Hanna testers?

[Floyd-]

I have been battling hair algae and loosing. I only have the Salifert testers and with the color guessing game its a crap shoot to figure out where im at.
From what I can tell im at 0 nitrate and 0 phosphate because of the GHA. I turned off the skimmer and have been feeding twice as much for 4 weeks with no improvement.
I dont want to take rocks out to scrub. I have tried to pick it out and suck it up, its REALLY on there and I can only pull off small parts here and there. I have an emerald crab and hermits and snails but they dont touch it.
Tank is a JBJ45 AIO thats been setup for maybe 4 months now with fish and a bit of corals.

What Hanna testers should I be looking to get and track info to get this under control? I hear the Nitrate and Phosphate are good but which ones? HR, ULR?

 

[blaxsun]

You want the HR nitrate and phosphate versions of the Hanna testers. While I have the Hanna teaters I also use the Nyos nitrate and phosphate test kits as well.

 

[Gtinnel]

For Nitrates absolutely get the HR, for phosphates there are a few reasonable options but most people go with the phosphorus ULR or the phosphate ULR. The phosphorus ULR gives the reading in ppb and then you have to convert it to ppm, where as the phosphate ULR gives the reading in ppm. The phosphorus ULR is more accurate at the lowest of levels but you have to convert the reading to the standard convention for measuring phosphates. I personally use the Phosphate ULR, but either will work well.

 

[jsker]

Nitrate HI782
Phosphates/Phosphorus HI736

The two Hanna testers above I use and work well. Your system is still cycling at 4 months. Salifert are good test kits and by my reading, I am thinking that your phosphates and nitrates just need to balance out and are not zero.

I would suggest with any test that you will be running, make sure all testing material are clean and measured correctly.

 

[Floyd-]

I have checked and double checked my Salifert testers and they all come out with no pigment to them meaning they are reading 0.
Ill go with the Nitrate HR and Phosphate ULR. I have one Hanna tester for Alkalinity that works a treat! So easy to use and fast. The salifert tests make me feel like a mad scientist with all the tubes chemicals and mixing.

 

[Gtinnel]

I have checked and double checked my Salifert testers and they all come out with no pigment to them meaning they are reading 0.
Ill go with the Nitrate HR and Phosphate ULR. I have one Hanna tester for Alkalinity that works a treat! So easy to use and fast. The salifert tests make me feel like a mad scientist with all the tubes chemicals and mixing.

Both really good choices.

For the salifert nitrate test are you aware you can look sideways through the vial and divide the number on the chart by 10?

 

[Ultra Aquatics]

Both really good choices.

For the salifert nitrate test are you aware you can look sideways through the vial and divide the number on the chart by 10?

Viewing from the side seems to be the best method for the Salifert test.

Might be helpful to some, if you are using the Hanna ULR po4 and have an apex, the Apex app will do the conversion for you. Just add a po4 measurement in the fusion app and choose the appropriate test. Input the ppb and it will automatically convert.

 

[Floyd-]

For the salifert nitrate test are you aware you can look sideways through the vial and divide the number on the chart by 10?

Yes I looked at that also. Its unreal how clear my results are, you can not see any change in the color at all. Ive even looked under different lights just to be sure.

Might be helpful to some, if you are using the Hanna ULR po4 and have an apex, the Apex app will do the conversion for you. Just add a po4 measurement in the fusion app and choose the appropriate test. Input the ppb and it will automatically convert.

Id love an apex unit but its too expensive for what I would use it for. If it was maybe 200-300 sure.

 

[Ultra Aquatics]

Yes I looked at that also. Its unreal how clear my results are, you can not see any change in the color at all. Ive even looked under different lights just to be sure.

Id love an apex unit but its too expensive for what I would use it for. If it was maybe 200-300 sure.

Sounds like you definitely have 0 nitrate, I would start dosing some liquid nitrate. You can buy sodium nitrate and mix it yourself or use something like Brightwell Neonitro.

 

[Gtinnel]

Viewing from the side seems to be the best method for the Salifert test.

Might be helpful to some, if you are using the Hanna ULR po4 and have an apex, the Apex app will do the conversion for you. Just add a po4 measurement in the fusion app and choose the appropriate test. Input the ppb and it will automatically convert.

I use the apex to convert my red sea pro titration tests from amount of liquid used to my reading, but I never even thought about using it for the Hanna phosphorus test. Either way phosphate ULR or phosphorus ULR are both acceptable checkers IMO.

 

[Maxcmo]

What kind of CUC do you have in there? I would recommend checking out https://www.reefcleaners.org/aquarium-store/cleaner-packages-with-free-shipping

 

[Maxcmo]

Its amazing how much damage the right CUC can do against algae.

 

[Floyd-]

What kind of CUC do you have in there? I would recommend checking out https://www.reefcleaners.org/aquarium-store/cleaner-packages-with-free-shipping

Not enough I assume...
1 emerald crab
1 sand sifter starfish
maybe 6-8 hermits
large snails (not sure the type) Maybe 4-6 of them.

This is for a JBJ45 rimless tank.
I have never seen any of the CUC on the algae eating it. They avoid it like the plague.
I also have bouts of cyano about once a month. At the moment I have SUPER long hairs on everything. I replaced my filter floss and within 10 minutes it already had snot growing on it.

 

[Maxcmo]

Not enough I assume...
1 emerald crab
1 sand sifter starfish
maybe 6-8 hermits
large snails (not sure the type) Maybe 4-6 of them.

This is for a JBJ45 rimless tank.
I have never seen any of the CUC on the algae eating it. They avoid it like the plague.
I also have bouts of cyano about once a month. At the moment I have SUPER long hairs on everything. I replaced my filter floss and within 10 minutes it already had snot growing on it.

Check out the Reef Cleaner site they have a section on packages they recommend based on your tank size but it sounds like you may be way short I was surprised on the amount I put into my tank and the damage they have done so far in a positive way on the ugly stuff currently growing on my rocks. Also check out the PITHO crabs they seem to like to eat all the bad stuff when Emeralds can sometimes be a little more picky. Whats your flow like?

 

[Floyd-]

Check out the Reef Cleaner site they have a section on packages they recommend based on your tank size but it sounds like you may be way short I was surprised on the amount I put into my tank and the damage they have done so far in a positive way on the ugly stuff currently growing on my rocks. Also check out the PITHO crabs they seem to like to eat all the bad stuff when Emeralds can sometimes be a little more picky. Whats your flow like?

I have two random flow things on the return ports and then two wavemakers. one left rear and one right front.

 

[Gtinnel]

Yesterday when I read this thread I focused on which Hanna checkers and didn't pay enough attention to your problem. If your issue is green hair algea (and you are sure it's GHA and not dinos) then your nitrate and phosphate reading being low doesn't mean very much. In a tank that has a big algea issue the problem with the tests are that the nutrients in the tank get used up by the algea as quickly as they get added to the water. This means that your tests will show little to no nitrate/phosphate, but you know they are present in your water because that is what is allowing the GHA to thrive. Adding more nitrate to the water will just fuel the GHA even more IMO. Manual removal is your best bet, and find some CUC that will help. IME even the CUC members that will consume hair algea often won't eat the long strands of it, that part the best CUC member will be you.

 

[Treefer32]

I have checked and double checked my Salifert testers and they all come out with no pigment to them meaning they are reading 0.
Ill go with the Nitrate HR and Phosphate ULR. I have one Hanna tester for Alkalinity that works a treat! So easy to use and fast. The salifert tests make me feel like a mad scientist with all the tubes chemicals and mixing.

I had red sea test kits for phosphates and nitrates. Phosphates always were 0. Nitrates usually showed between 12 and 16. Right now the Hanna tester says they're 23. I trust the Hanna tester over the Red Sea. Phosphates, were .08 PPM with .56 with Hanna tester when I first got it. I could never tell with other test kits where phosphates or nitrates were at.

Now, I feel confident the Hanna testers are fairly close.

 

[Reef.]

For Nitrates absolutely get the HR, for phosphates there are a few reasonable options but most people go with the phosphorus ULR or the phosphate ULR. The phosphorus ULR gives the reading in ppb and then you have to convert it to ppm, where as the phosphate ULR gives the reading in ppm. The phosphorus ULR is more accurate at the lowest of levels but you have to convert the reading to the standard convention for measuring phosphates. I personally use the Phosphate ULR, but either will work well.

I agree with of that but Hanna has said both checkers have the same accuracy, in the specs the phosphate has a .02 with the phosphorus slightly lower but Hanna did say that is to do with the way the units are converted, not showing one is more accurate than the other.

 

[Gtinnel]

I agree with of that but Hanna has said both checkers have the same accuracy, in the specs the phosphate has a .02 with the phosphorus slightly lower but Hanna did say that is to do with the way the units are converted, not showing one is more accurate than the other.

Maybe it's been a long day at work, but I'm not sure I follow the logic. So the checker is no more accurate, but the overall reading is more accurate because of the units of measurement that it uses? Is this one of those accuracy vs consistency things?
The important part is that either checker is perfectly fine to use.

 

[Reef.]

Maybe it's been a long day at work, but I'm not sure I follow the logic. So the checker is no more accurate, but the overall reading is more accurate because of the units of measurement that it uses? Is this one of those accuracy vs consistency things?
The important part is that either checker is perfectly fine to use.

I’m guessing it’s to do with the math rounding up method?