Real-time monitoring of water

On 2004-10-06, Trapper wrote:
Does anyone use a computer to monitor their water chemistry?
I'd like to see about getting, oh, a pH electrode or other sensors,
and having my linux box or windows pc police the parameters.

I looked into this a few years ago, and basically determined that it was
too expensive - both as an initial investment and as a long-term
investment.

The world of chemical sensors is hugely complicated. There's not really
such thing as a "basic" sensor! They range in grades from petro testing
to food. There's tons of different kinds - some use comparison to a
known fluid, some have to be calibrated, some don't.

The cost for a sensor that does the job for an aquarium cost $80-100,
IIRC. But what broke it for me, is that they're all made of
semi-permeable glass. When the glass clogs up, they have to be
replaced. Lifetime varied could be as long as eight to twelve months,
but I didn't want to have to invest so much every year!

Not to mention it's much cooler if you can also test things like kH,
ammonia, etc. Add these sensors to the cost, and I had a project that
was out of cost-control.

--
Ross Vandegrift


"The good Christian should beware of mathematicians, and all those who
make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that the mathematicians
have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and to confine
man in the bonds of Hell."
--St. Augustine, De Genesi ad Litteram, Book II, xviii, 37