技术是一种前进的野兽，有时似乎它在合适的开始。在礁石水族馆的爱好中，没有比现在更清晰的模式，那里的少数新产品正在推动礁石坦克中可能的东西。
It’s actually a very exciting time to be a reef aquarium reporter as there are so many new product categories to keep an eye on. We know that it can get overwhelming to see so many new products announced and released, from so many different companies.
因此，今天我们开始了一个迷你系列，将为您提供观众的备忘单，以了解礁石世界中发生的所有新进步。这本2017年礁石悬崖笔记的开头是对新机器的迷惑阵列的概述，该机器有望不断测试和监视碱度和其他参数。
数十年来，已经存在用于科学和工业用途的碱度测试机。直到最近几年，创建了该技术的新版本和较小版本，该技术较小，更便宜且更实用，可用于家庭水族馆。测试碱度的基本方法涉及添加一定量的酸，直到水族馆样品达到中性pH值，就像我们手工测试一样。
However there’s two ways to determine if the pH of the test water has been neutralized, using a colorimeter to see the color change of a pH indicator solution, or using a pH probe to directly measure it. One of these methods essentially recreates how we do it manually and is familiar, requires a special reagent, while the other is scientifically more precise as it can register pH in finer detail.
For aquarium purposes both methods are more than capable enough to determine when the water sample is pH neutral, and the subsequent alkalinity to which it corresponds. The colorimetric approach will be a little more reliant on good and available reagents for a given machine, while the pH probe method will require the use and regular calibration of the pH probe.
现在要判断其中一种方法在实践中是否会更好地发挥作用还为时过早，但是目前，这两种方法似乎都足以确定用于碱度测试和监测的中性pH值。然而，有一家公司，一步向前的创新，这是在交付思维延伸监视器的风口浪尖上，以某种方式决定碱度。
Mindstream不使用试剂，而是将光电反应性的“纸”用于所有参数，包括pH和CO2。海水中的pH，碱度和二氧化碳之间存在密切的关系，如果您知道其中两个，则可以计算第三个。然而，Mindstream不再测量总碱度（碳酸盐，碳酸氢盐和硼酸盐），而是只报告碳酸盐碱度，这是总KH的大部分，以及珊瑚实际用来构建其碳酸钙骨架的元素。
Besides indirectly calculating carbonate alkalinity, the method by which the MindStream makes its measurements is independent of sampling rate. What we mean by this is that for every KH test performed with the KH Lab, KH Director KH Guardian and Alkatronic, a certain amount of acid or reagent will be consumed, and a rough estimate is that daily sampling will cost probably around $10 per month. However with the MindStream the tests will be performed每15分钟一次因此，您将能够看到碱度的更快变化，而不会消耗35美元的每月光盘。
It’s way too soon to declare any of these machines or approaches better or worse, but there are some clear distinctions among this group of Alkalinity monitors. Some of them also build in dosing functions to控制碱度，但它们都集中在这个非常重要的参数上，有时与给药泵一起将样品，试剂和废水移至需要去的地方。manbetx2.0ios下载
The KH Guardian has done a pretty decent job of paving the way for all the others coming after it, and for $1200 it better work pretty darn flawlessly. The other KH monitors will all retail for between $800 to $1000 which are differentiated mostly by their次要功能因为它们都可以为您提供非常准确的碱度测量。
My personal thoughts on this KH monitoring race are this: KH is literally the easiest test to do after salinity and temperature, and unless you have a slam packed tank full of stony corals, or a commercial coral facility, I’d rather just do frequent manual tests than plunk down a grand on thefirst waveof these KH machines. The additional features like the extra dosing channels of the PacificSun Kore 7th, or other parameters of the MindStream, are what would be more compelling to my personal school of coral reefing.
It’s a very exciting time for new and cutting edge reef gear, we’ve probably not seen the last of the new products from this category and no doubt the next generation will be better, smaller and more affordable. Tune back in tomorrow when we’ll discuss the new wave of filter rolls for the aquarium hobby.
