Planted Tank Test strip??!!??

[Aqua junky]

I think if someone could  design a teat strip just for planted tanks they could become a millionaire over night! Something that could test all the element in the water! That would be great!!

[Tami]

I don't want a strip I want a meter - stick in and out come the measurements - matching colors sucks

 

[tonyjuliano]

12 minutes ago, Tami said:

I don't want a strip I want a meter - stick in and out come the measurements - matching colors sucks

 

They already exist.  But cost mucho $. API has one available, but the cost is prohibitive.  It’s being marketed to fish stores, with the intent that customers would bring their water to be tested.

here’s a link...

https://reefbuilders.com/2020/07/23/api-aquaspin-more-details-about-the-automated-testing-machine/

Edited May 20, 2021 by tonyjuliano

[Tami]

ok then an affordable one for us little fish people

 

[Aqua junky]

Looks like that fancy device just measures the basics. Same as an Master test kit! Im talking about a teat strip that measures Macro and Micro nutrients in the water! So than you could read it and be like oh I need more Potassium!

[RockMongler]

Sadly, measuring more than the basics is often chemically complicated.  Most quantitative (ie, actual number) identification processes for things like separating sodium vs potassium in solution are multi-step lab processes, because Na+ and K+ both behave very similarly in most chemical reactions, as they are both alkali metals.  That's why we tend to measure things like GH (measuring ions with a +2 charge, like Ca+2 and Mg+2) and KH (measuring CO3-2 and HCO3-1) as an aggregate, rather than looking at individual elemental/polyatomic ion species.  I don't know if you could simplify a process like that down to something you have soaked in a cotton pad on a piece of paper with useful coloration tying into a certain concentration.  Having much more than pH be even remotely accurately measurable from a strip is pretty impressive to me, to be perfectly honest.  Equipment that can do quick, easy identification of elements in a sample tend to exist in commercial and university research labs, and have a price tag to match their rarity (and a lot of those might not play nice with solutions).  And having spent some time playing with analytical instrumentation like that myself a bit in grad school, they are also often super finicky.    

That we can get "Just the basics", (seemingly) idiot proof, quantitative data from an automated machine like API is selling for ~$1200, on its own is also pretty great.  Hopefully the cost of units like that will come down in price to the point that almost anyone would be able to keep them in their homes.

[sudofish]

I hate strips so much. I'm not colorblind as far as I know but rarely do I look at a strip and say yep it's this. It's always me staring at it for a while going well it kinda looks like this but wait is that a tinge of green or blue? Maybe it's actually THIS one! Even the API master kit has similar issues though not as bad as strips.

[Aqua junky]

@sudofish Im always asking my wife lol Hey Babe is it this one or this one!