Ive seen it advertised here and there for the last couple of weeks but havent given it much thought. Here is the stats for their traditional photometer:
Range 0.00 to 2.50 mg/L
Resolution 0.01 mg/L
Accuracy ±0.04 mg/L ±4% of reading
With a difference of almost $160 between the two i feel like im missing something. Can anyone that knows a little more about these meters explain the differences that might have an impact on how we would use it for the hobby? It seems almost too good to be true!
Shoot for that much money I would say pre-order one for the club.
If you want to ask about this sort of thing I would suggest shooting an e-mail to Mike Calvetti. I believe he has owned a similar piece of equipment.
My two cents on getting one of these or something more expensive… wouldn’t change a thing I do except for maybe the quantity of Phosphate remover I use. Seriously if you found out you have .8ppm vs .08ppm what would you do differently in each situation? Haven’t yet seen a guideline that says you should maintain it at Xppm as some beneficial animals actually need phosphate.
If you feed a variety of foods to your tank you are likely adding phosphates. If you have algae and your TDS is 0 and you don’t want to change the type of foods then it would be a good idea to try some phosphate removers.(that and consider more frequent water changes, refugiums, and so on) If you have algae you have Phosphates and Nitrates plain in simple. Just my two cents.
To be honest I would be interested in seeing, but not sure it would change anything I do or really effect husbandry at all.
Im not sure of the value of doing a one time test with it would be. Phosphates can vary pretty fast. I figure just keeping your GFO up to date should handle it to the low limit of the devise. GFO is the best remover available. If that cant do it, it dont matter. Add a fuge to be safe.
of course if we each owned one, we could test weekly to monitor when our GFO is worn out, and see PO4 rise. then its time for a refill on GFO. But i think we can pretty well rely on GFO to keep it below detection.
Just a cost/benefit analysis on my part.
Hmmm??? Maybe we need a group buy on bulk GFO? So as we can all stock up.
are these both better than GFO? I can see how the liquid could instantly bind all PO4 in the tank. but it would build back up between doses. The resin would be continuous removal until the beads are saturated. Then you regenerate it to use again.
I guess thats how they work.