Use of photometers and similar equipment

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ComputerGuyInNOLA

ComputerGuyInNOLA

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LifeTime Supporter
Oct 20, 2012
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Mandeville, Louisiana
Since someone else has broached the subject . . .

Please ask questions in your own topic, rather than hijacking someone else's existing topic. JasonLion

I would like question the use of photometers and similar equipment. Although I love my TF test kit and speedstir, I would love something to do midweek testing that is quick, easy, and reliable. During the weekend I have no problem taking the time to do extensive testing. It is actually very relaxing. During the week my time is limited. I have thought about purchasing the Lamotte Waterlink Spin Lab. I have never heard anyone comment on its use in a residential environment much less it's accuracy in testing things like CYA. It is expensive at around $1000.00 US but if it was fairly accurate I would purchase it just for the time savings. Has anyone ever used one of these that can comment on its accuracy?
 
I only test FC and pH daily-- takes me all of 5 minutes. The rest I do weekly except for cya which I only do if I've had a large rainfall and have to drain some water. Otherwise, cya stays pretty stable, and I might test it every two weeks or more. My swg tells me if my Salt level is ok or not.
 
Jblizzle, if I am not mistaken it calibrates itself every time you insert a disk by using a blank sample of the water. I have never heard of anyone comment on its accuracy which worries me a bit. I really distrust electronic testing equipment having owned a few and getting tired of having to calibrate PH probes every month. I would love something electronic, fast, and reliable.
 
I can't imagine how anything could be simpler than the K-1000 OTO and PH tests, which are all you really need day to day.

The Lamotte Waterlink Spin Lab is an interesting piece of equipment, but it is no substitute for Taylor drop based reagents. It has several quirks, similar in many ways to the ones the ColorQ has, though not the same. For example FC levels must be 15 or lower for it to work.

If you want an expensive toy, it is certainly fun to play with, but I don't get why you would want to buy one.

Electronic and reliable really really don't go together in this context.

There is a calibration process. It does go quickly, and you don't do it on every sample.
 
Being in the technology business I can fully understand your comment on electronics and reliability. That is really funny because I always comment to customers that it is a good thing Microsoft does not build refrigerators much less cars. Having said that, I love toys, gadgets, and anything that saves time. If I knew it did not save time it would be worthless. If was inaccurate, even more so.
 
I can see why people would want one, I for one do. The k1000 can only measure up to 5ppm in chlorine, so it's useless for a lot of people with the need for FCL levels >5ppm, like myself. If there was a k1000 OTO Test that could a least measure 10ppm, that would be cheap and fantastic.
 
The OTO test isn't useless for day to day testing. You use the FAS-DPD test on the weekend to figure out your exact chlorine dosage, and then test with OTO daily just to make sure nothing has gone wrong. Any reading 5+ means things are good, and that last +-0.5 really doesn't matter day to day.
 
Jason, I agree with your comment. I perform the OTO during the week and perform the FAS/DPD on the weekend. Maybe in my old age ( I just turned fifty last month ) I am getting lazy. :) To be honest my wife is tired of all the gadgets. We have three people in the house and twelve computers! Not to mention all the phones, tablets, Apple TV, Chromecast, DLNA media server, NAS storage, iTunes server, Nest, Bluetooth speakers, etc. I think you can see where I am heading with this.
 

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PharmerAnthony said:
I can see why people would want one, I for one do. The k1000 can only measure up to 5ppm in chlorine, so it's useless for a lot of people with the need for FCL levels >5ppm, like myself. If there was a k1000 OTO Test that could a least measure 10ppm, that would be cheap and fantastic.
Click to expand...
If you want to test to 10 ppm. Dilute your pool water 1:1 in a sample container with tap or bottled water. Boom. Your scale goes from 1 to 10 rather than 0.5 to 5.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
 
Boom. Your scale goes from 1 to 10 rather than 0.5 to 5.
Click to expand...
Not really. The OTO test at full strength is simply not precise. By diluting the sample, that accuracy degrades even further and I would never consider it capable of 1 ppm measurements.

My suggestion is to use the OTO daily to test for adequate presence of chlorine and then use the FAS/DPD test as needed to test for the precise amount of chlorine you have. Many, many folks here on the forum simply skip the OTO and use the FAS/DPD on a daily basis because they want to know exactly what they have.
 
For weekdays, I use AquaChek TruTest Digital Test Strip Reader instead of K2006. It uses test strips and the reader reads out pH and Free Chlorine and TA numbers. I don't trust their TA, but the pH and FC is close to K2006. TruTest is easy to use and saves me time in testing.
 
Well, we think so little of test strips, I am not sure why a computer reading the color would be any better. I suppose if it seems to be working well enough for you that is good ... but how often do you doubt it and have to verify with the K-2006?
 
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