[Coral-List] Portable, easy to use water testing kits

[Zink, Ian Christopher]

You may want to see if you can find any studies that previously report nutrient levels at your field site, or if not, comparable sites.  What is the detection limit of the kit you wish to purchase?  Will it accurately measure the nutrient levels in your field setting?


Another criticism I have seen is that if the reagents/technique used for measuring nutrients are not US EPA approved, then you may have troubles with publishing the work (again, how reliable are the measurements you took?).


I have personally analyzed data from colormetric kits like these for ammonia - the analysis gets tricky when values (readings) are not precise - i.e. measurements of 0.0, 0.1, 0.2, etc.  It would be harder to detect 'statistical differences' with less precise values.  Good thing my data was in the range of 0.1,0.2 for treatment and 0.5,0.6 for control, so data spread was sufficient to detect a difference.


Hach makes a portable colorimeter: http://www.hach.com/colorimeters/dr900-colorimeter/family?productCategoryId=35547203827

It s a bit pricey, but (depending on the reagents/technique used) is EPA approved/verified, and can do a wide range of tests.  It is perfect for field operations (usually uses little packets of reagents that mix with your sample water and a control of deionized water).


Good luck


<)))>< <)))>< <)))>< <)))>< <)))>< <)))>< <)))>< <)))>< <)))>< <)))><

 Ian C. Zink
 Research Associate
 Cooperative Institute for Marine & Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS)
 U. of Miami - Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS)


________________________________
From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov <coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml..noaa.gov> on behalf of Benjamin Cowburn <benjamindcowburn at googlemail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2017 6:36:01 AM
To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Subject: [Coral-List] Portable, easy to use water testing kits

Hi,
I'm trying to find an easy and robust way of checking water quality (esp.
nutrients) on a reef. I've found various kits available for aquarists e.g.
this
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.swelluk.com_api-2Dreef-2Dmaster-2Dtest-2Dkit_-3Fgclid-3DCj0KEQiA8orFBRCEpODivaOft-5FEBEiQAy3mlfaDNakIGStWelz-5FAxX2VOsySHUHEDzzSXMRLR7azNqUaAuMZ8P8HAQ&d=DwICAg&c=y2w-uYmhgFWijp_IQN0DhA&r=6HLXZuXGNy06fv_SM9-fi0PAN2js0THAatp3cMJNvzc&m=3UzmYn3hx3ya2XTok1InuWuq-odPGOLU9xp2hd1GcU0&s=e6-WrB4nZxHIyvsoNIA4Pao5tCT-EFri7tctnt3im5E&e= >
...
Are these appropriate for use in the field? Any recommendations or
suggestions of how to do water quality testing, without a dedicated lab
would be welcome!
Cheers,
Benjamin Cowburn
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