Re: [APD] CO2 drop checker

[Vaughn Hopkins <hoppycalif at yahoo_com>]

The solution in the bottle that comes with it is essentially the same  
as that supplied by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals in their pH test kit,  
with bromothymol blue as the indicator.  It takes very little bicarb  
to get a KH of 4 in 100 ml of distilled water.  I put maybe a 32nd of  
a tsp in about 4 ounces of water, and got a KH of about 5 or 6.  So I  
added more water, and rechecked it and was extremely lucky to hit KH4  
exactly.  I wouldn't use test strips for this.  You need to be  
accurate to about +/- .25 in KH, and that means using 4X the  
measuring test tube amount of water and counting drops as .25 KH per  
drop - using a AP test kit where one drop equals one degree of KH  
doing a normal test.

I suggest you search for the amount of bicarbonate of soda needed to  
raise the KH by one degree - I have seen it many times, but I can't  
find it right now.

Vaughn H.

On Oct 16, 2006, at 1:09 PM, Stuart Halliday wrote:

> I believe Vaughn Hopkins wrote this email section below:
>
>> So, these devices separate the measurement of CO2 in the tank water
>> from any parameter of the tank water except the amount of CO2 in the
>> tank water.  That is a major step towards accurate CO2 measurement.
>> Just because it is simple, non-electronic, and an old device, does
>> not keep this from being a great idea!   (It isn't my idea,
>> incidentally, although I wish it were.  All I have done is recognize
>> why it works, try it out, and publicize it.)
>
> I got mine a month ago from a UK retailer and it had the worse sort of
> instructions included. ie a colour chart and nothing else.
>
> Aquili Permanent C02 test.
> http://tinyurl.com/yxeqsr
> Glass phial looks nice however and is quite cheap.
>
>
> So I'm finding this article very useful. Thanks Vaughn. :-)
>
> One thing though.
> You wouldn't know how much bicarb to say 100ml of distilled water  
> give a KH
> of 4d ?
>
> I'd hate to go through a load of KH test strips, they're kind of  
> expensive.
>
> Any idea what the solution in the supplied bottle is?
> :-)
>
> -- 
> Stuart Halliday
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