Instructions for using H2 Blue
Measuring the molecular hydrogen concentration in open cup hydrogen water tablets can be tricky. The best and easiest way to do this is with the H2 Blue reagent. Do not use ‘Hydrogen water meters’. While expensive and sensitive hydrogen water meters and sensors do exist they range in price from $10,000 upwards to $20,000. What exists on the market in the $200-$1500 range are actually converted -ORP meters that try to estimate the concentration of hydrogen in the water. They are wildly inaccurate if the pH of the solution isn’t exactly 7 and are incapable of measuring the quasi dissolved nano bubbles which we refer to as the ‘cloud’. See a complete explanation here.
Additionally, when using H2 Blue it is important to make sure you are using the original ethanol formulation and NOT the ‘eco formula’. Due to several differences addressed by H2 Sciences here and discussed on our main H2 Blue page, the eco formula reads significantly lower than the ethanol formula when measuring the quasi dissolved nano bubbles.
Once you have your ethanol based H2 Blue, you will still need to be very careful in measuring. Titrations are prone to user error and this titration is subjectively very tricky, even for experienced scientists.
The 80mg open cup tablets are designed for 250-500ml of water, room temperature while the 60-65mg tablets are designed for 250-335ml of room temperature water. While they can be used in chilled water, the reaction and dissolution kinetics are not as optimal, so your reading will be slightly lower.
-prepare a glass with water in the range mentioned above, room temperature. Ideally, you want a wider ‘mug’ style cup, rather than a tall and skinny cup. This leads to a lower rate of bubbles coalescing, and a more stable cloud. Also, it is best to use a cup with a concave bottom, so the tablet sits right in the middle of the cup while it reacts. Of course, the tablets can be used in any cup or bottle. This is just for ‘ideal’ and ‘highest recorded’ measurements.
-prepare your H2 Blue test kit. I advise to use a marker to clearly mark 6ml. I also like getting accustomed to holding the beaker at an exact slant, and marking the water level at the slant when 6ml is present. This allows for a much more accurate measurement.
-Let your hydrogen water tablet react, and at the exact moment the tablet finishes carefully pour the water into the marked beaker. Tilt the beaker as you would tilt a cup while pouring a carbonated beverage to prevent foaming. Slowly and carefully pour the water in, when it reaches your mark stop. AVOID pouring water out, or looking at your line and adding more. Practice so that you can attain a ‘perfect pour’.
-You want to have the cap off your H2 Blue, ready and waiting with your ‘stir stick’. Every second you hesitate, nano bubbles of H2 are coalescing and dissipating out of solution, which will lead to a lower reading. Remember, it takes a couple minutes to test the hydrogen water concentration and you are agitating the solution during the entire test, which is far longer than it takes most people to drink it down, with higher losses of gas.
-Once you start dropping DO NOT SWIRL YOUR BEAKER. DO NOT STIR EVERY DROP. We prefer dropping quickly, at least 20 drops immediately. It should turn clear/brown after one or two stir rotations. (the gold/brown color will occur in all high concentration tests due to the reaction with the platinum)
From here, we likely quickly adding more drops. For instance, 15 more drops, then 10, then 8, then 7, 7, 7, 7, 5 etc until the water no longer changes color. Note, when going above 60 drops typically you need to start stirring for longer durations, upwards of 15-20 seconds.
If you have any questions regarding testing, feel free to contact us here.