Water Quality Meters?

[farne230]

If you use a meter to check water quality would you recommend one?

[MCA]

Once you have a stable pond system.....Pinpoint ORP meter...you can use drop tests for the rest (ph, kh, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate)....again this is for a STABLE ESTABLISHED pond. No drop test for ORP available.

[farne230]

MCA: What brand of ORP meter do you use and what are drop tests?

[MCA]

Pinpoint is the brand. They are made by American Marine. Welcome to American Marine Inc.

I like them because you can calibrate them and they are relatively inexpensive.

Drop tests are the tests where you put some pond water in a container and and drops of reagents and compare the color change to a guide that came with the test kit. Drop tests can be purchased for individual testing for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, kh, ph, DO....etc. You can also get kits from Tetra, Lamotte and others that will have many different tests.

Again...most things can be measured with a drop kit. For ORP, ya need a meter. and ideally you want that you can easily calibrate.

[bekko]

LaMotte and Hach kits are in a class above the rest. Many of their kits are even approved for regulatory use. Hach also makes a wide variety of meters.

I like the Pinpoint meters too. They are probably the best value. Yellow Springs Instrument Company (YSI) makes rugged high-end meters, but the cost is many times more than Pinpoint with Hach somewhere in between.

The trouble with any meter is that you need to use it regularly and keep up with the maintenance and calibration. If you only pull it out a few times a year then you will spend too much time making sure the batteries are good, the probe is clean and it's calibrated. Test kits don't require maintenance as long as the reagents are not past their expiration date. I agree with Michael in that it is easier and less expensive to stay with test kits for things that are not measured on a routine basis. Get a meter for parameters that you check all the time.

-st eveh

[farne230]

Of course your recommendations are dead on for saving costs. A drop test kits are the way to go. I have used them, I have troubles with high PH range, the colors are to close in color and knowing the .01 changes are vary important to me between 8.1 and 8.9. I had reagent problems with "red sea" test kit for GH & KH, one of the reagents would never change color. Since then I stick to AP and this seams to work well. I am looking for a dependable meter, calibrates and cleans easily and most of all dependable.

I bought a Professional grade meter (about $400) -single probe-t/ph/ec/tds and had lots of problems from Milwakee instruments, the brand can not remember. Shipped it back two or three times would not calibrate and PH all over the place. The manufacturer gave up and took it back. I would like to steer away from these problems.

Any experience with Hanna products?

[MCA]

Some of the uses for ORP meter

• can read the ORP to know how well the engine (filters and aeration) are keeping up with the fuel supply (nitrogen compounds and carbon dioxide from fish and other living things in the pond).
• can watch the ORP during a water change to see just how many crystals of ST (or grams/ounces of other products) are really needed to offset the chlorine (too much ST and you can needless drop the ORP, too little and the pond could get a little too "hot"). All of this assumes you are mixing the new water with the old via air domes, TPRs..etc. You don't ever want a "hot spot" of chlorinated water.
• In the case you need to treat for parasites you will know how much PP to add. None of the nonsense of Xgrams per Ygallons. With a calibrated meter you can do a much more accurate job of bringing the pond to 500-550mV and keeping it there for 4-8 hours.

These are some of the reasons an ORP meter should be one of the first pieces of pond kit a koi keeper should purchase....not one of the last.

[koiczar]

Having been in this hobby for a VERY long time, I didn't ralize how important an ORP meter was until I started seeing the info posted here and on a couple other forum boards. So, I bought one this year. I also bought the same one MCA uses. However, according to the instructions that came with it, it says it is a CONSTANT USE meter. So, I hooked it up and have it reading the pond water 24/7. Very interesting data feedback. I now know I have some minor work to do to improve my water quality. I notice that after feeding the fish (usually within 1-6 hours after) the reading lowers by about 10 points and then bounces back up to about 265. I know, I know, too low but at this point I'll take it.

One thing that is important to know - make sure you calibrate it about once a month. Don't just trust the readings - Validate them. Also, the info that is supplied with the meter says to allow 24-36 hours after calibration to record readings as it supposedly takes that long for it to settle.

Hope this helps. Just my observations after the first 3 months of operations.

Mike

[farne230]

What brand and model number unit are you using? what about Tds readings?
Thanks,
Bob

[koiczar]

Quote: Originally Posted by farne230 What brand and model number unit are you using? what about Tds readings? Thanks, Bob

Bob

Did you mean to ask this question to a specific poster? If so, and you were asking me, I am also using the Pinpoint by American Marine. I also have their remote temp unit with two transmitters. One for the main pond and one for the Q-tank.

Mike