate are these devices? Is there one that will test all levels or is it just limited to the three or four I've seen so far?

The three levels I think are most important and hardest to calculate is the ammonia, nitrite, and pH. These are the three I would love to see the most.

Any comments? Good stories on a particular product?

Mike

Sorry, I haven't used this product yet. Where can you get one at? Sounds kinda cool.

Demosthine

Hey There.

Dr. Foster and Smith's website has a few different models. The one of most interest in the Hanna Electronic Testers. They also have several more specific photometers particularly phosphate, nitrate and nitrite. The Hanna model shows up in the ads on top of the page quite often.

Take care.
Scott

SWilkins

Can you imagine how easy that would be....just put in the tester and all of your readings come up. WOW. I'm dreaming right!!! Let me know if they do come out with these and they work well.

lew2000

I use pinpoint brand monitors for pH and Nitrate in my freshwater tanks and used these and O2/salinity/ORP monitors in my S/W tanks- (hanna have a good rep as well) - just got a good price on these. I calibrate mine once a month and they are very accurate. I haven't seen a nitrite monitor for aquarium use at this time - in reading, these are expensive for commercial use - but maybre i missed it?
Have to make sure probe is clean (obvious). and replace periodically.

cerianthus

Unless one has multiple tanks, simple API liquid test kit shoud do. Even digital test kits do require recalibration/thorough cleaning from time to time.
I used have not just monitors but also controllers since had many many tanks and these products were handy. i dont really see a need for NH3/NO2/NO3 digital test kit to be honest (waste of money, imo. I would personally would spend that money on more tank set up, lol!). Regular PWC and well established/maintained tanks should not have Nitrogen problems.


As I said, I found simple pH probe by Hanna very handy when have multiple tanks.