What do you use to check Alkalinity?

[SauceyReef]

I use these. When you understand that we’re not looking for total precision and just a quick, close enough check, they work wonderfully IMO

Aquavital Marine Test 5-in-1

Vital water parameters, at a glance! The Aquavital Marine Test 5-in-1 offers 1 minute test results on five of the most important parameters in your aquarium. Sometimes you don’t have 10 minutes to sit around and open bottles of reagents and go drop by drop, test by test. Even experienced...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

I may get something like this also with the Hanna just to do double tests.

-edit- oof the reviews look REALLY bad for this one

 

[rtparty]

I may get something like this also with the Hanna just to do double tests.

-edit- oof the reviews look REALLY bad for this one

The bad reviews are all people admitting they have no idea how to use them and don’t understand their purpose

 

[Troylee]

Trident daily, hannah on Saturdays to double check the trident and then salifert if those 2 readings aren’t close.

 

[Jasonak]

I use a Hanna and have salifert backup.
I keep my hanna reagent in the fridge. I read on here that this helps with accuracy.

 

[Dburr1014]

Based on what Lasse wrote about refrigerating the Hanna regent, I have not had any problems. Just a few swirls before I start the test. It always falls in the range where I expect it to.

This is the thread for who wants to read it.

Thread 'Important findings according how to store open bottles of the reagent for Hanna Marine alkalinity checkers' https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/i...-for-hanna-marine-alkalinity-checkers.893762/

 

[tedfisher496]

I have been using a Hanna, and the past year it started going way off without me noticing causing a huge tank crash this past month. I replaced the battery, reagent, and still getting wack numbers, so I imagine the device has just gone bad. I am looking to buy something new!

Any suggestions on a reliable Alkalinity tester that is not super expensive, or crazy difficult to use?

ive been using Hanna for 2 + years, I have had issues with salifert test kit being inaccurate.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Randy, your thoughts please on the Hanna acid base reagent in regards to the following:
- Any point in mixing it or is there no reason to expect any type of separation to occur?
- Is there any chemical explanation as to why many of us refrigerate and "feel" like it causes the test results to remain consistent over longer periods of time (than without refrigeration)?

Most degradation reactions are slowed at lower temperatures, including air oxidation.

I don’t know if mixing is needed since ive never looked at it. If it is a clear solution, no mixing is needed, but if it is cloudy, mixing may be important.

 

[SauceyReef]

What is even the point of Hannas PPM alkalinity tester? Why have that one, and the DKH checker?

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

I have been using a Hanna, and the past year it started going way off without me noticing causing a huge tank crash this past month. I replaced the battery, reagent, and still getting wack numbers, so I imagine the device has just gone bad. I am looking to buy something new!

Any suggestions on a reliable Alkalinity tester that is not super expensive, or crazy difficult to use?

I use two Hanna alk checkers at once (both usually test .1-.2 apart ) also check the testers against the calibration solution. i also use the salifert test (less often) , and run an alkatronic on two separate tanks.

 

[SauceyReef]

Update: I got a new Hanna meter that reads DKH. I totally stopped dosing since the alk issue and have just been doing water changes. The Alk DKH has not been budging from around 5-6, so I decided to check the new batch of salt. It is reading 6 DKH I think this is all because I got a bad batch of salt from Instant Ocean R.C.

 

[jackson6745]

I use Hanna and Salifert interchangeably. I check results against each other when something is out of its normal range.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Update: I got a new Hanna meter that reads DKH. I totally stopped dosing since the alk issue and have just been doing water changes. The Alk DKH has not been budging from around 5-6, so I decided to check the new batch of salt. It is reading 6 DKH I think this is all because I got a bad batch of salt from Instant Ocean R.C.

Time to restart dosing.

 

[SauceyReef]

Time to restart dosing.

Yes! Or better yet get a new thing of salt! I think it may be time to switch over to Red Sea. I just potentially lost thousands of dollars worth of coral because of Instant Ocean. I guess I should start testing a new thing of salt before using it.