digital ph tester or liquid ph tester?

[ginty]

hi guys. i have api ammonia, nitrite and nitrate liquid testers. i want to get a ph tester. i was wondering whether anyone uses a digital ph tester?
if so are they accurate or any good?

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[fishyfriends3]

I've always used liquid it's like 5 drops and done.

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[Cynic]

I have an electronic PH tester and it works fine, you do need to keep a stock of PH calibration liquid though so it's still not the sort of thing you can just use every day cost effectively.

[ginty]

Originally Posted by fishyfriends3

I've always used liquid it's like 5 drops and done.

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which test do you have. the high ph or low ph?
this these are the API Brand.

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[fishyfriends3]

Api master includes both high and low.

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[ginty]

see the thing is. i brought ammonia, nitrite and nitrate seperatly. it was before i see you could buy the whole set on ebay. so should i buy both?
my water ph is normally 7.5 to 8 when ive had it tested.

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[fishyfriends3]

Low only goes up to 7.4

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[Delapool]

I've got a ph tester as well as my ph sits at the end of the high and low ph API test kit and I got tired of trying to figure out the colours. The electronic and liquid tester are pretty close. It does tend to sit in the cupboard a bit.

As mentioned you do need the buffer solution and also they don't last forever. I don't know if I'd get it again but having said that if I saw a cheap electronic tester for nitrate I'd grab it as I can't figure out the colours on that either.

Edit - Accuracy of the digital one is about 0.1 I think.

[ScotJudd]

I have a digital Ph tester and quickly check my Ph morning and night to monitor the Ph swing due to Co2 injection. It does need calibrating occasionally but I have only ever found it 0.1 out. It is ideal if you want to easily monitor the Ph trend and even with +\- 0.1 accuracy it's still more accurate than trying to distinguish different shades of the same colour.
A cheap digital nitrate tester would be nice though - can't find one!

[ginty]

Originally Posted by ScotJudd

I have a digital Ph tester and quickly check my Ph morning and night to monitor the Ph swing due to Co2 injection. It does need calibrating occasionally but I have only ever found it 0.1 out. It is ideal if you want to easily monitor the Ph trend and even with +\- 0.1 accuracy it's still more accurate than trying to distinguish different shades of the same colour.
A cheap digital nitrate tester would be nice though - can't find one!

hi scott. which one do you have. i think i might get one otherwise i have to do two ph tests.

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[Grumble69]

The pH liquid drops are my bane of my existance at the moment. We have well water with a pH of around 8.2. I've got a RO kit (ph around 6.6) and use a blend of 75% RO to 25% well. I would love to know what pH is now. Naturally, my API ph drops are a bright blue with no hint of green which suggests 7.6 (or higher). And my API high drops are kind of weak tea that doesn't really match anything on my scale. Sometimes I think it's around the 7.4 color. Sometimes I think it's around the 8.0 color. I doubt it's the latter with my mix.

I looked at other kits and they pretty much use the same dyes and cover the same ranges. Elos was a possibility. And I looked at the cheap pH meters and the >$100 ones. I read up on the calibrations and the storage and how they break or mismeasure and....

...and I eventually said (BLEEP) it. I'm reliably sure that my pH is somewhere around mid-7 and that's good enough. Instead, I'm watching my KH values. Untreated, it was around 14. And with my 75-25 blend, I'm always at 6. I would love to know where my pH ended up. But ultimately, it's not that important for me to pin down. I'm more interested in generating water that's as consistent as I can get it from week to week.

[Matt68005]

You might have to order the high range ph test kit. I luckily found some at a saltwater fish store. good luck

[ScotJudd]

I bought the yellow pen digital ph meter from eBay. There are loads - all the same for under £10. You do need to also but a ph7.0 calibrator liquid to calibrate the meter every now and again. It is such a handy bit of kit because at around ph7 you are at the high end of the liquid test kit and visa versa. As I said before, they are great to regularly check the trend and spot a crash quickly. I have used my liquid test kit to check my digital accuracy and I find it hard to distinguish the slight differences in colour shades.
It even comes with batteries !

[Delapool]

I did about the same, you can get ones that are calibrated using 3 ph standards but that was overkill for me.