PlanetCatfish.com

I am thinking of getting a PH monitor and a hardness monitor so it will be easier to check the tanks . Especially when trying to simulate a rainy season by lowering the PH & TDS.

The Milwaukee units have caught my eye - anyone used them?

I saw these advertised by Thatfishplace and am wondering if anyone has used them and any comments on them or for that matter any other brands?

How easy are they to use?
How quickly do they read?
How efficient are they and how simple/hard it it ito callibrate them?
Do you have to callibrate after a certain amount of uses or is it time?
Thanks

I sent a couple of emails to friends that have Industrial Hand Held conductivity meters. (I used to have one, but stupidly sold it when I was out of cash. Dammed expensive college books!) I haven't heard an email back regarding the manufacturers name yet.

Again, the unit I had, was an analog commerical industrial unit, similar to a Myron L (Good unit BTW.)

The best feature was that the platnum electrodes were exposed and easily cleaned/ acid stripped when needed. Two point Calibration solutions were also included. It wasn't terribly accurate, however for fish I think ROM (Rough Order of Magnitude) values are all that are needed.

I'll post again when I find out more. Look at the Myron L units in the interim.

BTW: The little Wardleys conductivity pens work well, however they cannot be cleaned and are essentially disposable. There is a pen type available at Wet Thumb Aquatics with disposable electrodes that looks pretty good. Not sure how long the probe will last though? It can't be effectively cleaned, so I'd guess not too long.

Also, as far as pH testing goes, you'll never beat pH paper or color match solutions in terms of accuracy and stability over a large number of tests. The electrodes for pH pens (even High end analytical units) are also disposable (or should be).

Thanks pturley,

I got a response from another board about the probes not lasting long - really shortlived in SW I was told.
By not lasting long what do you mean? Lets say 50 tests a week - how many weeks until it has to be recallibrated and until the probe wears out?

I have only come across the Pinpoint and the Milwaukee and at $75-125 it isn't something I want to just throw away.

I have also come across PH monitors for CO2 systems and SW systems that actually are hooked up to the water permanently - do those use a different electrode or is it the same there?

Thanks

Hanna are the best in the uk:

THIS IS THE MAIN HOME PAGE:

http://www.hannainst.com/

Magnum4,
any idea how much they run?

Have you used them?
How well do they last and how often do you recallibrate?
Thanks

what is TDS??????????????