Hanna products are relied upon by home hobbists and commercial fish growers world-wide.
For some parameters we manufacture pocket meters that can simply be dipped into the water to get a direct digital reading - pH is one of the parameters for which we supply digital pocket meters.
In addition we manufacture chemical test kits, as well as sophisticated electronic colorimeters which have multi-parameter capability.
If you are just starting out and this is your first aquarium, then keep it simple and select fish whose needs match the qualities of their normal tap water. The more advanced aquarist can change the water characteristics to match the fish's needs, though doing so is almost always more difficult than first appears.
In either case, you need to know enough about water chemistry to ensure that the water in your tank has the right properties for the fish you are keeping.
Water has four measurable properties that are commonly used to characterize its chemistry. They are
pH buffering capacity general hardness salinity
In addition to these main 4, there are a few other substances you may want to know about. Most tap water contains an assortment of nutrients and trace elements in very low concentrations. The presence (or absence) of trace elements can be important in some situations, specifically:
