Electronic water testers

[Ron Sower]

As I get closer to having the time to set up the 54g, I am thinking about the water conditions here...I can tell it's very hard water (we have a small RO unit for drinking)... I've been so used to having the nice slightly acid/neutral and soft water from the Seattle area, that I seldom monitored the conditions...

We have a commercial RO water source at $.25/g here in the park, so I can get good water to start out, and then do frequent small W/C with my own RO water.

What I'd like to know is what kind of electronic (battery powered) testers any of you would recommend here.  I'm really not interested in the high end ones that I see on Amazon, but more low end...$15-$30 or so...Hardness testers, pH testers...anything else?  Brands?

IF I were going to keep African Cichlids, I probably wouldn't be concerned as much....

[wsantia1]

The only thing I test here is TDS and that only because of my Altums. My water is really good from the tap but sometimes the water company will go with an alternate source (mainly in the summer) so I need to check it out of the tap.

The meter I am currently using is https://www.amazon.com/HM-Digital-Measurement-Resolution-Accuracy/dp/B0002T6L5M but there are cheaper one that are probably just as good.

I got one from Walmart about 3 years ago (-$10) but I was suspicious of the readings since they were very low. This one reads puts out a higher reading than the Wally World one.

[BillT]

I have had some very cheap in line conductivity meters (same as TDS really) for my RO unit, but they only lasted a couple of years.

I have a pinpoint conductivity meter which has lasted for years which I like.

I also have a handheld salinity refractometer (put a drop of water between two plates and look through it to see a line in a scale to determine salinity (same as TDS, but different numbers). This works well, requires no batteries, and should never break. Cost somewhere between $20 and $60. The scales on these things vary and some will require doing math to get the kind of units you are familiar with.

I also have some plug in conductivity controllers that run dosing pumps to add salt solution to water systems.
One was made for aquariums and cost something like $40. The peristaltic pump (also for aquariums) was about $60-80.
Another was bought as a recovered item from automatic film processing machine (after digital photography became big and the film industry collapsed). I think I got it for ~$50. Its hooked up to a peristaltic pump I had laying around. It is really well made and I expect it to last a long time.

Mostly I don't trust pH meters. Professional quality ones require maintenance on daily to weekly intervals and electrodes should be replaced over intervals of 1 to 6 months. I use pH paper for most pH determinations.

What I like to do overall is start to with a soft water or RO water source and add salts to the desired levels.
For pH, I use either aragonite to drive up the pH and increase conductivity (and to provide carbonate which biofilters require).
Alternatively, (in addition to water changes with soft water) I use peat to add tannins and keep the water in a tank soft.

[wallace]

The TDS meter I use is almost the same as the one Willie has, HM Digital TDS-3. Just don't get the TDS-EZ, it doesn't have temperature compensation.

https://www.amazon.com/HM-Digital-TDS-3-Handheld-Carrying/dp/B000VTQM70

I consider pH less important than TDS, and since you generally only need to know the approximate pH of your tap water once in the new house (right from tap and aged for comparison), the API drop test should be adequate. In your case you might need both the high and low range kit.

The only reason I use glass bulb pH probes is that I like wild fish and keep very soft water... and I like to experiment.

[Ron Sower]

Thanks for the help you guys!