Hanna Alk problem

[Ray Laneville]

Hi,
I have an issue with my Hanna alk tester. It was consistently reading 9 - 10. Then, I guess I didn't tighten the cap on the reagent bottle and it leaked out into the box, didn't get on the tester, but it was empty. I ordered new reagent from BRS and couldn't test until it arrived. When I tested with new reagent, I was surprised to get a reading of 5.6! I suspected the new reagent and searched the forums on here; People that had issues say it was off by one point or so. Hmmmm. I made up a new batch of water using reef crystals, tested that and got 4.8! That can't be right. I went back to BRS, ordered new reagent, the standards to test my checker with and a Salifert test kit to compare. I haven't recieved this order yet. I thought, could it be that I didn't clean the vial good before I put it in the tester and got a drop of saltwater on the lens in there? I haven't yet but perhaps I could clean it with alcohol and a Q-tip? Has anyone else had this happen and has anyone cleaned their tester lens?

 

[TAttel]

How old is your checker? I had one that just flat out stopped working after 5 years even after battery replacement. Also did you try replacing the batteries first? I know there is a low battery code but when mine started giving me weird number I replaced the battery and got more consistent readings.

 

[Ray Laneville]

How old is your checker? I had one that just flat out stopped working after 5 years even after battery replacement. Also did you try replacing the batteries first? I know there is a low battery code but when mine started giving me weird number I replaced the battery and got more consistent readings.

thanks. it's about 1 year old. seems it's ok. I got the reference vials from BRS, tests OK. I have a water problem