Do Hanna Checkers have different colour LEDs?

[Garf]

Agreed.
I said the same to red2143 in a message.
"Here's the best solution I didn't think about in the thread.
Once you add reagent 1, cap and invert 10 to mix.... use THAT yellow as the c1 blank.
If the meter stays on for 10 minutes you have plenty of time to add reagent 2, shake 60 seconds, wait 5:00 minutes, then use that reacted sample as c2."

Thought I would cut my teeth on an API phosphate test kit, bought new, expires Jan ‘25.

5 ml sample calibrated C1 after the initial dye. Hanna tube raised with plastic spacers in the checker, covered with a salifert plastic alkalinity tube, covered with black gaffa tape.

Add, 5 ml sample, add 6 drops # 1, shake 5 seconds.
Then into checker and set C1.
Then add 6 drops #2, shake 5 seconds.
Into the checker again, set the 3 minute timer.

Results using new salt water spiked with TSP;

Zero phos, API Reading 0.51 ppm
0.25, API Reading 0.76
0.50, API Reading 0.97
0.75, API Reading 1.20
1.00, API Reading 1.39
1.90 (Hanna), API Reading 2.08.

So, in the useful range of say 0.00 to 0.75, the API test kit is reading a linear 0.5 ppm higher than actuality, at least with this test kit. At 160 tests for 12 Great British Pounds, that’s a bargain

 

[Red2143]

5 ml sample calibrated C1 after the initial dye. Hanna tube raised with plastic spacers in the checker, covered with a salifert plastic alkalinity tube, covered with black gaffa tape.

What does this mean? Sounds like you are measuring C1 twice some how?

 

[Garf]

What does this mean? Sounds like you are measuring C1 twice some how?

Nah, just the once, after the addition of the yellow solution, #1. I’ve just mentioned it twice, lol

 

[Garf]

Reproducibility seems a bit wayward, I can only imagine it’s similar to the initial broader range checks listed above. lol.

New saltwater spiked to 0.1;
Readings not adjusted.
1) 0.65
2) 0.66
3) 0.51
4) 0.51
5) 0.56

 

[Garf]

Finally got around to messing with the API nitrate (new test kit expires 08/2027) in the Hanna Phos LR.
5 ml sample, raised with spacer, top blacked out. C1 was calibrated after solution No1 (yellow dye). Water spiked with potassium nitrate.

Sample added to Hanna tube
Added 10 drops solution No 1, inverted a few times to mix.
Calibrated in Hanna to C1.
Shake solution No 2 vigorously for 30 seconds
Add 10 drops to sample,
Shake vigorously for 1 minute (look, no leaky lid, lol)
Wait 2 minutes, and set into Hanna checker.
Set 3 minute timer.
Readings below.

0 ppm RODI new salt. Hanna Reading 0.00
6 ppm Reading 1.01
12 ppm Reading 1.69
18 ppm Reading 2.5 (not flashing).

So it seems a direct reading can be taken below 18 ppm without dilution of the sample under test. Anything above that, a simple reduction through dilution up to 5 ml should be acceptable.

 

[Dan_P]

Finally got around to messing with the API nitrate (new test kit expires 08/2027) in the Hanna Phos LR.
5 ml sample, raised with spacer, top blacked out. C1 was calibrated after solution No1 (yellow dye). Water spiked with potassium nitrate.

Sample added to Hanna tube
Added 10 drops solution No 1, inverted a few times to mix.
Calibrated in Hanna to C1.
Shake solution No 2 vigorously for 30 seconds
Add 10 drops to sample,
Shake vigorously for 1 minute (look, no leaky lid, lol)
Wait 2 minutes, and set into Hanna checker.
Set 3 minute timer.
Readings below.

0 ppm RODI new salt. Hanna Reading 0.00
6 ppm Reading 1.01
12 ppm Reading 1.69
18 ppm Reading 2.5 (not flashing).

So it seems a direct reading can be taken below 18 ppm without dilution of the sample under test. Anything above that, a simple reduction through dilution up to 5 ml should be acceptable.

Great results. I am currently using 4 drops of the first reagent 6 drops of The second well shaken reagent. Shake like mad 1 minute, hold 10 minutes before reading color intensity with the HR Marine Nitrate Checker. This recipe might help you get beyond 18 ppm.

 

[Red2143]

Great results. I am currently using 4 drops of the first reagent 6 drops of The second well shaken reagent. Shake like mad 1 minute, hold 10 minutes before reading color intensity with the HR Marine Nitrate Checker. This recipe might help you get beyond 18 ppm.

Does adding more reagent 2 make the result lighter or darker than equal drops?

 

[Dan_P]

Does adding more reagent 2 make the result lighter or darker than equal drops?

Darker.

Reagent 1 has a very high effect on color, and Reagent 2 has a lesser effect. In a sense, I got close with 4 drops of #1 and tweaked the color higher with more #2.

 

[Garf]

Not played around too much with nitrate but at least at higher ranges, the API phosphate test is amazingly reproducible (within 0.05ppm). Considering the visual chart check is almost impossible to read, I consider this as a win.

 

[Dan_P]

Not played around too much with nitrate but at least at higher ranges, the API phosphate test is amazingly reproducible (within 0.05ppm). Considering the visual chart check is almost impossible to read, I consider this as a win.

Definitely a win. Today phosphate, tomorrow, the world!

 

[Garf]

Definitely a win. Today phosphate, tomorrow, the world!

Lol, unfortunately I think phosphate is a red herring in a reef tank. I had a mainly softy tank for 9 years where I ignored phos. I stopped ignoring it and turbo charged an algae scrubber where after 18 months the phos reduced to currently acceptable levels. I saw zero, zilch, nada, none improvement. My current sps cube has been upto 1.3 ppm, now down to 0.8ppm. A lot of reefkeeping is due to luck (on a bacterial level), Would I get faster growth with 0.1ppm phos, dunno.

 

[Dan_P]

Lol, unfortunately I think phosphate is a red herring in a reef tank. I had a mainly softy tank for 9 years where I ignored phos. I stopped ignoring it and turbo charged an algae scrubber where after 18 months the phos reduced to currently acceptable levels. I saw zero, zilch, nada, none improvement. My current sps cube has been upto 1.3 ppm, now down to 0.8ppm. A lot of reefkeeping is due to luck (on a bacterial level), Would I get faster growth with 0.1ppm phos, dunno.

You could buy several tanks and run them at different PO4 levels, right? I assume everyone would support your pursuit of the truth

 

[BeanAnimal]

My biggest issue with the Hanna's is what appears to be terrible QC in the reagents as well as powdered reagents being troublesome. New DIY wet chemistry with repeatable results for the primary tests would be great.

 

[Dan_P]

My biggest issue with the Hanna's is what appears to be terrible QC in the reagents as well as powdered reagents being troublesome. New DIY wet chemistry with repeatable results for the primary tests would be great.

Just think how much worse quality control could be for Salifert, API, etc. and you’d never detect it.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Just think how much worse quality control could be for Salifert, API, etc. and you’d never detect it.

Ohh - I don't disagree. Without a standard and testing against the standard, we are all pretty much flying blind.

I would much rather buy a known lab grade reagent and work from there. People love their Hanna Checkers... I think they are toys that can't barely be trusted for trends, let alone accuracy.

I went through many hundreds of reagent packets many years ago - pipette, indexed cuvette's, etc. Numbers for all of my checkers. For liquid reagents, I found all kinds of issue from batch to batch, age (both sealed and open), etc. With powdered reagents there were marked differences between lot batches, but also within batches (likely either inconsistent sachet filling or with mixing before packaging).

I would love an easy DIY reagent workflow for colorimeter testing of the common parameters, be it using the Hanna or some other affordable colorimeter that can be adapted.

 

[JimWelsh]

Open Colorimeter

The Open Colorimeter is a portable and customizable colorimeter for measuring absorbance, transmittance and concentration. The cuvette holder and enclosure are made from 3D-printed black nylon material and the electronics are programmed with open source firmware written in CircuitPython.

iorodeo.com

 

[BeanAnimal]

Hi Jim -

Any practical experience or reef related formulae or workflows that you can point me to? It does look interesting.

 

[Rmckoy]

Excellent, thanks Dan. I’ll probably knock up a stock solution with potassium nitrate to make a rough calibration curve, so I may call on you again, if you don’t mind

I believe potassium nitrate is illegal ?
Perhaps in Canada anyways

 

[BeanAnimal]

I think it is still legal in US

Decades ago... used buy it at the drugstore to make my own model rocket engines.

 

[Dan_P]

Ohh - I don't disagree. Without a standard and testing against the standard, we are all pretty much flying blind.

I would much rather buy a known lab grade reagent and work from there. People love their Hanna Checkers... I think they are toys that can't barely be trusted for trends, let alone accuracy.

I went through many hundreds of reagent packets many years ago - pipette, indexed cuvette's, etc. Numbers for all of my checkers. For liquid reagents, I found all kinds of issue from batch to batch, age (both sealed and open), etc. With powdered reagents there were marked differences between lot batches, but also within batches (likely either inconsistent sachet filling or with mixing before packaging).

I would love an easy DIY reagent workflow for colorimeter testing of the common parameters, be it using the Hanna or some other affordable colorimeter that can be adapted.

Yep, there has been some issues. For example, solvent evaporation for the alkalinity reagent, problems with the new Mg test chemistry and quality issues for the high range marine nitrate. Photometers themselves seem reliable when properly tested, though maybe not as sensitive as a spectrophotometer

I seem to recall that @Rick Mathew and @taricha have provided data for the Checkers that show them to be quite reliable. You might find this an interesting “hack”. I can run the Checkers reliably at half the test volume and half the reagent. I tried to go lower but 5 mL was the limit.

This group has also demonstrated how to use the Hanna Checkers to measure the color intensity of other vendors’ tests, e.g., using the Hanna silicate tester to measure color intensity of the API and Red Sea ammonia tests.