Hydros X10

n2585722 · Dec 5, 2023

Smoke-Town said:
Appreciate the info. Now that you've had it a couple months how has it been performing? Are you finding the salinity probe and alk readings remain accurate? Any additional highlights of the x10? How many of the dosing pumps are required to run the iv for alk testing? Any issues or annoyances with it?

Haven't seen a real review from anyone on the forums yet

I like it so far. I did add a temp sensor in the iV beaker to use for temp compensation for the salinity and pH. The salinity is more sensitive than pH though so I think it was worth adding. It helped stabilize the salinity quite a bit. Once calibrated the sampled pH reading is usually less than .03 difference between the pH in the iV when sampled to the pH in the sump at time of sample in the iV. There is an offset you can set to get them the same but there will be some difference between them but not much. My KH Carer is usually over .1 lower than the reading in the sump at the time of the sample. To get around that the iV X10 combo will drain and refill at the end of the test so the probe does not sit in solution with a pH below 4 till the next test.

Smoke-Town · Dec 8, 2023

n2585722 said:
I like it so far. I did add a temp sensor in the iV beaker to use for temp compensation for the salinity and pH. The salinity is more sensitive than pH though so I think it was worth adding. It helped stabilize the salinity quite a bit. Once calibrated the sampled pH reading is usually less than .03 difference between the pH in the iV when sampled to the pH in the sump at time of sample in the iV. There is an offset you can set to get them the same but there will be some difference between them but not much. My KH Carer is usually over .1 lower than the reading in the sump at the time of the sample. To get around that the iV X10 combo will drain and refill at the end of the test so the probe does not sit in solution with a pH below 4 till the next test.

Interesting. I didn't know a ph probe would would skew results if sitting in low ph solution. I thought it just had to stay wet. If thats the case, i assume the standard storing solutions are 7ph?

So the iv x10 discards the test water and fills itself with tank water to store for next test. So do you just have a jug somewhere that the old test water accumulates in or does it go right outside or into a basement sump?

How frequently can this thing test?

After it performs a test, discards the test water, refills with tank water... if another test isn't set to be done for 24 hours, I assume it will discard that water first that it refilled after yesterday's test right?

How much tank water does it use per test since it has to fill twice each time?

Do you find that the salinity probe matches your refractometer if you sit it in the tank?

n2585722 · Dec 8, 2023

Smoke-Town said:
Interesting. I didn't know a ph probe would would skew results if sitting in low ph solution. I thought it just had to stay wet. If thats the case, i assume the standard storing solutions are 7ph?

So the iv x10 discards the test water and fills itself with tank water to store for next test. So do you just have a jug somewhere that the old test water accumulates in or does it go right outside or into a basement sump?

How frequently can this thing test?

After it performs a test, discards the test water, refills with tank water... if another test isn't set to be done for 24 hours, I assume it will discard that water first that it refilled after yesterday's test right?

How much tank water does it use per test since it has to fill twice each time?

Do you find that the salinity probe matches your refractometer if you sit it in the tank?

The storage solutions are a pH around 4. So it is not unusual for a new pH probe to drift some when you first start using it.

At the start of the test the iV is drian and refilled. It then stirs. It will do another drain and refill then stir and do a initial test of pH and salinity. Then it starts the alkalinity test. It takes about 30 minutes to do a test. It depends on the alkalinity reading. The higher it is the longer the test will take. I am guessing you do them easily once an hour but I am not use you want to use that much reagent or have that much wear and tear on the pumps for things that so not change that rapidly. I test 4 time in a day currently but may drop that back eventually. I am hoping they will also add a pH salinity only testing. If they do I will drop the alkalinity back to twice a day.

My test water goes back into the tank just like my KH Carer does. You could have the initial drain at the beginning and at the end dumped but you would have to add saltwater to make it up. The initial test sample is 100ml.

Only the first drain each time and the end drain are drained using the drain pump when using the X10. The fill pump does the clean drain as they call it. Then it fill enough to make sure the tubing is full and there is a little in the beaker. Then the drain pump runs long enough to ensure the beaker is empty. It then fills with the 100ml sample, So I would guess that if you dump from the drain pump you would be loosing a little over 200ml of tank water per test but that is a guess.

I don't normally get out a refractomer. I do have a Pinpoint salinity meter and for far they have been close to each other if I use the same calibration fluid for both. The one on the iV uses a two point calibration. The points are 28 and 35 in ppt. You can set it to sg if you prefer that.