Anura is a new company which is aiming to put the sexy back in pH pens. To be fair, pH pens in the aquarium hobby have never been that sexy to begin with, because who gets excited about pH anyway? But in all seriousness, Anura’s product line only superficially resemble the pH pens of old and their functions have grown by leaps and bounds in the last couple of decades.
Most commercially available pH pens and checkers in the aquarium hobby are practically disposable at just $20 to $40, and they have a high variance in build, quality, and especially reliability. With their new line of digital water testers Anura is basically breaking the mold for pH pens with three models that each raise the bar for what these devices can do, and how long they should last.
First of all, they are all waterproof, kind of a handy feature to have around water don’t you think? Also, they each have replaceable probe tips so that you can easily swap out the sensors while keeping the body and brain of the Anura checkers.
The three models Anura will be launching soon include the pH50, an EC60, and the flagship EP70. The pH50 is a full-on modern take on the pH Pen with digital readout, temperature compensation, and 1, 2 or 3 point pH calibration for $120. The EC60 is a conductivity meter which is most suitable for testing the total dissolved solids and purity of freshwater before it goes into our aquariums, so less functionality for marine aquariums.
But the real gem in the Anura product line is definitely the EP70, a do it all checker which measures both pH, Temperature, Conductivity, Salinity and TDS. This $200 digital chemist is the perfect companion for measuring the water quality of freshwater before it’s mixed into seawater, and checking the pH and salinity once the salt is completely dissolved.
It’s been ages since I’ve seen anything but a cheap pH pen at use in home aquariums, but their lack of popularity is probably due to their fragility around wet environments. And for this reason pH pens have been more useful in professional settings such as fish stores testing lots of water samples, or professional aquarium service companies.
With their new line of pH-pen shaped testing machines, Anura has the potential to change the paradigm as there’s currently nothing else like it in the aquarium hobby. We look forward to seeing and evaluating the Anura product line one day and hope that the devices can really live up to their potential. [Anura]
