Bad Hanna Calcium checker?

[homer1475]

I could never get the Hanna calcium checker to read properly. It didn't matter if I cleaned the cuvette with RO/DI, tap, distilled, or citric acid.

I believe it has to do with the dilution step. Just try and get 1 perfect ML of water. Even with the "new" pipette, it's still way to flaky to trust.

 

[Mikeltee]

IMO, the Hanna calcium checker is poorly designed in that it is so overly sensitive to traces of calcium in the fresh water.

Can you recommend a method to avoid traces of Ca? Is there a particular brand of distilled water that meets the requirements? Is there a certain method of washing your test tube to avoid traces of Ca? Hanna is just TOO convenient. I realize people such as yourself love the dead nuts accuracy and the thrill of conducting an experiment but some of us dont really enjoy mixing solutions and we are willing to accept a little inaccuracy for the sake of time saved. We just want to know our numbers are close enough to being on point and go about our day. Thanks for your time....

 

[4ddiction]

Can you recommend a method to avoid traces of Ca? Is there a particular brand of distilled water that meets the requirements? Is there a certain method of washing your test tube to avoid traces of Ca? Hanna is just TOO convenient. I realize people such as yourself love the dead nuts accuracy and the thrill of conducting an experiment but some of us dont really enjoy mixing solutions and we are willing to accept a little inaccuracy for the sake of time saved. We just want to know our numbers are close enough to being on point and go about our day. Thanks for your time....

The problem with just wanting to be close enough to being on point might turn out to be a lie. For months I thought my calcium was steady at 390-450, in actuality it’s 220

Reading these posts is going to require me to buy some store bought distilled water and compare the results to my rodi system. If they are the same then I can just use my rodi system. I doubt my rodi has calcium in it after a 7 stage filter system.

 

[Mikeltee]

The problem with just wanting to be close enough to being on point might turn out to be a lie. For months I thought my calcium was steady at 390-450, in actuality it’s 220

Reading these posts is going to require me to buy some store bought distilled water and compare the results to my rodi system. If they are the same then I can just use my rodi system. I doubt my rodi has calcium in it after a 7 stage filter system.

To me, consistency means just as much as accuracy. If my tape measure is short by 3/8 of an inch I know to add 3/8 of an inch EVERYTIME. There are far too many variables with a rodi. You must consider your source water and the age of each one of your filters. A $10 TDS meter reading 0TDS does not mean 0.000000. You can spray perfume on a piece of dog poop 1000 times, but in the end you are still going to have a piece of dog poop. Distilled water is nothing more than steam. From a factory, you will have your best chances with consistency. I hope the good doc can weigh in on this subject as I'm just a mere software engineer and electrician.

 

[robbyg]

Here you go bro. This talked me into at least trying it. I've got a CaRx going to be running in a week. I plan to send off to Triton afterwards and see how close my own tests

Thanks. Great video!
I learned a lot of things I did not know! I was using distilled water but I am now going to have to compare various brands or try the CVS water. I had no idea about the two stages of the 100ul plunger and I was never turning the vial to face the same way on each test.

 

[southerntnreefer]

IMO, the Hanna calcium checker is poorly designed in that it is so overly sensitive to traces of calcium in the fresh water.

What would you say is the go to cal test is then? Need to order a new one.

 

[Mikeltee]

The problem I have with all these solution tests is the plunger and directions. On dropper tests, the directions say to put the dropper tip on and fill to 1.0ml... or is it add 1.0ml? The dropper alone is .16ml. There is no way that I have found to get the air bubble out of any of these dropper plungers so I just imagine the plunger is where the air starts. There should also be a diagram to show how to read the level in the plunger. I wasnt aware at all until I saw that video above but that is just Hanna's take on it. NYOS and Seifert might be different. I guess consistency plays a big role in this aspect too. Do it the same way everytime and calculate your difference from Triton.

 

[Bryknicks]

The problem I have with all these solution tests is the plunger and directions. On dropper tests, the directions say to put the dropper tip on and fill to 1.0ml... or is it add 1.0ml? The dropper alone is .16ml. There is no way that I have found to get the air bubble out of any of these dropper plungers so I just imagine the plunger is where the air starts. There should also be a diagram to show how to read the level in the plunger. I wasnt aware at all until I saw that video above but that is just Hanna's take on it. NYOS and Seifert might be different. I guess consistency plays a big role in this aspect too. Do it the same way everytime and calculate your difference from Triton.

After you put the tip on the plunger and insert into the solution to pull up, you pull the plunger up until the bottom of the black rubber tip is at the 1ml mark on the syringe. This now brings 1ml of solution into the syringe to then be dropped into the cuvette. Depending on the test kit, you may only have solution in the tip or you may have a portion of the solution in the syringe, but the solution itself does not go to the 1ml mark on the syringe.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The problem I have with all these solution tests is the plunger and directions. On dropper tests, the directions say to put the dropper tip on and fill to 1.0ml... or is it add 1.0ml? The dropper alone is .16ml. There is no way that I have found to get the air bubble out of any of these dropper plungers so I just imagine the plunger is where the air starts. There should also be a diagram to show how to read the level in the plunger. I wasnt aware at all until I saw that video above but that is just Hanna's take on it. NYOS and Seifert might be different. I guess consistency plays a big role in this aspect too. Do it the same way everytime and calculate your difference from Triton.

There is a right way and a wrong way (perhaps many wrong ways lol) to use a syringe. Air bubbles should be ignored entirely and you go by plunger movement in any use of a syringe.

The post above this one is certainly correct, but this thread has a lot more explanation and a question:

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 161 Using a Syringe

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

What would you say is the go to cal test is then? Need to order a new one.

Folks generally think the Salifert calcium kit is a good choice.

 

[southerntnreefer]

Folks generally think the Salifert calcium kit is a good choice.

im torn between that and red seas right now...

 

[Crustaceon]

When using a titration test, ignore the air bubble in the syringe when you pull back on the plunger. This bubble is pretty much always trapped in the tip and isn’t actually part of the measured syringe. If you start with the tip under the surface of whatever solution you’re drawing and with syringe plunger fully depressed, when you extract 1 ml of fluid (You’ll end on the middle of the zero), you’ve drawn the air bubble out of the tip and into the syringe. That means the tip is now filled with the same volume of fluid as what’s taken up by the air bubble in the syringe. Either way, exactly 1ml was drawn.

 

[Crustaceon]

Folks generally think the Salifert calcium kit is a good choice.

The one thing that gets me with the salifert calcium test is how it tells us to stop when a “clear blue” color is achieved.... Is this opposed to a murky blue? Should it look like windex? I wish they’d provide a color comparison chart.

 

[southerntnreefer]

The one thing that gets me with the salifert calcium test is how it tells us to stop when a “clear blue” color is achieved.... Is this opposed to a murky blue? Should it look like windex? I wish they’d provide a color comparison chart.

Thats what ive been told too. Thats why its like a 80 20 for me, 80 percent leaning twords red sea for it. Since i cant trust hanna.

 

[Crustaceon]

Thats what ive been told too. Thats why its like a 80 20 for me, 80 percent leaning twords red sea for it. Since i cant trust hanna.

I like the red sea calcium test better. Their test is a little more tedious but it’s far easier for me to see the color change. Their alk test is good too. Their mag test though......You want the salifert test for that one, lol.

 

[southerntnreefer]

I like the red sea calcium test better. Their test is a little more tedious but it’s far easier for me to see the color change. Their alk test is good too. Their mag test though......You want the salifert test for that one, lol.

I keep the Salifert Mag on hand. pretty easy. always tests well for me. Alk i got hanna, and phos is hanna.

 

[piranhaman00]

You should just double check with salifert. 220 seems improbably low.

 

[Heart of Dixie]

I have the Red Sea Pro and the Hanna. The Hanna was too frustrating until I found by using the syringe for the Hanna Alk meter I was able to dose the .1 sample of saltwater easier than trying to use the green one that came with the CA kit. My first comparison Of the two: Hanna 411, Red Sea 420.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The one thing that gets me with the salifert calcium test is how it tells us to stop when a “clear blue” color is achieved.... Is this opposed to a murky blue? Should it look like windex? I wish they’d provide a color comparison chart.

It likely doesn't matter from a practical perspective since an exact calcium level is not at all critical. if you pick the same color every time, you'll have a very good sense of what dosing is needed, whether it is stabilizing at 400 ppm, 420 ppm, or 450 ppm.

 

[Crustaceon]

It likely doesn't matter from a practical perspective since an exact calcium level is not at all critical. if you pick the same color every time, you'll have a very good sense of what dosing is needed, whether it is stabilizing at 400 ppm, 420 ppm, or 450 ppm.

I’ve thought about doing that with a different brand of calcium test. I’d do the salifert test first, get the first blue color I see and repeat the test with one from a different brand and see what the correlation is.