DIY test kits

[schro]

Are there any chemists out there who have done a DIY test kit?

It seems as though there is nothing proprietary about the commercial kits. They perform many of the same water quality tests that are used in environmental water quality assessments.

 

Alternatively, if someone could produce a shopping list of reagents needed and testing procedures maybe we could arrange a group buy of reagents from a chemical supplier and repack in smaller containers.

 

It just seems absurd to me to have to spend over $30Can for a good quality test kit that I know probably contains little more than 60 cents worth of chemicals.

[lakshwadeep]

I'm not sure if those chemicals are really worth 60 cents. The price you pay for is the "ease of use" with wide color changes. Also, there are probably more scientifically accurate reagents that are also more toxic. Finally, there is the consideration of the fact that saltwater is full of dissolved compounds, and so one must take into account inaccurate readings because of either interfering compounds or specific forms of the compound in question not being "recognized" by the reagent.

 

That said, at least Mr. Fosi has developed some method of trying out for a method of developing tests. If you have a specific test in mind, that would help with searching.