Jeff,
I have struggled with the turbidity
question for years. First let me tell you what hasn't worked well
for us from a modeling/monitoring perspective. Total suspended solids
has not been very useful in the lake although it works moderately well
in rivers. The next thing we tried were YSI sondes. Turbidimeters
that don't have a wiper are poor in natural environmental unless you clean
them all the time. All sondes drift and need upkeep. We ended
up using a YSI with a wiper, but all these in situ type instruments are
limited by sensitivity and noise. Over the last two years we've used
a Turner Aquafluor which worked ok but not really well enough for good
modeling. This year we bought a Hack 2100N with ratio mode capability.
One detection point reads at the conventional 90 degree measurement,
but there are two more detection angles that compensate for backscattering
and forewardscatter. One of the best thing about this instrument
is that you don't need to calibrate this instrument very often and it is
accurate over a large range of turbidity. It also has an averaging mode
(10 readings/sec). In side by side, the Hach easily outperformed
the Turner or YSI and has become the workhorse of our modeling program
(PROJECT SAFE) in southern Lake Michigan. Regardless of the brand,
I would try to get the best turbiditimeter you can afford, I could have
save myself a lot of trouble if I had gone that way in the first place.
Richard Whitman
Research Ecologist/Station Chief
Lake Michigan Ecological Research Station
219-926-8336 Ext. 424
1100 North Mineral Springs Road
Porter, IN 46304
"Jeffrey Reicherts"
<JDREIC@kalcounty.com> Sent by: owner-beachnet@great-lakes.net
07/11/2006 12:58 PM
To
<beachnet@great-lakes.net>
cc
Subject
Turbidity Meter or Sensor
Hello
I work for a local health department conducting lake and
stream and beach monitoring. We currently have 2 YSI 556 multi-parameter
meters (collect temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, and conductivity). I
am interested in measuring turbidity.
Do you have any suggestions in a stand alone sensor or
a turbidimeter kit? Any comments would be greatly appreciated. Thank
you and have a great day.
Jeff
************************************************************************
Jeff Reicherts
Surface Water Specialist
Kalamazoo County Health & Community Services Department
Environmental Health Bureau
3299 Gull Road----P.O. Box 42
Nazareth, Michigan 49074-0042
Office: 269/373-5172 FAX: 269/373-5333
E-Mail: jdreic@kalcounty.com
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