anyone use these?

[brittlestar08]

Just wondering if anyone out there use these testing components? I'd love to hear if you think these are worth the cost? I do test once in a while with some chemical testers and I am sick of it. Not only will this save me money over time (I think) but it will alert me much faster than when I decide to test.

I would love to hear if you use any of these components. bad or good I'd likr to hear it. Ultimatly I would like to use these where the probs just sit in the water and I just read the levels. I have heard that the calcium tester is tricky and requres constant calibration. Is it true?

http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/group/868/product.web

http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/group/11405/product.web

http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/group/537/product.web

http://www.aquacave.com/detail.aspx?ID=1568

thanks in advance for all of your help...

[brittlestar08]

I'm surprised.... doesn't anyone use this type of equipment on this board? wow...

[Justinandkrista]

Seems like it would be nice to have but i could never spen the money on them.

[brittlestar08]

anyone else on the board with real life with these???

[Justinandkrista]

sorry i cant help good luck.

[brittlestar08]

ok... anyone else? help!

[skinz78]

I don't use these, but my lfs does. IMO they are great for somebody that is going to constantly monitor lots of tanks. I do know the probes go bad from time to time and they are costly.

I use all salifert tests. I figure I can do a heck of a lot of tests with my salifert kits before I could justify buying one of the pinpoints. But on the other hand I only have one tank to test.

[brittlestar08]

not about that at all... its about the accuracy and we all know that these chemical testers go bad sitting on a shelf. also they are a pain and don't allow for full automation.

I just find when I keep the probes in the water I am more conciouse of the params.

[ReefWreak]

Some of the probes, IIRC could not be used 24/7, as they were inaccurate for that use. Also check out the ReefKeeping magazine archive for Randy Holmes-Farley's review on the Calcium monitor.

Yes, they seem convenient, but don't forget you'll still have to calibrate them a few times a year, and you shouldn't have to monitor nitrate or calcium in a stable reef tank. Alkalinity (because it changes as your corals grow more) should be the only thing that needs to be measured a relatively regular basis, maybe even phosphate with a photometer to know when to change out GFO. Nitrates shouldn't exist, and you should be able to tell when they do, because of algae growth in the tank. Of course, I'm talking in a perfect world...

I've been known to do waterchanges once every 3-6 months, and never any nitrate problems, even though I feed a frozen cube a day, maybe 4-5 pinches of spectrum pellet, and a half-dollarbill sized piece of nori twice a day. I skim pretty wet, run GFO, and have recently been running carbon. My SPS are growing out of control, no nitrates, and I imagine low/no phosphates since my growth rates are so high. You should be able to monitor most of your parameters with regular growth rates.

[Carnavor180]

i use the pinpoint ph and calcium monitors, both work great, no complaints.

[brittlestar08]

can anyone tell me more about the calibration on the calcium digital unit? is it a pain in the butt? or is it something that you rarely need to do with the unit? Thanks

[jnarowe]

some of these have to be calibrated EVERY time you use them. I have discussed this with Curt @ Neptune because there are spots in the software for these tests but he told me that they are waiting until a reliable probe is made that can be used 24/7 without constant calibration.