Innovation in reef keeping: What would you like to measure in your tank that is not currently available?

[reefsaver]

If a company developed high-end testing equipment that didn't require the use of reagents, and you could just take a sample or dip-test the water with a probe. It would make everyone's life a little easier.
Especially if you have multiple tanks or you're in a business setting. Instead of purchasing spin testers and saltwater/freshwater test kits for them, businesses could test for water chemistry for all their tanks without wasting money on more kits. When I think about it it sounds impossible. But it would be cool to walk up to any tank out of 100's of aquariums, and test the water without taking a sample, write up the results, move to the next.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

I voted no bc the only thing that matters besides temp is ph.

 

[gbroadbridge]

I voted no bc the only thing that matters besides temp is ph.

The only parameter in the tank that I pay absolutely zero attention to is pH

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

The only parameter in the tank that I pay absolutely zero attention to is pH

I should have been more specific. I meant ph and temp and are really the only parameters I care about on a daily basis.

Elevated ph makes a huge difference for faster sps growth

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Idk, it’s a fish tank lol! Why do so many people turn it into a chemistry experiment lol.

Because chemistry is fun!

 

[Sump Crab]

Because chemistry is fun!

Not for me lol

 

[MnFish1]

Innovation in reef keeping: What would you like to measure in your tank that is not currently available?

There are meters for light, flow, temperature, water depth, salinity, and many, many types of water parameters that we can measure from alkalinity to zinc as well as many other chemicals that are difficult to pronounce and some that we don’t fully understand if or why they matter to our reef tanks. Whether it is a meter that we use ourselves or a meter in a lab where we send our water samples, there are meters that test a wide variety of factors in and around or reef tanks. Of course, there may be some meters that you don’t have yet or tests that you haven’t requested from a lab but are available. In addition to those items, is there anything that you would like to measure in your aquarium system that is not currently available? Whether you think there is already to many electronic gizmos or think there a still measurement gaps that need to be filled, please share your ideas and thoughts in the related discussion thread.

Photo by @Broadfield


This QOTD is sponsored by: www.worldwidecorals.com

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Dissolved O2 could possibly be helpful in certain situations.

 

[zoomonster]

Still waiting for a device capable of real time monitoring or at least the simplicity of a test strip or sample inserted. Most of the auto devices now days require maintenance, repair and consumables like reagents and are far from maturity. Did I mention generally inaccurate. I use probes, Hanna devices and test kits but would like to see the day most of that is obsolete with the advent of a mini mass spectrometer providing ICMP like results to hobbyists. They do exist but the prices are still high and of course not tailored for our use. There has to be some bright/entrepreneurial mind out there that could cook up one, keep the price in the realm of reason and make bank.

 

[bshonesy]

I’d like to see more practical/better testing for fish/coral parasites and virulent bacteria. The eDNA testing is a good first start, but it takes as much as 4-6 weeks to get the results back, and for that reason alone it’s not a viable strategy for diagnosis and more importantly prevention. If we could bring our fish/corals home and place them in QT for just a few days while we wait on a test to confirm the absence of disease I think this would be a welcome advancement. Fish suppliers could readily test for these and provide documentation. These are already possible, it’s just not readily available. Also the ability to send swabs from infected corals or fish would be similarly helpful.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Not for me lol

Maybe you are doing it wrong. lol

 

[Grill]

A way to measure good/bad bacteria.

 

[1979fishgeek]

I would love to be able to measure or even just detect chemical warfare that might be being released by corals. Especially in mixed reefs with corals such as leathers and Palythoa etc.

 

[Murica]

Kind of a side note but it would’ve been nice if the Mindstream actually took off

 

[Alpha_and_Gec]

Today I realized... a sensor that detects how much dust is on my equipment would be absolutely awesome. Some of my old equipment is gathering quite the layer of dirt in storage, old pipettes, cables, buckets, etc, and it's awful deep cleaning them.
Spent an hour wiping down old lights to figure out which worked today.

 

[Scubadoo4u]

I voted no bc the only thing that matters besides temp is ph.

How the hell is your alk 8.3-8.7???? What are you running on it...Kalk. Ca reactor or something else?!?

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

How the hell is your alk 8.3-8.7???? What are you running on it...Kalk. Ca reactor or something else?!?

Did you mean ph??

Yes I run kalk through a two little fishies kalk reactor off of my ato. I also dose alkalinity with my versa doser when my lights are off and I use a co2 scrubber.

 

[Scubadoo4u]

Did you mean ph??

Yes I run kalk through a two little fishies kalk reactor off of my ato. I also dose alkalinity with my versa doser when my lights are off and I use a co2 scrubber.

Duh, I put Alk...I really meant PH. but still how do you keep it that high?!?

 

[King Reef]

“test to make sure it’s stable“ “

Im still looking for this stability test kit everyone keeps talking about.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

A way to measure good/bad bacteria.

Independent of measurement, I wish we knew which bacteria were good and for what reasons, and which were bad and for what reasons.

 

[jpmazzone]

I'm still a noob to the hobby but I wish there was a little screen that would run a ticker (like stock market ticker symbols) of all parameters of my aquarium like SG, Alk, Temp, etc. That would be really great.