Exact iDip Digital Water Testing

[Cliff717]

I also am very frustrated with my idip
Consistently low calc readings
Alk 1 Dhk low every time!
Thh reading too high 1/2 the time ( total waste of strips btw)
Mag low
I have been using this tester for almost a year I have been patiently awaiting updates and better performance.
I guess I should have returned it when I first bought it.
Total disappointment

 

[SPotter]

I also am very frustrated with my idip
Consistently low calc readings
Alk 1 Dhk low every time!
Thh reading too high 1/2 the time ( total waste of strips btw)
Mag low
I have been using this tester for almost a year I have been patiently awaiting updates and better performance.
I guess I should have returned it when I first bought it.
Total disappointment

What alk strips are you using? I'm using the new strips and my readings have been consistent and in line with my lamotte test kit. I'm experiencing the same issues you are experiencing with ca, thh and ultimately low mag levels. I tested water with IDip the same day I sent off water to triton and ca was off by 65 pts and mag off by 250 pts. Definitely not worth the investment.

 

[C Hawk]

The above posts certainly validate what I have been observing as well. Low ALK, High THH. Although my Calcium seems to be good. I truly believe there is an algorithm issue and I wish SENSAFE would address it soon, or at least admit there is a problem. I have discussed this issue with them but to no avail. I may have a spirited discussion with them at MACNA. I do remain optimistic that they will get these issues resolved. However, I have no idea if they even know there is a problem. Christian from SENSAFE needs to hop on this thread and give us his thoughts.

 

[Cliff717]

I totally agree. I am so frustrated right now. I had to go out and buy all new salifert tests because my idip is so unreliable it can't be trusted! I spent good $ on my idip. I feel cheated. Hopefully we get some answers soon.

 

[C Hawk]

To be fair, the nitrate and phosphate readings are good, so I use it for those. But the ALK I use my hanna. For calcium its seems to be good enough for me. But that observation is purely subjective.

It seems that SENSAFE made a few algorithm changes over a year ago to both calcium and alkalinity. I was getting good reading prior to the change. Now I cannot get a good ALK or THH readings. You do need the "drops" for calcium and THH until they update the strips. So my guess is there are some bugs in the software.

I know SENSAFE is over at reef central. It would be good to get them over here.

 

[Cliff717]

Can you send me a link to the thread? I cannot find any decent thread on I dip over there

 

[C Hawk]

I must have been mistaken. I went back to RC and could not find it. Must be another forum. I will dig into latter.

 

[Broadfield]

I gave up on the iDip. I was very hopeful and I am not one to complain about product... but it's very frustrating. If the MindStream ends up working as stated, I'll be all over it like stink on a monkey.

 

[Cliff717]

Well I am one to complain; when I spend $500 on something that doesn't work I'm going to complain lol

 

[gus6464]

My idip alk has been reading within .1-.2 of my buddy's salifert

 

[C Hawk]

Its seems some have good ALK readings and others do not. Its baffling to me. Yes, it could be operator error, but reefers tend to be smarter than the average bear, so I don't think it can be attributed completely to operator error.

 

[Arne]

End of 2016 I bought the iDip and I love it. Great concept and very well made!

But after a while it started to give me headaches...
For one, there's a major difference between the outcome of e.g. a Salifert test and the iDip. I didn't know which one to trust so I decided to trust the iDip, this alone has cost me about $500.00 of corals I could trow away after some time.
The iDip showed me a PO4 of 0.05 ppm or even LO (<0.02 ppm) and a NO3 between 5 and 7 ppm, time after time. This was the time for me to buy some nice corals...

Ater same days my corals were starting to lose tissue and I couldn't figure out what was wrong until I send my marine water sample to a German lab (Reef Analytics) to have it examined...
The results were stunning...
For instance, where my iDip showed me a PO4 of 0.05ppm, my actual PO4 level was 0.186 ppm! This is a difference between: "okay, that's nice" and "there has to be done something right now"...
Where my iDip showed me a NO3 of between 5 and 7 ppm, the actual NO3 level was 20.1 ppm.

What I did was making a complete iDip test cycle and using the very same water to send to the lab.

From that moment on I used the iDip only for ALK, Mg, Ca and Ph. I must say that ALK and Ph are accurate. Ca is okay, but nothing more than okay... not within the specs but I can work with that.
Measuring Mg is a pain in the b%&$§ because the upper THH level is too low. Most of the time I get a HIGH reading so Mg cannot be calculated.
Used many, many strips...

I found out that during my startup the Mg level was quite low, around 1150 to 1200 ppm so I started to add MgCl2 to raise my Mg level. I've dosed kilo's of it trying to raise the level to an acceptable 1350 ppm.
My iDip tells me Mg = 1198 ppm... this cannot be right I thought to myself...
Took my good old Salifert Mg test... of the scale >1500 ppm...
Time to send another sample to Reef Analytics (Gilbers): Mg = 1618.9 ppm

After discussing this with the distributor overhere we decided to take some samples and send them over to the Triton Lab here in Germany.
Well, we don't have to talk about the PO4 anymore. At this moment this cannot be used for testing marine water.
Testing my tank water the Triton test showed Ca be more or less okay but Mg was very inaccurate:
iDip: 1221 ppm
Triton: 1638 ppm

So having Triton test the water, it shows the same as Reef Analytics does, Mg is very inaccurate too...

Today I did an iDip NO3 test, tested 3 times:
- LO
- LO
- LO
Salifert says my NO3 level is around 25 ppm. I also tested the Salifert NO3 test with reference fluid (Fauna Marin Multi Reference NO3 = 10 ppm), which came out pretty accurate...

Testing the iDip with my reference fluid (NO3 = 10 ppm) gave me this:
- LO
- 11 ppm
- 6 ppm

I'm very sorry to say that in my opinion there's still some work to do for ITS (Sensesafe). I'm sure they have the know how to make the iDip work properly.
Limits have to be changed to make it work for marine water and splitting up measuring PO4 into a LOW and HIGH range would be great too.
But, overhere in Europe more and more users are sceptical concerning the accuracy and trustworthiness of the iDip.

 

[C Hawk]

Arne,

Your remarks are very helpful. Thank you. I will carefully consider them as I decide how to proceed. Clearly there are issues here. I am contemplating emailing ITS and referring them to this thread.

 

[Arne]

No problem, if needed I have the lab reports available...

 

[SPotter]

I am finding that my alk, nitrate and po4 are close enough to be considered accurate but still cant get accurate reading on ca and ultimately mg after testing THH. I reach out to the Sensafe and their initial answer is they have no known issues with the testing but then say they will get back to me and then never do. Since I already have a Martini bench meter for p04 and I don't stress about no3 too much, this test kit has been nothing short of a failed experiment. The carrying case will eventually become a case for my sons rock collection!!!! :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

 

[C Hawk]

given Sensafe (Exact idip) is a sponsor now I am hoping they will begin to engage on these threads or begin some on a sponsor forum. So far crickets. This is how market share is built or destroyed.

 

[Arne]

I reach out to the Sensafe and their initial answer is they have no known issues with the testing but then say they will get back to me and then never do.

This is most surprising to me because overhere in Europe, the THH and Mg problem has been discussed more than once.
I even talked to Luke Thurville about this THH and Mg issue and wrote a couple of emails to George Bailey about the other issues.
One thing we have in common though: no answer about how things are going to be solved...

 

[SPotter]

I have been in contact with George Bailey and he was responsive at first but answers were very scripted. My ca and mg results with idip are significantly lower than the results I get with regular kits and triton test results. I had asked for clarification on the testing process as their video differs from what I have read in this thread. If I test according to the video my levels are off the chart and if I follow the revised steps my levels are significantly lower. I had to send 5 emails asking for clarification before finally getting him to confirm the process for me.

 

[Arne]

So none of the processes works for you?
What did George Bailey say about this?

 

[C Hawk]

I just received in the mail (free of charge) a bottle Total Hardness Ultra High (THU) P/N 486669-A test strips. Unfortunately I still have readings that are "high" using the new strips . In other words no value given. I am assuming you don't need the drops with these strips, as you do with the THH strips. The frustrating part is I believe in this method, but the "bugs" are driving me nuts. My guess is Sensafe know that they have glitches and are finding it a challenge resolving them. They should hold a Q&A at MACNA.