Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Geeze I opened up a can-o-worms with this thread thanks all for contributing - I am learing a lot from you all

I used a Pinpoint Meter on an abalone farm I worked on. Seemed to work the same as the YSI meter and it was still going beyond the YSI.

I do most of these tests daily in the environmental lab at work.
EC is the electrical conductivity. Its a measure of the amount of salts in the sample.
You won't be able to find an in tank ammonia probe as to measure ammonia the pH needs to be basic (at about ph 9 i think, but don't quote me on the actual value, can't remember).
Nitrates are easily tested (using a spectro, out of reach for most APers), but i don't know of a probe that will do it.
Nitrite's on the other hand are alot harder to test for.
Basically the only one's that you may find on a electrical meter is pH, conductivity, temp and maybe DO.
But thats because you don't need to add anything to the water to get the right conditions.

I have been bringing in samples from my aquarium for a while now to test for all these, as well as to see how much iron there is in the system and if i need to add more.
If you get a good pH probe you should run fine for a few years b4 either replacing the internal solution, or buying a new one.
I have one in my aquarium that controls my CO2 system and is constantly in there. They last for a few years and hold there calibration for ages, so no need to buy buffer solution's very often and no storage solution either (which is generally only potasium chloride)

Cheers Jono

I`ve used one of these for the last 3 years, its as good as gold and the best £25 i ever spent..they`ve gone up a tenner since i bought mine but still well worth it imho.
It doesn`t have an alarm but as you`d notice a trend of dropping/rising ph over several days you wouldn`t need one anyway
http://www.reefdreams.co.uk/acatalog/pH ... splay.html
The spec doesn`t mention it but they do have onboard ni-cads built in which automatically charge.. so you can go portable with it too.

Thats a really good buy Hex. The one in my aquarium is bout AUS$400 new and the only extra function is that it has a low pH cutoff, so it sends a signal to a little relay and turns the CO2 off b4 the pH gets too low and kills the fish.
Its a good thing that i didn't buy it new coz the whole CO2 system is bout $1000, and thats oly with a small CO2 tank as well :-)

Jono

Hi Jono
The thing i like about this type is if/when the probe packs up i can buy a new one for about £16 without having to buy the main unit. The other plus is the big red digits (25mm high) are a lot easier to read than a dinky lcd display..my eyesight isnt getting any better as i get older