Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I'm still getting a handle on the times and costs of each tests. In terms of my time there would be two rates. The first one would be discounted and for people who bought in early the second would be a standard commercial rate for everyone else.

So you want people to chip in to buy you the Spectrophotometer? Then you want to charge them a discounted extra rate for labour & extra for postage?

The devices cost around $2000-$4000, I couldn't see people here chipping in more than $20 (I could be wrong), for something that they don't actually own or have control over. So you'd need 100 people to chip for the smaller one, and I don't think this forum has that many people who are active, and would want testing, let alone willing to chip in.

Sorry, but I don't see it happening.

Kickstarter might be a possibility, but you'll need to have a reward setup, like $20 gets two tests over a 2 year time, $40 gets 4 tests over a 2 year period.

Exactly on all points.

The trouble I have or we have is this particular case is that not one of us has the cash to buy outright the device and the thousands of dollars of reagents. Whatever people chip in gets them X number of tests. Part of the what they chip in goes to cover the cost of the reagents that rest goes to cover the cost of the machine which if I'm keeping it can also be translated into an hourly rate for me.

If I had the cash or if I had the access to finance it would be better for me to buy the machine and just charge a commercial rate but I don't have either cash or finance at present.

The opportunity for people who contribute is that they get a certain number of tests cheaper than they otherwise would. That is the rub though. It needs to be a good deal for all concerned. If the $/test is too high people won't be interested. If the $/test is too low then I'll get swamped testing everyone's water in perpetuity.

As to the number of people chipping in that was one of the points I raised at the start of the thread or possibly on the original thread where the idea was floated. If we run a crowd funding campaign the reach of the fund raising will be larger but the crowd funding site will take their cut. If we do it in house then there are less people but we don't have to pay a commission.

i have never actually sent a sample for personal use into a lab for testing, the office lady just pays the bills so i dont actually know the cost.

What are the costs for a commerical lab so we can weigh it up?

i think i may have spotted somewhere around $20-$30 for each metal?

but they are also tested differently too, i believe put through a flame spectro which i think is alot more accurate? id imagine the flame wouldnt care about chelates etc.

Yeah if we were really serious we get one of those. Labour for each group of tests would be about 30 secs for every test (all at the same time).

Problem is that gas chromatographs cost about 80k.

Three years ago at the Hydro conference there was a lab offering tests of macro and possibly micro nutrients for $70.

I've been quoted $110-120 here in WA by labs, minimum cost even if you only want one element analysed

It's a lot of money to spend on testing though.

What is it you're trying to find out through the tests? I'd understand for a commercial place where your lively hood depends on perfect growth, but for most backyarders, it seems overkill. Plants go yellow, add some iron, plants yellow with green veins, add some potassium or magnesium. Are there many other deficiencies to worry about?

What else are you trying to test for (that'll show actual results, or have an impact on the system)?

Your dreaming Stu.

potassium was the main one i wanted to know, aswell as magnesium and calcium.

i reckon i would only need maybe 3 or 4 tests until i started to learn to see it in the plants myself and pick between magnesium or potassium.

These colorimeters are pretty cheap ($85) and can do tests for the following: ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, iron, potassium, phosphate, and sulfate. Only one missing is magnesium and maybe someone can provide the assay for that...

Just a thought - I bought one but I haven't had time to put it together and give it a test. I have a water test lab I found that charges $60 for a full water test so I will use that to compare the results and check the accuracy.


http://www.iorodeo.com/colorimeter

Thoughts?

Wanted to revive this thread.

I almost have the dollars to purchase the YSI 9500 but not the cash to get the reagents.

I've updated the test table which you can see here :

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1slfNzyz6xzdD5b-wuJpX2fQbW2AqgLkk_q_qaegDOkw/edit#gid=0

For the crowd funding option I'm offering a 50% discount on the tests.

I'll have a spread sheet of what people have contributed and people can order their tests and an amount will be removed from their account with a 50% discount from their "account". That means that I'll be getting not much at all for my time or for the use of my machine but I don't mind because people will be helping me make this happen by buying tests in advance.

Postage will be about $8 per sample but as the volume increases I'll be able to get people access to my bulk postage discount even though people will be posting to me.

The deal would be for people to essentially pay for a set of tests in advance or rather for a credit amount for what ever tests they want at a discounted rate of 50%.

The amount we/I need to raise is $1000 but if we can raise $3500 I will be able to afford enough of the reagents to get a bulk discount. If we crack the $3500 mark then I'll offer 60% discount to everyone and a 70% discount on the funds committed to get us to the $1500 dollar point plus a 25% discount as long as I continue to do the tests for people.

I've still got a few things to check out but we are almost ready to go.

I imagine that people will need about 4 to 6 rounds of testing to get a feel for their system and how its operating. After that I imagine that people may only get a lot of tests done when they have an unexplained problem or once or twice per year Factor that in when it comes working out how much you are prepared to commit.

Hope that is all clear.

Have to agree with Colum on this one

Well a bunch of stuff.

As someone of a more scientific bent I like data. For me I need the information not just want it. For other people well it depends. I'm not going to start running around saying that everyone needs to get their water tested because people have been running systems for years without testing much of anything at all.

However, if people want to know what levels of nutrients they have in their water then this could be a way for them to get the results relatively cheaply.

Any further updates on this?

I was looking at buying the Hanna Iron checker, though found it it measures ALL iron in solution be it soluble (Fe2+), or insoluble (Fe3+),

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2012/4/review

Though I understand that only Fe2+ is absorbed generally,

http://brightagrotech.com/iron-in-aquaponics/

Although this suggests plants uptake Fe3+ also
http://www.smart-fertilizer.com/articles/iron

My question is, to test an AP system for iron, do we want to measure just Fe2+ or both Fe2+ and Fe3+? If we just want to measure Fe2+ then the Hanna checker may indicate there is lots of iron, though it might not be available to plants (depending on ph amoungst other things).

So, is Fe testing worth it? or could it give false negatives/positives?

Yes I'm still planning to do this but I have to get the funds. I've got the money for the machine but not enough yet for all the reagents.

I can't find the manual right now but I'm pretty sure I specked the right iron test at the time.