How do YOU clean your testing equipment?

[Duque]

Hi Everyone.

 

I'm read some interesting discussions regarding the API pH tests vs.electronic ones.  It would seem that contamination of testing equipment could play a role in some of the discrepancies.

 

That being said, do you use any specific tools to scrub out your test tubes?   Do you use a special cleaning solution?   And what do you rinse your equipment in?

 

 

Thanks!

Duque

[Faralon]

In all my years of Fresh/Salt (too many to list here ) I have never worried about the cleanliness of my test tubes. Obviously I dont let them sit after a test, full of water and pH solution until my next test, they're immeditally rinsed with tap water.  Then, before my next test, they're rinsed with tank water before the test.

 

Sure, in a perfect world where we are being paid $100's of dollars to do 0.0001% +/- result for each test we would use brand new sterile tubes each time, but thats just not the case.

 

Clean em after use, rinse with tank water before your test.  Rinse/Repeat.

 

If you're really a stickler, try not to let the nose of the drip solution touch anything, as it would then typically be called "contaminated".  But again, these tests were developed to be used in a home environment, not in a lab inside of a clean room.

[Duque]

Faralon, I do the same thing.    ...and I keep a special pipette for water tests only.