Any Recommendations for antifouling the Eco Current Profiler
I saw that Nortek was working with a Japanese company called Nitto to make antifouling stickers for the ADCP's but non of them were for the ECO Current Profiler.
I was looking to see if anyone used something like theses stickers for antifouling on the ECO Current Profiler or does Nortek sell something for antifouling on this unit or is Zinc past good to use on this unit. also would it be put on all three of the white sensors and the one middle gold sensor?
Thank you!
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Official comment
Hello Andrew
Nortek's recommendation is indeed for the Nitto antifouling patches. While there are no Eco-specific patches, the ones sold for the Aquadopp Profiler (https://www.nortekgroup.com/products/set-of-antifouling-patches) also fit the Eco. This is a durable and very effective solution.
Alternatively, the traditional zinc paste (and other mixes) also work, although you'll find that long term the patches pay for themselves in price and hassle in no time, but I'm curious to hear what others on the Forum think. Whatever solution you use, make sure not to cover the pressure sensor port top and side holes :-)
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Thank you, David. Sorry but I am not familiar with this unit, or other ADCP's this will be my first unit. I am use to using water quality monitoring senseors like YSI EXO's. So, on the ADCP, would you only be covering the 3 white disk or also the top gold disk?
I also contacted NITTO the other day before I saw a response here, to see how much they sell the adhesive anti fouling film for.
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Thanks for the clarification, Andrew. And welcome to the wonderful world of ADCPs :-)
The Eco is indeed a great initial system for those getting started with Dopplers. As you are coming from the water quality side, you'll be pleased to learn that ADCPs, while not completely immune to biofouling, are significantly less sensitive to it when compared to water quality sensors. In fact, if you'll be deploying for a short time (say, couple of weeks) in areas that aren't very productive, you might even get away with no biofouling protection at all. Of course, lots of assumptions in that statement, so after a few deployments you'll get a better handle on how much or how little protection you'll need (and as always, when in doubt, better to play it safe).
But for your specific question, yes, only the transducers (the three white disks on top of the Eco) need to be covered.
Finally, as the Eco is your first ADCP, you will greatly benefit from the free Doppler Guide that we have put together: https://insight.nortekgroup.com/understanding-adcps. It covers all the basics of ADCPs and will provide you with a great introduction to the technology. After that, I would recommend watching the Eco Video Manual (https://eco.nortekgroup.com/videomanual) if you haven't already done so, and perusing all of the FAQs in the Eco App at https://eco.nortekgroup.com (see "Support" section on the left panel). These should get you all ready to collect great data.
Good luck with your deployments, and let us know how you get along.
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