Testing the water parameters of your aquarium has just gotten a lot more convenient. Sensorex, a company that specializes in water testing, has created some pH probe hardware that interfaces nicely with the always popular iPhone, iPad, and iPod…which seem to be in the hands of a huge number of aquarium hobbyists these days. A standard pH probe with a BNC connector hooks up to a small module that connects directly to the 32-pin connector found at the bottom of each of the Apple devices, and a free application allows your phone, tablet, and mp3 player to all communicate with the probe hardware. In addition to measuring pH, the software also tracks ambient temperature, solution temperature (i.e. the aquarium water), and millivolts. And the testing possibilities don’t quite stop there.
UPDATE: We’ve done a little more digging and have found out that the PH-1 has a retail price around $200.
Along with measuring data, the app also has built-in GPS that attaches both location and chronological information to each reading. This may not be useful if you have just one aquarium, but if you’ve got multiple tanks in your care (such as when operating an aquarium maintenance business), the additional geographical information can be quite handy. The pH probe and software, together, are accurate to a ph of 0.01 and multiple calibration points can be logged.
After all is said and done, the information can be viewed on the mobile device or emailed as individual readings or compiled into a .csv file to help keep track of multiple readings.
Needless to say, we’re very excited about the possibility of our everyday mobile devices being even more integrated into our aquarium hobby, and hopefully we’ll see more probes and products coming our way that can make testing and maintenance tasks a breeze.
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