SO frustrated with Hanna Alkalinity Checker

[Tanggy]

I keep my alkalinity around 7.0. I've always used the alkalinity hanna checker. For the last month, i've notice my alkalinity increase to about 8.0 over a span of 4 weeks. I've slowly lowered my alkalinity dose to try and bring it back down to 7.0. So this morning, i've test alkalinity and it measured 8.2. I was running out of the old reagent so I opened a new alkalinity reagent and it measured 6.3! Big discrepancy. I opened up another new reagent and it also measured 6.3. I did sent out an ICP test a few days ago. What should I do now? Should I slowly raise my alkalinity up to 7.0 based on the new alkalinity measurement? Some of my corals have been acting weird the last week. Probably from the lowered alkalinity...

 

[homer1475]

Are you using all the reagent in the bottle, or just the listed 25 tests?

I noticed a long time ago, if I marked the bottle and only used 25 tests(theres 30ML in the bottle)my test results were much more consistent bottle to bottle.

Think I remember reading a thread a while back where @Hanna Instruments replied saying that as the bottle ages, evaporation could effect the results of the tests.

 

[Tanggy]

Are you using all the reagent in the bottle, or just the listed 25 tests?

I noticed a long time ago, if I marked the bottle and only used 25 tests(theres 30ML in the bottle)my test results were much more consistent bottle to bottle.

Think I remember reading a thread a while back where @Hanna Instruments replied saying that as the bottle ages, evaporation could effect the results of the tests.

I've always try to use all the reagent in the bottle. When the old bottle is about to run out, i would test the new alkalinity reagent to make sure it's close to the old one. For the past switch over they came pretty close. Today the discrepancy is way off...

 

[homer1475]

I always had weird results like you are seeing from the old bottle to the new when I was trying to use all the reagent.

Since I started marking the bottle, and capping it right after drawing up the reagent in the syringe, has my numbers been much more consistent from bottle to bottle.

 

[taricha]

if you're unsure, check with a titration kit, or better yet a DIY titration with dilute HCl and a pH meter as randy describes here.
http://www.reefedition.com/a-diy-alkalinity-test-by-randy-holmes-farley/

 

[Scdell]

I've been complaining about the same thing on here! And all I get in response is that my process must be bad!
Nope, Hanna is having issues with their reagents and not admitting to it! I bought a new tester. Same ole stringy things in the reagent and reading higher alk. I'm sick of it also.

 

[Dilan Patel]

This reagent I believe only last 1 month when opened or 25 tests whichever comes first. I had issues with your problem as well. Not the same test kit but here is a pic I recently took of a brand new Red sea alk kit on the left, the one in the middle was second newest but was the lightest color overall and the one on the right was the oldest reagent opened a few months ago. Myu point being that I got three drastically different results but the newest one was close to trident numbers. These were all properly stored in dark and box.

 

[Thespammailaccount]

I keep my alkalinity around 7.0. I've always used the alkalinity hanna checker. For the last month, i've notice my alkalinity increase to about 8.0 over a span of 4 weeks. I've slowly lowered my alkalinity dose to try and bring it back down to 7.0. So this morning, i've test alkalinity and it measured 8.2. I was running out of the old reagent so I opened a new alkalinity reagent and it measured 6.3! Big discrepancy. I opened up another new reagent and it also measured 6.3. I did sent out an ICP test a few days ago. What should I do now? Should I slowly raise my alkalinity up to 7.0 based on the new alkalinity measurement? Some of my corals have been acting weird the last week. Probably from the lowered alkalinity...

Exact same thing happened to me :/ I read somewhere to throw out the last of the bottle. Not sure why :/ maybe contamination expires evaporation

 

[eggplantparrot]

not to throw a wrench in this discussion but I had a bottle that sat in my super hot bedroom for a few months unused (kind of neglecting a tank on autopilot) and ended up expiring 4 months. I bought a new bottle and both ended up testing the exact same lol.

 

[Vwluv10338]

Just tested my tank back to back with the last test of a bottle and opened a new bottle of reagent. Tests were within 0.1 of each other. One thing I am guilty of is not rinsing the pipet after the test so I wonder if the drops of reagent that stay in it are skewing my tests.

 

[Chiefmoor]

I had the same problem with the second reagent bottle. The first bottle I used to test once a week on both 75g and 34g, I always got consistent results. I even double checked with Salifert alk test kit. The second bottle, I only use 1 per month and I noticed weird results when I got to the last half of the bottle. This time I got 6.6 dkl and 6.3 dkl while Salifert showed 8.5 and 8.0 dkl. I thought may be the battery was bad so I replaced the battery and did the tests again and still got 6.6 and 6.3 dkl. My previous readings for the whole year always 8.0 +- .2 for big tank and 8.5 +- .3 for smaller tank. I bought the new Hanna reagent and Salifert test kit. I will test again later to see if my alk really have dropped that much!

 

[Tanggy]

What I do now is if my numbers are way off i'll retest and also check with salifest test kit to make sure it's in the same ball park. I checked my alk this morning and it measured 8.2 (yesterday it was 7.1). I retested it again and it was 7.2 (confirmed with salifest). Don't know if it was a dirty vial that gave me the 8.2. Again if the numbers are off, retest....

 

[Joe Rice]

Hannah had a problem with the Alk reagent a few years back that, if I remember correctly, turned out to have been related to a change they made in the material they were using to seal the bottles. I wonder if something like this is happening again?

 

[Tanggy]

Hannah had a problem with the Alk reagent a few years back that, if I remember correctly, turned out to have been related to a change they made in the material they were using to seal the bottles. I wonder if something like this is happening again?

I called bulkreefsupply and they were aware of bad batches a while back ( a couple of years ago). They don't know of any bad batches recently.

 

[X-37B]

These threads come up all the time.
Always have at least one other test for reference no matter what you test for.
I have 3 for alk.
I have been using hanna for almost 5 years now with good results.
I have had wierd results from time to time but after rechecking and cross checking with another method the results are always close.
Also always have a range you can run in.
My alk range is 7-7.5.
As long as the reading is within the range I dont worry.

 

[8251reefer]

I just realized that I have a bad ALKALINITY reagent as well. I bought 3 All reagents from BRS over Black Friday. Lot number 9062 turned out to be bad batch. I opened it up a couple of weeks ago and noticed my alkalinity had dropped and I thought it was kind of weird as I had pretty stable alkalinity for a couple of years now. For it to drop 1 DKH over a day was kinda weird. Regardless, I believed the test and dosed accordingly, the next day, same result. 7.5 DKH. Dosed again, this went on for a few days. I thought maybe my 2 PART was precipitating or something...Well, I only realized that after I dosed my tank one last time and 20 min later took a new reading only to realize that it was still at 7.5 dkh I knew the reagent had to be bad. I opened up one of the other bottles and it read 11.9!! Not sure if anyone else has the same lot number 9062 giving them problems but I certainly did. I will be contacting BRS and HANNA tomorrow to see what they think. In the meantime, I turned off my 2 part dosing pumps and I am making up a larger than normal batch of saltwater to slowly lower my Dkh.