Waterlink Spin Touch FF - First look and review
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Colin_S
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I've seen this on youtube, never heard of it before.. Has anyone compared this to a ICP test? that will do all parameters except No3 which you could use a reference solution to see how accurate it is.
I've done quite a bit of testing all common parameters against reference solution & icp tests. I did this has i'm looking at buying the masterronic or reefbot and wanted to see how good the tests kits are. The hardest i found to test was No3.
Reference solution was Tropic Marin No3 = 0.2ppm
Fauna Marin Not tested yet
Tropic Marin 2ppm (when looking outside of the box = 0.2)
Salifert 0.1ppm
Red Sea 0.5ppm
If this is accurate against a ICP, then it could be onto a winner
I've done quite a bit of testing all common parameters against reference solution & icp tests. I did this has i'm looking at buying the masterronic or reefbot and wanted to see how good the tests kits are. The hardest i found to test was No3.
Reference solution was Tropic Marin No3 = 0.2ppm
Fauna Marin Not tested yet
Tropic Marin 2ppm (when looking outside of the box = 0.2)
Salifert 0.1ppm
Red Sea 0.5ppm
If this is accurate against a ICP, then it could be onto a winner
ThRoewer
Valuable Member
Looking at the specs, I got to say that the accuracy is pretty much abysmal.
ThRoewer
Valuable Member
Fine for a free quick and dirty test, but if I pay for a test to be done I expect more reliable results. This is pretty much geared to fish farms where precision in the low range is less important than testing frequently.
CoralB
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If it’s not accurate for hobbyists , what makes you think it’s good for fish farms ???
CoralB
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I can’t say that to be true . I’ve taken multiple tests using the same water sample and have gotten different results .
ThRoewer
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Fish farms usually don't care to much about alkalinity, calcium, and all the other things coral keepers worry about.
What farms are interested in are ammonia and nitrite presence, nitrates and phosphates at rather higher levels, and pH maybe. Also, they use different disks as far as I know.
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this unit has horrible ammonia measurement, we had two or three false stalls reported by it this year. its terrible in that regard. I recommend nobody use this machine to assess free ammonia levels in a reef tank.
@ReefRusty is this the device your lfs uses? If not no problem I was thinking it might be…we sure had issues in other cycle assessments with it.
if an aquarists wants to measure free ammonia buy a seneye or even cheaper you can use updated cycling science models to predict your free ammonia levels down to the hundredths level ppm and typically thousandths ppm nh3.
@ReefRusty is this the device your lfs uses? If not no problem I was thinking it might be…we sure had issues in other cycle assessments with it.
if an aquarists wants to measure free ammonia buy a seneye or even cheaper you can use updated cycling science models to predict your free ammonia levels down to the hundredths level ppm and typically thousandths ppm nh3.
CoralB
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Disagree !! Way more expensive and by the company’s own statement it has a 15% margin either way of accuracy which I’ve personally tested three of these units and have not only got different readings from the same water sample but have experienced some parameters past the 15% margin . If it’s like every other tester out there Then what other testers are you basing your statement that it’s like every other test kit on . But you also said that it’s accurate. So which is it ? Is it inaccurate like every other test kit a hobbyist uses or is it accurate and if the latter what are you basing that on ?
samparker
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lol sorry to trigger you.
But OK, to answer your question - it is as accurate as other test kits which is accurate enough for hobby use.
Personally I find all Hanna, salifert, red sea, *insert other brand here*, will give you varied results if you test the same water three times. But we just use them for a trend, not for a super specific value - so it's all sweet. Ever head of a huge swing in results on the same meter after a fresh reagent is opened?
I totally understand that this device is not suited to everyone, but it is really well suited to some. No one is forcing you or anyone else to use it
CoralB
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Not triggered , this is a learning experience for me . Just curious as to why a hobbyist would defend inaccuracies of a product from his own admission that’s no different then way cheaper or less expensive test kits on the market . I mean we are talking about over a thousand bucks with the disks. Actually I’m hoping someone else would chime in giving their inputs with their experiences. The idea of putting one vial of water into a disk to get all important basic parameters is awesome and is worth every penny but in my opinion it needs to give a better degree of accuracy and consistency over the other less expensive test kits on the market for the money
samparker
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yeah fair enough. I'll share my experiences which may help explain further my admiration for the unit.
I was asked to review a unit many moons ago. Thought it was cool, but not worth the money for the hobbyist.
I then ended up working in the store that had the unit and found it incredible for testing customers waters and the store tanks. So fast and easy, but basically no room for human error (which is an error margin that none of the other test kits factor in and would be by far the largest margin of error). No need to worry about reagents going off, no need to worry about counting drops, looking for colour changes, for measuring precisely a syringe or getting exactly a 0.10ml sample of tank water. If a customer got a "full suite" of tests done before, it would honestly take about 30-35mins of an employees time, ideally not doing anything else in that time or the margin for error skyrockets. With the spin touch it takes about 20 seconds of your time and has almost no margin of error. Customer gets digital values for 8 parameters rather than having the store say "yeah your water is good".
During this time, I began to loath testing my own tanks parameters. I'd get all my hanna, salifert, aquaforest, red sea kits out and get through one or two before losing interest and questioning the results I obtained anyway. That would be on one tank, forget the other two - so I wasn't testing parameters as often as I should.
Then disaster struck, the store unit failed a firmware upgrade and was out of action for a week whilst the Lamotte support team remote connected and resolved it for us (amazing support!).
Manually doing water tests for a bout 30 customers was the final straw, I was going to buy a spintouch for myself and as a backup for the store. Of course, before I could find a used one at a price I could afford (no debate that they are ridiculously expensive!), the store unit was up and running again.
Having my own unit at home now makes testing my three tanks a ridiculously quick and painfree task. 2 mins per tank with about 20 seconds input from me and I have 24 parameters all on screen with digital values (important if your colourblind!!!) that are all logged in the machine. It's small, portable and ridiculously easy to use.
If I ever see a result that I'm not sure about, I still have my full range of other test kits which I can break out and confirm. But to be honest, the few times I've done that and had to test something like magnesium or calcium half a dozen times to get an average result only to find it is around the spintouch anyway - it pretty much ensures I leave them in the cupboard. Like come on, 1ml of reagent, 9ml of deionized water, clean the cuvette, press a button, wait, add 0.1ml of tank water (make sure you don't get 0.11ml of water or you're 10% out on that step alone!), add a packet of powder (make sure you get it all...), shake it, wait for the bubbles to dissipate, wipe the cuvette, put it back in the checker in the same position, press a button and pray lol.
Is the device perfect? Of course not! It's obviously expensive to buy and the single use discs are not cheap either. Could it possibly be as accurate as a checker with 1 single dried reagent in a disk with a ball bearing to stir it? Of course not! Does it remove basically all human error and make testing your tank simple and pain free - absolutely.
Don't be lured into the almost-never-obtained-hypothetical accuracy of other test kits as a benchmark against the actual accuracy of these machines. As someone who honestly thought it was not for me, then fell in love with it and now wouldn't test any other way - don't rule it out
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curious about this from an LFS employee perspective:
how many times did that device show an ammonia problem in someone's sample
1-5 times
more than 20 times over its tracked use/very curious on just the ammonia portion.
how many times did that device show an ammonia problem in someone's sample
1-5 times
more than 20 times over its tracked use/very curious on just the ammonia portion.
