Backyard Aquaponics
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Does anyone have any info on any type of computerized water quality monitoring system? Or know of anything of the such? I would like to request this item in a budget for my school but haven't found any info anywhere. I assume they are expensive.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

Check out wastewater sites HN.... I've got a bookmark somewhere, I'll try and find it....

But seriously, you're looking at thousands and thousands of dollars..... all of which could be spent on a test kit and more fish tanks and growbeds...

Give the kids a test kit and get them to monitor, record and chart the water parameters everyday HN..... good science and it will teach them not only the nitrogen cycle but basic scientific principles of recording and reporting.

Couple it with recording temperatures, both air and water.... feed rates, growth rates.... FCR..... etc etc.....

No much good putting all on a computer for them HN... wouldn't teach them anything....

Chances are they already know how to use a computer and stare at a screenful of pictures and numbers....

HN

What Rupert said. You can use automated systems in Hydroponics but add fish and its a new ballgame. I item may be of interest and realitively inexpensive is a TDS (total dissolved salts) meter. As far as the rest is concerned better going with the liquid test kits Put the results into a program like Excel. Graph everything and you should be able to anticipate
changes.

I'm sure everyone would love to see the results

I know of something that isnt thousands and thousands of dollars but could run ( I would say max of 1K, with all the stops)

They are used for Saltwater reef aquarium and Freshwater aquarium keeping
Neat you are in the US!

I would look at www.marine depot.com or google saltwater supply sites

They are very (VERY) handy at controlling lights, turning them off it gets too hot, and many many other things including using probes that are put in your tank and can continually tell you what your parameters are and there are so many options, it can call you if something gets out of whack, chart it on a computer (good for teaching about fluctuations, because it graphs it)

http://www.neptunesys.com/

http://www.digitalaquatics.com/


(Can you tell my other hobby is reef/aquarium keeping) lol! Hope that helps!

PS what grade will this be used for?

Interesting

Never had any sucess with ph meters (possibly because I bought cheap ones).
Still think kids learn more by doing it. Good point about the age though, some of the chemicals in the test kits are a bit dodgy for little ones.

i bascaly depends on the perameters you want to test for

temp tds/conductivity and PH can be quite cheap and can come as hand held units either as single tests or as combo units OR even as inline probes,
these we use at work all the time at work however anything other than these gets pricy and i wouldnt even know someone was talking about ION specific probes ages ago to get nitrate and nitrite reading but i wouldnt know where to start on those or with a DO meter

good luck though

DO was on the neptune site Delgrade. Pricey though.

Do you have problems with the ph probes, ie can you leave them in water all the time and don't you have to keep recalibrating them.
Never had a problem with the TDS meter, ph meters crap.

Rupert, good ideas. What I had in mind was having a monitoring system that would measure pH, DO, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate in real time or at specified intervals. AND have the kits do the tests also. That way we could compare the info. Also if you collect a lot of data then the students can anaylze and graph data. I thought it would be coool to see when oxygen is the highest or lowest. Figure out why and the such. See when nitrate level are high and low. That would be cool.

Check this out, I found out our school has these.
http://www.vernier.com/labquest/

Might be pretty cool...

didnt have too good a look at the neptune sight sleepe was mostly talking bout what we use at work

and your right about PH probes the all need to be removed periodicaly as they are " living" probes ( that was the way it was described to me but the guru form Myron L ) and need to be put into a regenerating fluid to prolong theor life they will all die eventualy, this should be pretty standard accross all PH probes too handheld and inline ones