Good Morning! I have a bit of a conundrum here. I typically use a Hanna KH tester for my ALK but decided to just give the Salifert kit a try. I am in the midst of trying to pin point my tanks consumption rate. I did the Hanna and it reads 8.3 dKH. When I use the Salifert it comes up 9.3. I’ve done both tests a couple times and the readings are consistent. That’s quite a difference and it’s a bit concerning. Opinions or experiences on what if anything I should do? Thank you!
KH testing
- Thread starter Bxr126
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melanotaenia
Well-Known Member
Use the reading from Salifert. It will be the more accurate of the two.
X-37B
Fight The Good Fight
I use both. Both are within .3 of each other. Close enough for me.
I know running the test the same each time makes a difference.
Same endpoint for salifert every time.
They should not be that far off at least for me they have not been over the last 2 years.
I also have elos as a backup. Not as accurate but close enough to verify.
Just tested
Hanna 8.0
Salifert 8.3
Salifert always runs .3+ higher depends on endpoint.
I know running the test the same each time makes a difference.
Same endpoint for salifert every time.
They should not be that far off at least for me they have not been over the last 2 years.
I also have elos as a backup. Not as accurate but close enough to verify.
Just tested
Hanna 8.0
Salifert 8.3
Salifert always runs .3+ higher depends on endpoint.
Last edited:
Oldreefer44
Valuable Member
I had the same issue. Had a 1.5 difference between Hanna and Red Sea with RS being the higher reading. Bought a Salifert to try to confirm which was right. The Salifert agreed with the RS so thought that settled it. Sent out an ICP test a couple weeks later. It came back as the same as Hanna. 6 months later, my Mindstream and Hanna are within a couple of tenths of each other.
X-37B
Fight The Good Fight
My procedure is to fill up the glass vile half way with tank water and shake. Dump out fill to line. Wipe down with cloth. Fingerprints,smears and bubbles will cause different readings.
Same with salifert as far as rinsing goes.
When done rinse with tap water and dry with paper towel. I wad it up into the glass vile until its dry.
This has been very consistant for me.
Same with salifert as far as rinsing goes.
When done rinse with tap water and dry with paper towel. I wad it up into the glass vile until its dry.
This has been very consistant for me.
nezw0001
Well-Known Member
salifer
Alkalinity titration endpoint pH & Salifert endpoint color
TL;DR: The endpoint pH is 4.41, and the endpoint color is that "lavender" color I've been telling people about. Over the years, there have been many threads on R2R and other forums debating a couple of basic details relevant to testing for alkalinity in reef aquaria. One of the most...
www.reef2reef.com
Randy Holmes-Farley
Reef Chemist
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My Tank Thread
For purposes of determining dosing rates and daily drops, the brand you pick likely doesn’t matter much.
BeejReef
2500 Club Member
It's very frustrating.
They should't be that far off from each other. IMHO, the hannah is the most repeatable. Back to back tests, 90% of the time, I'll get the same (or within .1dkh) reading with the hannah. Longer term though, I like the RS test better. It doesn't go through the .5-1dkh swings between a nearly empty bottle of reagents to a fresh one and the reagents last way longer.
Frankly, I use both now on a near daily basis. A lot of anger and frustration before the final acceptance of redundancy
They should't be that far off from each other. IMHO, the hannah is the most repeatable. Back to back tests, 90% of the time, I'll get the same (or within .1dkh) reading with the hannah. Longer term though, I like the RS test better. It doesn't go through the .5-1dkh swings between a nearly empty bottle of reagents to a fresh one and the reagents last way longer.
Frankly, I use both now on a near daily basis. A lot of anger and frustration before the final acceptance of redundancy
PatW
2500 Club Member
I agree. You use a test that gives a consistent result. So when you test next and get a .4 DKH decline, you dose enough ALK to bring you back to your baseline and then, assuming you are using 2 part, add the same amount of Ca. I have used Red Sea, Hanna, and Salifert and any one of these tests would do a good job. Coral really should not be bothered by you being off even a full DKH as long as you are not running below 8 as your target.
If you want accuracy that is knowing what your actual DKH is, you would need to mix up a standard solution of ALK with a specific DKH value the same as your target DKH. It is not hard to do so but to be really accurate, you need to weigh out your soda ash on an analytical balance. You just go to the BRS page an look at their calculatorto see how many grams of soda ash to add to 1 gallon of RODI. I priced out lab balances and they go for about 2 K. A cheaper balance goes for about 1/5 of that. And you would need a volumetric flask to measure your RODI water.
