Robbie X
Member
Hello all.
How often should one change the drop checker solution?
Cheers
How often should one change the drop checker solution?
Cheers
What about aquarium water evaporation inside the drop checker which then condensing and diluting the solution?
A quick weekly clean with the water change as maintenance is more appropriate rather than having to change the solution then?
Definitely a <"cheaper option">.The best practice would be to make a DIY solution then you can make a gallon of the stuff for the same price as the small 100ml bottle from the LFS.
And you could change it every day for years before you run out of it.
cheers DarrelBecause NaHCO3 is really cheap to buy I would start with <"3g of NaHCO3 made up to 500 mL with DI water"> to give you a 400 dKH stock solution, and dilute from there.
On a separate drop checker topic as the hang on version was mentioned does the diameter of the tube then in the tank matter compared to the standard in tank design that is much wider?
Only that I was thinking of changing to this type for ease of reading colour. I find it difficult in the tank and I have colour deficiency (old school colour blindness) I find it hard to distinguish between lime green and yellow - especially in the tank. As I am in CO2 testing phase I am not dialled in (or so I think!) to this lime green yet.
pH in drop checker | hue (H of decimal HSV) | CO2 (ppm) |
6 | 57 | 140 |
6.2 | 64 | 88 |
6.4 | 69 | 56 |
6.6 | 76 | 35 |
6.8 | 86 | 22 |
7 | 112 | 14 |
7.2 | 161 | 9 |
7.4 | 187 | 6 |
7.6 | 202 | 4 |
7.8 | 216 | 2 |
That is a useful chart and app.For your colour blindness, if you have an illuminated white background behind the tank and look through the in-tank drop checker at this illuminated white background, there are really great mobile phone apps that will sort this for you. I use Color Grab (Color Grab (color detection) - Apps on Google Play) and have found the hue reading (H in HSV) is a straightforward indicator of pH. For a standard 4 dKH drop checker solution in a 25C aquarium, you can use the table below to read off the pH of the drop checker and the CO2 of the aquarium from the hue of the drop checker.
I aim for CO2 in the 35-40 ppm range which would be hue values around 74 or 75.
pH in drop checker hue (H of decimal HSV) CO2 (ppm) 6 57 140 6.2 64 88 6.4 69 56 6.6 76 35 6.8 86 22 7 112 14 7.2 161 9 7.4 187 6 7.6 202 4 7.8 216 2
Looks like it's working, but I recommend not just a white background, but an illuminated white background. If you have a white piece of paper behind the tank and shine a flashlight on it from the side that can work. In my experience, you're looking for the app to measure transmitted light rather than reflected for most consistent results. I can confirm that the colour in the picture you enclosed looks green to me.Just tried the colour grab in-tank but no white background. CO2 off since 4.30 with Hue 115 but this changes if you move around the spotting circle that I see you can adjust in size. PH read with meter was 7.1. Anyway the good thing is that it tells me the colour is green