HANNA ULR Phosphate Checker

[lovely_trequartista]

I just recently got mine replaced. Did a side by side of the new and old one using the same reagent powder and got +.90 on the old one, and .57 on the new one! Pretty big difference! It's not often, but occasionally, as with any sensitive piece of testing equipment, they can have issues. The company was wonderful about replacing mine!

So I've recently started using the HI774 Phosphate ULR Marine Checker and was hoping you could help clear up a little confusion for me.

I'm about six months into my first reef tank (25g Fusion Pro Lagoon) and up until this point, I've been using the Red Sea Pro Algae Control Pro kit to test for phosphate with precise results.

I tested using the Hanna Checker yesterday 6/12 and got a reading of 0.58 which is way higher than I was expecting. I've always tested in the 0.04 - 0.08 range with the Red Sea Pro kit.

Is there a conversion or something I need to do with the Hanna Phosphate ULR checker? The checker clearly says the reading is in ppm, my understanding has always been that's the standard unit for measuring Phosphate in the hobby with 0.03 being more or less the target for most hobbyist aiming for low nutrient systems.

Obviously I'm missing something here? I literally flunked high school chemistry lol.

The fact that Hanna Phosphate ULR checker is a new product that seems to have replaced the HI736 Hanna Phosphorus ULR Checker - a checker that used units of ppb and needed a conversation only adds to my confusion.

 

[Rick.45cal]

So I've recently started using the HI774 Phosphate ULR Marine Checker and was hoping you could help clear up a little confusion for me.

I'm about six months into my first reef tank (25g Fusion Pro Lagoon) and up until this point, I've been using the Red Sea Pro Algae Control Pro kit to test for phosphate with precise results.

I tested using the Hanna Checker yesterday 6/12 and got a reading of 0.58 which is way higher than I was expecting. I've always tested in the 0.04 - 0.08 range with the Red Sea Pro kit.

Is there a conversion or something I need to do with the Hanna Phosphate ULR checker? The checker clearly says the reading is in ppm, my understanding has always been that's the standard unit for measuring Phosphate in the hobby with 0.03 being more or less the target for most hobbyist aiming for low nutrient systems.

Obviously I'm missing something here? I literally flunked high school chemistry lol.

The fact that Hanna Phosphate ULR checker is a new product that seems to have replaced the HI736 Hanna Phosphorus ULR Checker - a checker that used units of ppb and needed a conversation only adds to my confusion.

You shouldn’t need to use a conversion for the one you have. Only the older ULR Phosphorus checker required a conversion.

 

[GoVols]

The fact that Hanna Phosphate ULR checker is a new product that seems to have replaced the HI736 Hanna Phosphorus ULR Checker - a checker that used units of ppb and needed a conversation only adds to my confusion.

Rick is right, the HI774 ULR reads in Parts Per Million

I used to do the math formula with the ole ppb ULR checker, but found this cheat sheet for that one.

ppb to ppm

 

[lovely_trequartista]

You shouldn’t need to use a conversion for the one you have. Only the older ULR Phosphorus checker required a conversion.

Rick is right, the HI774 ULR reads in Parts Per Million

I used to do the math formula with the ole ppb ULR checker, but found this cheat sheet for that one.

ppb to ppm

Thanks for the responses!

Isn't a concentration of phosphate that's 0.57 ppm ridiculously high?

I did three tests yesterday, one using the Hanna checker, and two with the Red Sea Pro kit using their low range and high range phosphate methods.

Hanna = 0.57 ppm
Red Sea Pro High = 0.06 ppm
Red Sea Pro Low = 0.04 - 0.08 ppm (reading was in between the two colors).

I guess I could get to the bottom of it by testing using a third product, something like the Triton test kit, but what really gets me is that all of the pictures in the literature and video demonstrations on how to use the Hanna checker show a reading of 0.3 or 0.5 ppm.

Isn't < 0.1ppm phosphate pretty much accepted as rule for a mixed reef with 0.01 - 0.03 ppm the loose target for SPS or lower nutrient systems?

 

[Rick.45cal]

Thanks for the responses!

Isn't a concentration of phosphate that's 0.57 ppm ridiculously high?

I did three tests yesterday, one using the Hanna checker, and two with the Red Sea Pro kit using their low range and high range phosphate methods.

Hanna = 0.57 ppm
Red Sea Pro High = 0.06 ppm
Red Sea Pro Low = 0.04 - 0.08 ppm (reading was in between the two colors).

I guess I could get to the bottom of it by testing using a third product, something like the Triton test kit, but what really gets me is that all of the pictures in the literature and video demonstrations on how to use the Hanna checker show a reading of 0.3 or 0.5 ppm.

Isn't < 0.1ppm phosphate pretty much accepted as rule for a mixed reef with 0.01 - 0.03 ppm the loose target for SPS or lower nutrient systems?

It’s probably higher than most people would like to keep it. But there are reefs running that have 1.0 ppm of phosphates, mine was one of them. I’ve since brought it down (currently 0.29ppm) and I definitely have better growth than I did when it was 1.0 ppm.

I’d consider getting a salifert PO4 kit just to double check and see which one it agrees with, Triton would be a good option too. Check the expiration dates on your reagents maybe one of them is bad.

 

[lovely_trequartista]

It’s probably higher than most people would like to keep it. But there are reefs running that have 1.0 ppm of phosphates, mine was one of them. I’ve since brought it down (currently 0.29ppm) and I definitely have better growth than I did when it was 1.0 ppm.

I’d consider getting a salifert PO4 kit just to double check and see which one it agrees with, Triton would be a good option too. Check the expiration dates on your reagents maybe one of them is bad.

Thanks yea the reagents are good through 2023. I'm going to grab a Salifert kit from LFS today.

 

[GoVols]

Thanks yea the reagents are good through 2023. I'm going to grab a Salifert kit from LFS today.

Can you post back after you use the Salifert phos kit?

Never used it, but hold Salifert in high regards.

 

[CK00020]

Hanna if you can swing it

 

[lovely_trequartista]

Can you post back after you use the Salifert phos kit?

Never used it, but hold Salifert in high regards.

Just ran a series of tests with the Salifert Phosphate kit. One pro is that it's the fastest kit I've ever used. Simple 4 step process and there's no waiting for the sample to react to the reagent. Similar to the Salifert Nitrate kit that I use.

The con is I found the shades of blue very difficult to distinguish. More difficult than the Red Sea Pro, which is the kit that made me want to try out the Hanna checker in the first place.

I really couldn't discern much difference between my initial sample and the color indicators representing 0.03, 0.1, 0.25 and 0.5 ppm phosphate.

There was a note at the end of the instructions that said "for higher sensitivity double the water sample and the reagents, then divide the scale by 2".

Ran the test 2x using the "higher sensitivity" method and the reading was pretty clear at 0.25 ppm phosphate.

I'll just order the triton kit and get to the bottom of this. Been meaning to order one anyway since my tank is at the six month mark and I figured it's not bad thing to do for confidence 1 - 2 times per year.

 

[jccaclimber]

I used to use the Red Sea Pro phosphate test. At some point I noticed that the low range method saturates. By that I mean above the max value it doesn’t keep getting darker, even though the value may be much higher. Mine actually saturated about 1/2 color step below the max value in the low range test. This was checked against the high range showing a much higher value. I didn’t have other test kits at the time, so no additional things to compare to.

 

[lovely_trequartista]

Just ran a series of tests with the Salifert Phosphate kit. One pro is that it's the fastest kit I've ever used. Simple 4 step process and there's no waiting for the sample to react to the reagent. Similar to the Salifert Nitrate kit that I use.

The con is I found the shades of blue very difficult to distinguish. More difficult than the Red Sea Pro, which is the kit that made me want to try out the Hanna checker in the first place.

I really couldn't discern much difference between my initial sample and the color indicators representing 0.03, 0.1, 0.25 and 0.5 ppm phosphate.

There was a note at the end of the instructions that said "for higher sensitivity double the water sample and the reagents, then divide the scale by 2".

Ran the test 2x using the "higher sensitivity" method and the reading was pretty clear at 0.25 ppm phosphate.

I'll just order the triton kit and get to the bottom of this. Been meaning to order one anyway since my tank is at the six month mark and I figured it's not bad thing to do for confidence 1 - 2 times per year.

After all of this, I ended up doing a 20% water change tonight as a part of my typical weekly maintenance routine (upped WC from 10% to 20% the past 4 weeks due to battling a bad cyano outbreak, successfully treating it with Chemiclean dosed on 5/31, and possibly still dealing with some after effects as recently as 6/12).

After tonight's 20% WC I tested again.

Hanna Phosphate ULR = 0.22 (reading of .58 on Friday 6/12)
Salifert Phosphate "High Resolution" method = .125 (reading of 0.25 before WC)

Also ordered the Triton ICP-0es Testing Kit. I'm looking forward to comparing against the three phosphate kits I now have at home.

 

[Angelwolf21203]

It’s probably higher than most people would like to keep it. But there are reefs running that have 1.0 ppm of phosphates, mine was one of them. I’ve since brought it down (currently 0.29ppm) and I definitely have better growth than I did when it was 1.0 ppm.

I’d consider getting a salifert PO4 kit just to double check and see which one it agrees with, Triton would be a good option too. Check the expiration dates on your reagents maybe one of them is bad.

You can also contact Hanna. They are great. There's also a control kit you can try.