Thoughts on the Hanna checkers

[fmp47]

I use the Hanna alk and UL phosphate checkers. When I change reagent lots with alk checker and get an off the wall reading I verify with Elos. I do find them repeatable which is accurate enough for me. I find a number that works in my tank and shoot for it. They may not be accurate enough for published papers however.

 

[shoelaceike]

API is cheap, easy and accurate. You will only get an approximate number though.....I use it to double check the Hannah sometimes.

 

[uptcreek]

I'm a Hanna guy all the way...or as far as they'll take me...I'm color blind and digital readout is the only way for me...still waiting for a reasonable Magnesium digital

 

[Acameron2]

I have 4 of the Hana checkers. They are much easier to run and quantify than most other kits. The Achilles's heal is the use of 1 ml syringes to measure o.1 ml of reagents and/or sample. I have been developing an validating immunological tests for the last 33 years. It is difficult to accurately measure 0.1 ml with a 1 ml syringe. I would run the Hana test 3 times and get +/- 10-20%. Do yourself a favor and buy an inexpensive pipettor or two. I bought two of these from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IOHL60O/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and my reproducibility improved tremendously. They are cheap Chinese knockoffs of what are used in a biomedical labs, but work well in a light duty environment.

From what I see people are saying about the checkers this is a real fix possibly. I went ahead a pulled the trigger on the alk and calcium checkers and will try this out if it becomes a problem. Thank you for explaining your method.

 

[kcnick89]

I don't really like the calcium checker. You have to use rodi water to do it, not really an issue for most of us, but there are way more steps and takes more time than my red sea one. I really enjoy the phosphate one though. I can easily tell when red turns to blue, I cant really tell if the light blue matches the third or the second box.

 

[Waterjockey]

I like the Hanna alk and phosphate checkers. I have stayed away from the calcium checker because of how many people on this forum have said they don't really like it

 

[beachsidereefer]

I recently just ran out of alkalinity test and calcium test on my Red Sea test kits. Question is should I just buy more of the Red Sea kits or move on to the Hanna checkers? Looks like a more user friendly option on the checkers. I'd like to hear what people think of the calcium and alkalinity checkers as well.

I can tell you the Hanna Clacium checker is worthless junk. I posted a couple of threads of what I went through so you can search and learn from my experiences

 

[Husterix]

I use the Hanna ULR phosphorus checker and I'm very happy with it. No experience with any of the other checkers.

 

[shadow1013]

I only have the Alk hanna but in dKH. I love how quick it is. The rest I use Red Sea but because I got a good deal online I have the whole foundation kit so I double check the hanna from time to time. I think I'll pick up the Phosphate one at some point when the Red Sea is out.

I should mention that these two seems to be the cheapest per test. About $0.30ish per test from the prices of the reagents.

 

[shadow1013]

I'm not sure I'd call them accurate. My no3 was showing up at zero and my two LFS was showing 70. Mine wasn't expired so that wasn't why it was off. I got the Red Sea kit after and showed the LFS reading of 70 was actually 30.

API is cheap, easy and accurate. You will only get an approximate number though.....I use it to double check the Hannah sometimes.

 

[shoelaceike]

I'm not sure I'd call them accurate. My no3 was showing up at zero and my two LFS was showing 70. Mine wasn't expired so that wasn't why it was off. I got the Red Sea kit after and showed the LFS reading of 70 was actually 30.

The nitrate test needs to be done correctly. It's possible you had a bad reagent but you may not have shaken reagent 2 hard enough or long enough. Contrary to what everyone in this hobby believes , more expensive is not necessarily better.

 

[mwilk19]

The only way to be sure is to have your water lab tested and compare that to your readings.

 

[Bunkinator]

I like the Hanna checker for Alk and Phos, the calcium checker varies drastically , is much more sensitive and samples and procedures must me absolutely precise , over all , good tool

 

[Robink]

I use the Hanna checkers for phosphate and alk. Love them. Use redsea tests for everything else. I check alk everyday. Very accurate, get the refills from BRS, they've got the best price.

 

[lazypeeter]

I have always been extremely lazy to always use my test kits. I have always been learning towards these checkers, I'm glad to read you guys opinion here.

 

[mapexdrummer09]

I recently just ran out of alkalinity test and calcium test on my Red Sea test kits. Question is should I just buy more of the Red Sea kits or move on to the Hanna checkers? Looks like a more user friendly option on the checkers. I'd like to hear what people think of the calcium and alkalinity checkers as well.

I have the alk checker and had the calcium checker.
The alk is amazing, I absolutely love it, it's super accurate and fast. I use it everyday to test my alk.
As far as the calcium checker I ended up sending it back. It was very hit or miss. Different results every time. Even if I tested the same water two tests in a row. I was doing some research online and saw it was a known problem.
Definitely worth the money for the alk checker. As far as the phosphate and others I haven't tried them yet but would like to

 

[Ashish Patel]

I use Hanna Phosphate ULR and Alk... The name of the game is stability so if you pay attention to testing the same exact way each time you'll get consistent readings. For me Testing more frequently helped me get a good idea of how the tank is responding to my dosing schedule.

Phosphates checker is excellent.. I see a direct coorelation of the effect of running my skimmer, feeding, and algae growth based on the checkers reading. Now I feel I can just observe the tank and know what PO is present based on past readings. 100% worth buying the Phosphate ULR checker if your trying to grow acros

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The nitrate test needs to be done correctly. It's possible you had a bad reagent but you may not have shaken reagent 2 hard enough or long enough. Contrary to what everyone in this hobby believes , more expensive is not necessarily better.

I know this is an old post and thread, and the original post above may have been referring to a different brand, but since it was just revived, I should point out that there is no nitrate checker by Hanna that works in seawater.

 

[XNavyDiver]

Alkalinity and Phosphorous ULR is a definite yes. Calcium, not so much. I use Salifert for Calcium, Magnesium and Nitrate.

I also use the exact combination of kits as you do.

 

[penguin_free]

I know this is an old post and thread, and the original post above may have been referring to a different brand, but since it was just revived, I should point out that there is no nitrate checker by Hanna that works in seawater.

What do you think as far as their Ca checker? Did the improved micropipette address the main issue people had with repeatability? Or is the sample size being only 2 drops of tank water inherently an issue?