[NHCOLL-L:4507] RE: resitivity for water used in wet collections?

[A.J.van_Dam at lumc.nl]

Dear Cindy,

Within the process of standardizing to ethanol 75%, you might want to add the Alcomon Indicator System to your jars. The system consists of two small floats that will monitor the ethanol concentration without having to take a fluid sample for weighing. It will garantee a high conservation quality and simplify the maintenance routine (cost efficient). For more info visit the website http://www.alcomon.com

Andries J. van Dam,  conservator

Associate scientist
Natural History Museum,  London

Directory Board member ICOM-CC
http://www.icom-cc.org

Director Alcomon Company
http://www.alcomon.com

Museum  of Anatomy
Leiden University Medical Center
Postal zone T7-P
P.O.  Box 9600
2300 RC Leiden
The Netherlands
tel: +31 (0)71 526  9581
fax: +31 (0)71 526 8275
E-mail: A.J.van_Dam at lumc.nl
Visiting address:  Hippocratespad 21, building 3




-----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
Van: owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu namens Opitz, Cindy
Verzonden: di 1-9-2009 18:05
Aan: 'NHCOLL-L at lists.yale.edu'
Onderwerp: [NHCOLL-L:4488] resitivity for water used in wet collections?
 
I'm new to processing wet collections-not a collector of new specimens, but faced with transferring existing collections into newer fluids, due to evaporation, etc.  I understand the transfer process, and I've been told I should use de-ionized water, but I'm unclear about what resistivity is desired for the de-ionized water we mix with ethanol for our storage solution. I have available to me a Type I system, including a sink spigot with water reading 13-15.4 M?, and a wall box that filters the same water to a reading of 18.3 M?.  Are both appropriate for using in storage (with ethanol) of natural history specimens, or do we really need that extra boost to an 18+ reading?  The sink spigot would fill our water container about 20 times faster than the wall box.
Our wet collections include leeches, crayfish, small rodents, reptiles, and amphibians, which have been collected over the past 150 years and until now have been stored in a variety of fluids (70% EtOH, 95%, and some formalin-based).  We're standardizing to 75% EtOH.
I'm grateful for any advice you might offer!

Cindy Opitz
Collections Manager
Pentacrest Museums: Museum of Natural History
and Old Capitol Museum
11 Macbride Hall
The University of Iowa
Iowa City IA 52242
319-335-0481
www.uiowa.edu/~nathist<http://www.uiowa.edu/~nathist>
www.uiowa.edu/~oldcap<http://www.uiowa.edu/~oldcap>


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