Phosphate help!

web2323 · Sep 8, 2020

So I have been monitoring my Phophates for some time now. I check them twice a day - trying to keep them from bottoming out. I usually go back and forth between my Hanna ULR and my Red Sea test kit depending on time. They have been pretty consistent and it most cases identical ranging from .03-.05.

I ran out of reagent for the Hanna last week and ordered some new packets online. They are new and came in with a 2023 expiration date.

Ever since they came in my Hanna has climbed from .03 to .13 to .25 to .45 to .56.

My Red Sea has consistently shown .03-.05 throughout this. However, I have been afraid to add any NeoPhos.

Could it be possible my Hanna took a dump and needs to recalibrated? Its only about 6 weeks old. How often do you need to recalibrate?Could the reagent be bad? Should I add my normal 6ml of NeoPhos to keep my phos up?

Here is the test I just did

excell007 · Sep 8, 2020

Check the reagent, make sure they sent you the correct one. LR and ULR phosphate checker use different reagent.

ReeferWarrant · Sep 8, 2020

Following, just got the Hanna ULR. Also you just sold me on the Red Sea one, Salifert I cant tell the difference between the colors.... So in case you are looking for another tester I would say Salifert wont help in double checking.

web2323 · Sep 8, 2020

Mystery may be solved. Opened the 2nd box of regents and the first test came back at .03. More in line with red sea and historical results.

ReeferWarrant · Sep 8, 2020

@web2323, bad batch on the first one then?

excell007 · Sep 9, 2020

web2323 said:
Mystery may be solved. Opened the 2nd box of regents and the first test came back at .03. More in line with red sea and historical results.

Bad reagent or wrong reagent?

web2323 · Sep 9, 2020

excell007 said:
Bad reagent or wrong reagent?

Bad Reagent

I ordered 2 boxes of the same reagent.

1 is reading in line with what I have been seeing .03 the other box is constantly showing the wrong reading.

Grill · Sep 9, 2020

web2323 said:
Bad Reagent

I ordered 2 boxes of the same reagent.

1 is reading in line with what I have been seeing .03 the other box is constantly showing the wrong reading.

dang... gives me a little anxiety about using my Hanna ULR

web2323 · Sep 9, 2020

Grill said:
dang... gives me a little anxiety about using my Hanna ULR

I agree.

I bought the Hannah ULR Phosphate, Calcium, Alkalinity and Salinity Checkers.

Alkalinity and Phosphates were good up until this point. The Alkalinity mirrors my Trident reading and the ULR Phosphate was mirroring my Red Sea results.

The Calcium and Salinity aren't worth a dang. I bought a gallon of CVS deionized water for the Calcium test and it is all over the board. Never the same reading twice. The salinity checker seems to need to be calibrated every other day.

Just my 2 cents FWIW.

Doostur · Sep 9, 2020

web2323 said:
I agree.

I bought the Hannah ULR Phosphate, Calcium, Alkalinity and Salinity Checkers.

Alkalinity and Phosphates were good up until this point. The Alkalinity mirrors my Trident reading and the ULR Phosphate was mirroring my Red Sea results.

The Calcium and Salinity aren't worth a dang. I bought a gallon of CVS deionized water for the Calcium test and it is all over the board. Never the same reading twice. The salinity checker seems to need to be calibrated every other day.

Just my 2 cents FWIW.

Only phosphate checker I can trust for low readings is Hannah ULR. Hannah sells a their test kit you can buy which confirms accuracy of phosphate tester. 2 vial prefilled kit. Hannah Calcium checker has never been accurate for me. My hanna ALK reads .4 higher than trident. So trident 8.0 and Hannah 8.4-8.5. Rarely test mag. Always consistent via trident. I use Salifert for a second opinion.