Exact iDip Digital Water Testing

lnevo · Oct 1, 2015

Did my second round of tests today. Was so much easier now that I know what I'm doing. It's really is a super easy way to do tests! I'm loving it.

Tests were 5 days apart. I did not do the ph or thh test again. I've also never tried the ammonia test. I'll probably remove it from my case and put the ph back in.

Ph - 8.2
THH - High
Calcium - 521ppm / 545ppm
Alk - 148ppm / 145ppm
Nitrate - 15ppm / 15ppm
Phosphate - .23 / Lo

A few things to note. For phosphate, I tested twice tonight and both times were Lo. I plan on running a test with my hanna again. My last hanna was .52 on 9/21. I moved my vinegar dosing over to my controller from a wall timer and having a nice bacteria bloom, so who knows. I'm really not that worried though about the phosphate as much because I know how difficult it is to get accurate results at our concentrations.

The second thing to point out is the increase in calcium. The best accuracy for this test is 10% and the delta being only 5%, I'm not that concerned until I get a few more results.

Alk being a touch lower is what I'd expect though with my current dosing. I'll confirm that next time with hanna as well.

What I'm most concerned about so far is the calcium test. Compared to my red sea titration test I was getting was 450, but my hanna was always higher or too high and it's so hard to gauge when to stop anyway. I'm very curious to hear other peoples results on this one.

Greenstreet.1 · Oct 3, 2015

Any update on the update of the apps ?

lnevo · Oct 6, 2015

Did my 3rd round of tests today. It's really a piece of cake. Tests again were pretty consistent. Alk came in a bit high but its not far from what my hanna had before I moved to the idip. I measured alk a second time because I wanted to verify and the 2nd test was 1ppm different. So twice now I've double checked a result and got pretty much the same number. I should have verified calcium last time too because this time it was 3ppm from my first result. Either way with three rounds down I'm seeing decent consistency. And ease of use is the killer.

Ph - 8.2 / / 8.3
THH - High
Calcium - 521ppm / 545ppm / 524ppm
Alk - 148ppm / 145ppm / 165ppm, 164ppm
Nitrate - 15ppm / 15ppm / 15ppm
Phosphate - .23 / Lo, Lo / Lo

How's every one else's tests going? Anyone do some side by sides yet. I haven't wanted to touch my other kits lol

Greenstreet.1 · Oct 6, 2015

I test against my salifert kits since day one of receiving it cal and alk so far it's been good. Alk results are a little less than salifert but not that much if salifert gives my 7.0 idip will say 6.7 cal on the other hand is the same results on both. Also tested po4 against Hanna zero on Hanna and Lo on idip. Im just waiting on the mag and no3 fix. But I'm happy with it

reefwiser · Oct 6, 2015

Will get the video out this week my wife was sick last week and had to take care of her.

watchguy123 · Oct 15, 2015

@reefwiser any update on the video

@Christian K any update on either getting your nitrate test or your magnesium test into usable reef tank parameters. If not, is there a possible timetable to know whether this is a planned update or just a long term goal

reefwiser · Oct 15, 2015

I working on the video. Wanted to add a sample of how the testing works close up.

eXact iDip® · Oct 15, 2015

watchguy123 said:
@reefwiser any update on the video

@Christian K any update on either getting your nitrate test or your magnesium test into usable reef tank parameters. If not, is there a possible timetable to know whether this is a planned update or just a long term goal

Our goal is to have Nitrate, Phosphate and Magnesium testing in the appropriate range by the end of the year. It is somewhat tentative only because we have no way of knowing what road blocks we will run into. It has been about a month since MACNA and we have gained so much information already. Hopefully updates will be sooner than later, but we cannot put an exact date on it. I assure you we are working hard on making a product that is geared toward the reef industry.

Greenstreet.1 · Oct 15, 2015

Thank you for the update Christian. Let's see what happens in two months.

lnevo · Oct 15, 2015

Well, I was hoping the magnesium would get here sooner, but willing to wait if Nitrate and Phosphate come alongside.

lnevo · Oct 17, 2015

Christian, two questions.

Are the values listed on the reagents page what we can expect when the update comes? if not is there any idea how low you expect we'd be able to test nitrate and phosphate?

Second, I noticed the "Alkalinity Range Extender" in the manual that says "Each strip adds 130 ppm". I'm wondering if it would be feasible to double up the reagents for nitrate (or phosphate at that matter) and then divide the result by 2.. just a shot in the dark as you can get high range by diluting with Red Sea tests for example.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 17, 2015

lnevo said:
Christian, two questions.

Are the values listed on the reagents page what we can expect when the update comes? if not is there any idea how low you expect we'd be able to test nitrate and phosphate?

Second, I noticed the "Alkalinity Range Extender" in the manual that says "Each strip adds 130 ppm". I'm wondering if it would be feasible to double up the reagents for nitrate (or phosphate at that matter) and then divide the result by 2.. just a shot in the dark as you can get high range by diluting with Red Sea tests for example.

I won't answer for this device, but just for tests in general. With almost all test methods (and definitely with any that work in both fresh and seawater), if you dilute the sample with half Ro/Di water, you can double the high end of the range since you multiply the result by two to get the actual answer.

lnevo · Oct 17, 2015

Well Im asking if I can do the opposite and add more reagent. I don't know if theres any saturation limit or if that would work. So instead of dillution using two test strips and then cutting the result in half.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 17, 2015

lnevo said:
Well Im asking if I can do the opposite and add more reagent. I don't know if theres any saturation limit or if that would work. So instead of dillution using two test strips and then cutting the result in half.

I'm not sure exactly how this device works, but doubling the reagent does not usually double the high end of the range with most kits as reagents should not be a limiting factor is most designs (except, of course, titration kits). The limiting factor in color development should nearly always be the element being measured. If there is so much of the element being tested that the color goes off the top of the chart, adding more reagent won't make it readable again (unless the "reagent addition" involves adding a lot of liquid so you are effectively diluting the sample as I suggested doing with RO/DI).

What exactly are you referring to with Red Sea kits?

lnevo · Oct 17, 2015

I was referring to what you mentioned about dilution, where you could add RO/DI and then multiply the result. With their alk test on this device you could use another strip to measure a higher amount. Just trying to think of a way to measure lower than the current limit in the meantime. I guess waiting is the best method though

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 17, 2015

lnevo said:
I was referring to what you mentioned about dilution, where you could add RO/DI and then multiply the result. With their alk test on this device you could use another strip to measure a higher amount. Just trying to think of a way to measure lower than the current limit in the meantime. I guess waiting is the best method though

Again, I'm not privy to exactly how this one works, but in general test strips do not "consume" a significant portion of the tested elements in the test, so two strips will, in most cases, give the same answer on both as one strip would in the same liquid.

Why don't you want to dilute the sample?

Greenstreet.1 · Oct 17, 2015

Randy I tried this when you told me to try it to get my mag got the same results HI

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 17, 2015

Greenstreet.1 said:
Randy I tried this when you told me to try it to get my mag got the same results HI

You are using the THH test or a specific magnesium one they do not list?

According to the web site, that THH test peaks out at 600 ppm, which, it turns out, is not high enough even if you drop it by half.

If you had 420 ppm of calcium and 1300 ppm of magnesium, you'd have a THH value of about 6,400 ppm.

So you need a bigger dilution than 2x. Even 10x is borderline.

Greenstreet.1 · Oct 17, 2015

Ok thank you as always. I used the THH.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 17, 2015

So I'd suggest diluting 1 part tank water in 19 parts RO/DI to get a 20 fold dilution. Then multiply the answer by 20, and do the math of subtracting out the calcium component and converting into ppm magnesium (if that's worth it).