Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hello aquaponics community! I recently had a fantastic discussion with a professor doing aquaponics research and the topic of dissolved oxygen sensing came up. I am a scientist myself and during my research and I found a way to measure dissolved oxygen in a very simple and inexpensive way. I wanted to bounce some ideas off of you, the aquaponics community, to know what you actually want in a dissolved oxygen sensing device to help guide my R&D.

1) Do you monitor dissolved oxygen (for example, with a device that provides real-time data feedback), or do you check it when you feel something needs to be done/there is a problem? If you check it, how often do you do so? And do you prefer chemical tests or a device?

2) Would you want a device that can monitor dissolved oxygen? For example, a battery powered, bluetooth device that connects to your computer/phone and provides real-time data.

3) How long would you want to monitor dissolved oxygen for? For example, would you just want to see fluctuations over a weeks time? A few days after making some changes to your setup? Or maybe all the time?

4) Would you want this device to have an alarm in case levels go too high/low?

These are really all the questions I have for now and I am more than interested to talk about this with you. As a chemist, I know very little about aquaponics, but I know a lot about oxygen sensors! I am hoping to make a difference and assist the aquaponics and hydroponics community as much as possible. Thank you

Good questions. There is a person that developed a monitoring system marketed as Aquashield (aquashieldcontrol.com). I believe this includes a DO sensor and monitoring. There are a few others too, but I'm not sure any of them actually succeeded and are commercially available.

For my answers to your questions, I do not monitor DO. I do have both a probe (Milwaukee MW600) and a Salifert titration kit for DO. I do not like the titration kit as the nuances in judging the color are difficult. The MW600 works well, but is a laboratory instrument and must be handled properly, calibrated, maintained, etc. So when I dig it out of the box and put it to use, it is a bit of a pain.

My preference for all parameters including DO is for real-time monitoring and historic charts to map trends and relationships. However, it is not important enough (or critical enough) for me to spend significant funds. If I do pursue this, I will likely build an Arduino based system and add the sensors and communication that works best for me.