What doesn't exist for reefing yet but you really, really wish it did?

[ScubaSteve]

What kind of precision would people want for calc/alk measurements? Most test kits only give you 5% precision (i.e. 400 ppm ± 20 ppm), Elos is a bit better around 2.5%. Is that good enough? Is there a need or want to go better than that?

[Etaloche]

Originally Posted by ScubaSteve

What kind of precision would people want for calc/alk measurements? Most test kits only give you 5% precision (i.e. 400 ppm ± 20 ppm), Elos is a bit better around 2.5%. Is that good enough? Is there a need or want to go better than that?

I'm sure most people would want as much accuracy as possible unless it significantly increased price. If that's the case 2.5% should more than suffice for most hobbyist.

[ReefGrrl]

Originally Posted by ScubaSteve

They're doing theirs through spectral analysis of a reactant test... never made sense to me to do it that way. Too complicated. Too many things to go wrong. No wonder they are struggling!

I was doing some reading tonight and it seems it should be fairly straight forward to make a carbonate selective electrode (provided I can synthesize a molecular tweezer ). In fact, I think I could put pH, Calc, Alk and Nitrate all on the same electrode.

Yes please!! I had no idea how critical testing and monitoring is, until I started keeping a mixed reef. And the main drawback to testing is what a PITA it is using test kits. And if one has the 649 lotto funds waiting in one's bank account to buy fiddly probes and all the associated paraphernalia, there is still the ongoing expense of probes and such. And the required furniture to store it all.

I'm diabetic and blood glucose monitors have come a very long way since the very first, paperback-sized one I had 35 years ago. Now they read the blood drop itself, where back then it was spectral analysis of the reactant strip. Of course they are also much smaller now but that would be a lesser consideration for me personally when it came to a saltwater parameter measurement device.

The glucose monitor I have now is an accuchek compact, which uses a pre-loaded barrel of 17 tests - the "test strips" basically function like flat pipettes that draw the blood into a transparent chamber for the optical reader to scan. I've often wondered if this principle could be applied to testing saltwater parameters of various types. The "test strips" cost about $1 each at retail, however they don't have any chemical or electronic function, purely mechanical - and of course they are the way the meter companies make their money because the meters are free to diabetics.

I'd pay good money for something that measures salt water, which for me would be up to $200 if ongoing expenses for stuff like calibration were very low or non-existent. If there were significant ongoing expenses, my limit would be maybe $150 because of the time a single device would save.

This has been a big hmmmmmm...... in my mind for a while now. I picture something that would read an entire spectrum and output levels of each parameter, perhaps to an app of some type.

Well, we are blue-skying, right?

Sorry for the long post - I don't know if this is any help.

[Myka]

Originally Posted by ScubaSteve

They're doing theirs through spectral analysis of a reactant test... never made sense to me to do it that way. Too complicated. Too many things to go wrong. No wonder they are struggling!

I was doing some reading tonight and it seems it should be fairly straight forward to make a carbonate selective electrode (provided I can synthesize a molecular tweezer ). In fact, I think I could put pH, Calc, Alk and Nitrate all on the same electrode.

You can do it!!! If you could design something usable, accurate, and marketable you could do quite well for yourself.

Originally Posted by ScubaSteve

What kind of precision would people want for calc/alk measurements? Most test kits only give you 5% precision (i.e. 400 ppm ± 20 ppm), Elos is a bit better around 2.5%. Is that good enough? Is there a need or want to go better than that?

5% accuracy is fine -that's what we're all used to anyway. More accuracy is better of course. I don't think you could market something with less accuracy than test kits.