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Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

Digital Ph meter recommendations anyone?

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14 Aug 2011 23:20 #1 by smitas5 (Marius Smitas)
I'm after buying Digital Ph meter from HongKong for arround €18. calibrated, used it for arround 3 weeks and then it started to shift up. Calibrated with a solution 6.8 and after couple days it just didn't calibrate to the right value anymore.

got replacement, 2 days later noticed, if I moove probe cable, without mooving the probe or display, Ph might shift by 3 units. returning this one too.

Probably the product is just very bad quality.

product link on eBay

My question is.. Anyone bought one that works without as much trouble? also please state where and for how much.. if can't post, PM please.

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15 Aug 2011 10:03 #2 by JohnH (John)
I'm afraid you really only get what you pay for with these cheap accessories from the Far East, you might get a good one, but then again (as you have proven) you might get a less-than-good one, or two, or more...

Far better in the long run to spend more and get a good quality meter, or stick with the test kits - they really do give adequate enough results for our hobbyist needs.

John

Location:
N. Tipp

We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.


ITFS member.



It's a long way to Tipperary.

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15 Aug 2011 10:13 #3 by ceech (Desmond Gaynor)
I am afraid john is correct.
I am a Instrumentation Enginner and in my experience even with the real good stuff they can be quite sensative.
Most work i have done out in the field we have used set buffers to do the calibration on the equipment ourselves as it can be damaged easily.
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aquarium-Fish-Tank-Di...f731a#ht_2500wt_1140
This is a kit a friend of mine has used without any problems but as john has said unless you really need it the test kits are fine.

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15 Aug 2011 10:18 - 15 Aug 2011 10:20 #4 by smitas5 (Marius Smitas)


Far better in the long run to spend more and get a good quality meter
John


Ok, I know that now, hence the reason I started this topic..

I was hoping for recommendations. Anybody uses particular meter that is reliable?
Please could you state the make model and if possible place bought.
Last edit: 15 Aug 2011 10:20 by smitas5 (Marius Smitas).

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15 Aug 2011 10:24 #5 by smitas5 (Marius Smitas)
Well kits will be more affordable

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15 Aug 2011 11:34 #6 by killikid (donald carson)
i got mine from www.hannainst.co.uk they are good quality with a good
back up service.KK

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15 Aug 2011 11:39 #7 by JohnH (John)
KK,
Mine is an older one of their manufacture as well - and it's still going strong.
I like that you can buy the replacement electrodes for them too.
Would be my recommendation as well.
I see they now offer the 'pocket-type' ones as well, mine is called Pronto but would appear to be discontinued now.
John

Location:
N. Tipp

We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.


ITFS member.



It's a long way to Tipperary.

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15 Aug 2011 12:28 #8 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
I use a lab-model (over 20 years old now).....they are rather expensive, but very accurate.

I have some cheap hand-held chemistry lab one somewhere....useful for fish tanks but the calibration of these and similar hand-held ones is not always easy.

Really, for any electrode meter, the solution should be stirred constantly but genetly during the measurements. (and I promise that I will not go into the science of why :) )

However, in view of these things only being about 30 euro from a local fish shop here in Ireland, I wouldn't see much of a benefit in getting e-bay stuff.

The instrument should be calibrated with at least 2 pH calibration values....if you only calibrate for one pH value standard then the instruments reading will be off.

If you have one or two tanks, then maybe pH test kits are best.

ian

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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15 Aug 2011 12:53 #9 by smitas5 (Marius Smitas)
@igmillichip the units I have still.. came with 2 solutions, 6.8 and 4.
if I calibrate at 4, then 6.8 is out. If I calibrate 6.8, then 4 is out by nearly 0.5..
so this thing should not be that way.

I work as a technician, calibrating all sorts of equipment in labs too. Not as much chemistry involved there, but I can see straight away something is wrong. Idea was to get probably not as accurate, but at least reliable instrument..

didn't know if you can get one in local shop for 30.. I asked in couple places, told to buy kit.

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15 Aug 2011 13:22 #10 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
@smitas5……please call me Ian rather than igmillichip.

This is one example of a cheap pH meter (ok…so it is 35 euro, 5 euro more expensive).

www.seahorseaquariums.com/store/product/3433/PH-Meter-600/

Other sponsors here may have them or similar.
The reality is that you’d need a much more expensive pH meter and a magnetic stirring system if you needed high accuracy.
These cheap (and any commonly available test system for fish-keeping is only a cheap rough indicator system) are good for aquatic precision (ie the changes in values) even if they are not accurate.

When calibrating, I wondered if you rinsed the electrode in de-ionised water and then in some old pH calibration fluid before calibrating it in fresh calibration fluid.
Normally, you have to balance the meter between the 2 calibration points by doing one then the other then back again to the first and so on until the meter converges to consistency.

Cheaper meters take a lot of balancing I find.

ian

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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15 Aug 2011 14:58 #11 by ceech (Desmond Gaynor)
@ ian that is right on the mark usually you must do a 5 point check on all ph meters and as you said de-ionised water or wifi as we used purifed water. the test soloutions also need to be good or you are just calibrating for fun because it will end up a mile off.
have a look at the link for a procedure to calibrate your meter
www.monashscientific.com.au/pHCalibratio...#OnePointCalibration
i would think that ian could help you find a god one though ;-)

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