digital readout testers vs colour charts

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alexsmith1 said:
Interesting.. I've had 2x Aussie Gold kits (lot Q 09 17) and the TA is way of like PMan2 results. My Water Technix kit is comparable to the pool shops SpinTouch results. The shop reports TA & Adjusted separately.
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The Aussie Gold reagents aren’t as good as the Taylor, or at least, that’s what I think. The bottles in your Technix kit look similar to the Taylor bottles, could be a coincidence. It’s been a few years now since Ive used pool testing but when last pressed about the adjusting they said they couldn’t or didn’t have the ability to display it as un-adjusted - so I guess they have changed since last I've been in for testing. There is no need to adjust for CYA - either it shows up in the TA test or it doesn’t, so why would you adjust for something that didn’t. Like us, the pool shops have a range for TA but magically recommend to be at the top of the range for no particular reason when in reality TA which is mostly carbonate alkalinity a has much greater affect against an acidifying environment or a pH that naturally wants to decrease. Raising it artificially puts more pressure on a pH that wants to rise to rise faster. Which is why most of us with SWG’s find a nice equilibrium between pH and TA where the TA is around 60-70ppm.

Im not a 100% certain if the SpinTouch measures TH or CH. Ive had confirmation from Lamotte that the ColorQ measures total hardness. Our drop tests add sodium hydroxide up front to remove magnesium ions and to raise the pH so the indicator dye acts more strongly on calcium then any other divalent metal that may be preasent. The ColorQ and SpinTouch both use dry reagents and don’t think the pretreatment step can be done with dry reagents. If the ColorQ cant than I cant see why the SpinTouch can, or the other way around, if the SpinTouch can why cant the ColorQ, which cant.
 
alexsmith1 said:
Interesting read AUSpool..

I'm now curious what electronic test system my local pool shop uses. The printed report labels it as 'hardness' so I'm curious if its TH or CH. I only go in for them to check CH & salt. Going to get myself a CLL kit.

The SpinTouch website states the software read CH not TH - Software
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The ColorQ say it measures CH too but when pressed they admitted it was TH - the chemistry gives them up.
 
johnmw1 said:
I'm currently using a "Blue Devil" kit. Is this similar to the Aussie Gold kit do you think? I'm planning on buying a complete kit from CCL, but have seen comments that they prefer the Aussie Gold for PH testing. My biggest issue which I have mentioned before elsewhere is that I'm colourblind.

Cheers,
John
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I have always disliked colormetric tests but can’t imagine throwing colourblindness into the mix. Having a family to do the pH test would be the easiest. To be confident in the result the pH meters need constant calibration. I had a Milwaukee pH meter which was always all over the place - I was more confident with the ColorQ pH result, it was always more consistent. A single parameter (pH) photometer would be ideal for colourblind users but I don’t think anyone makes one.

The Blue Devil and Aussie Gold appear to be the same, mine is a Blue Devil, it came with the house. I cut it in half removing the OTO side and have done the same to an Aussie Gold for a gift and there identical. Looks the same as the little kit sold at Lowe’s in the US. I like it because the color panels are see though windows rather than a solid card and to me more closely match the treated sample. A good tip for the pH comparator is to hold it up infront of a white background.
 
Find here my observations about PH Meters

Calibration each week takes a few minutes using PH 7 standard solution. The meters are inexpensive and a good alternative for the color blind. I used two different meters simultaneously to ensure a flaky meter did not steer me wrong.
 
AUSpool said:
I have always disliked colormetric tests but can’t imagine throwing colourblindness into the mix. Having a family to do the pH test would be the easiest. To be confident in the result the pH meters need constant calibration. I had a Milwaukee pH meter which was always all over the place - I was more confident with the ColorQ pH result, it was always more consistent. A single parameter (pH) photometer would be ideal for colourblind users but I don’t think anyone makes one.

The Blue Devil and Aussie Gold appear to be the same, mine is a Blue Devil, it came with the house. I cut it in half removing the OTO side and have done the same to an Aussie Gold for a gift and there identical. Looks the same as the little kit sold at Lowe’s in the US. I like it because the color panels are see though windows rather than a solid card and to me more closely match the treated sample. A good tip for the pH comparator is to hold it up infront of a white background.
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Thanks AUSpool for your response. Yeah being colourblind has had its challenges but in the overall scheme of things, I could think of far worse things to have to live with. And yes these days I rely on the daughter to do my ph testing as she is now old enough to appreciate helping the old man out as he gets sillier with age.

Cheers,
John
 
I use AquaChek TruTest digital test strip reader to get pH, Cl and Alk. It is easy and accurate as I test it indoor. I never need to color match or calibrate. I used that weekly for years and my pool doesn't have any problem. For occasional long test I use Taylor test.
 
Taylor’s TTi3000 has dropped dramatically in price, it can be had for a little over $1500, keep in mind it was in the 3k neighborhood when rolled out.
It is the echelon of digital testing & selling as fast as they can be built.
 
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