Birthing twins through my eyeball would be easier than using a nitrate hanna tester

[mistergray]

Giving birth to twins through my eyeball would be easier than using a hanna tester for nitrate levels. I was only slightly discouraged before I used the hanna because I watched a YouTube video about it. Not only did the guy say it was difficult but he also said he’d never use it again because he has 3 tanks and it takes 17 minutes per tank to perform.

Sorry, not sure if it’s discouraged to complain about stuff like this here but I’d hate for anyone else to buy this in hopes that they’re about to walk into the land of milk & honey for nitrate testing. I feel like I should be able to launch a shuttle into space after what I just did.

How is it people are recommending this thing? Maybe it’s because I’m a newbie.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[fryman]

I hear you but also have some sympathy for Hanna here because people were begging them for years to make a nitrate tester and now that they sell one everyone hates it, lol.

but yeah I guess they figured people needed more precision and this does the trick but the trade-off is the steep time comitment. I don't think the hanna nitrate tester is worth it, plenty of amazing reefs with anywhere between 1 and 20 ppm nitrate and so waaaay easier test kits do the job just fine.

Nyos is the easiest imo, but even API is ok. I think the Red Sea Pro is abit too complex as well, though nothing to the extent of the hanna.

 

[mistergray]

I hear you but also have some sympathy for Hanna here because people were begging them for years to make a nitrate tester and now that they sell one everyone hates it, lol.

but yeah I guess they figured people needed more precision and this does the trick but the trade-off is the steep time comitment. I don't think the hanna nitrate tester is worth it, plenty of amazing reefs with anywhere between 1 and 20 ppm nitrate and so waaaay easier test kits do the job just fine.

Nyos is the easiest imo, but even API is ok. I think the Red Sea Pro is abit too complex as well, though nothing to the extent of the hanna.

I didn't know that. Lol! Guess they were like, if this is what you want.....HERE YA GO!!!! Good luck (like Liam Neeson on "Taken")!!!

Well, I definitely wasted my money and I'll stick to my API test for now. I'll research the Nyos that you mentioned. Thx!

 

[CMMorgan]

I use NYOS... by far the easiest to read and the widest range.

 

[mistergray]

I use NYOS... by far the easiest to read and the widest range.

2 votes for Nyos!

 

[fuelman]

Also use nyos best I have used so far very easy to determine results.

 

[N.Sreefer]

Imo after your done cycling why ever test nitrate again? Unless your an acro person that is.

 

[Gtinnel]

I don't have the nyos test but I commonly use the salifert and it is very easy to test and read IMO. The thing I like about salifert is you can look down through the vial, or look through it sideways and divide the result by 10 to read your nitrate level.

 

[mistergray]

Imo after your done cycling why ever test nitrate again? Unless your an acro person that is.

I think I need to put up a poll. I notice some never test anything but salinity and some test everything all the time. I’m curious how many do vs don’t.

Sorry, I’m pretty new to this. What’s acro?

 

[esse]

I actually quite like it, but it’s not for everyone. I picked one up when starting to dose nitrate/ammonium, because my nitrate was bottoming out

I want to maintain 2-3ppm, but don’t want to dose something if I can’t measure it and dial in the dose. I wanted to be able to estimate daily consumption and match it with a dose. I think that’s a pretty specific use case, and I’m still figuring out if that even makes sense to do, but I wouldn’t be able to attempt it without this

 

[F i s h y]

I think I need to put up a poll. I notice some never test anything but salinity and some test everything all the time. I’m curious how many do vs don’t.

Sorry, I’m pretty new to this. What’s acro?

Acro is short for acropora. A type of small polyp stony coral (sps) that is typically considered more difficult to keep.

I use sslifert. Done in 4 to 5 minutes in just a few steps. Accurate enough for my needs.

 

[homer1475]

NYOS will never go near my reef again, and I will never suggest anyone buy their kit! I bought the NYOS kit as everyone suggested, I was dosing to get my nitrates up while fighting dinos early on in this tank.

NYOS did great up to about 3ppm. Kept adding neo nitro and the nyos kit kept saying 3ppm, never anymore. Got suspicious of the reading, as I was adding more and more nitrate solution, but the numbers never moved over 3ppm. So I went and bought another NYOS to confirm the reading(you know since everyone says NYOS is second to none....BS). Both tests tell me 3ppm. so I just go with it.

Fast forward a few months of dosing and reading 3ppm. I thought "great I got a handle on this!". Then things started to look off, no other way to explain it, other then things looked off....

Was doing some reading ion these forums along with a few others, and most of the SPS guru's I know, and were reading about were using the Red Sea Pro kit, so I went and bought one. Low and behold I was 20ppm according to the red sea kit. Got my nitrates down to around 5, and everything perked back up.

NYOS never again for me.

My secret santa this year got me the Hanna Nitrate test. Great kit up to 4ppm, it's the dilution step(you need nitrate free salt water, good luck trying to find one. Every salt mix has some nitrate in it) that screws with the meter. I wouldn't mind the time it takes to do the test(red sea pro takes about 12 minutes start to finish), it's just the dilution step that messes it all up.

Of course if you keep your nitrate level under 4ppm(yes the meter says 5, but over 4 it throws the over error), I suppose other then the time it takes to run the test, and the cost of replacement reagent(and don't forget the little paper filters), it is super accurate when compared to other test kits.

 

[MaxTremors]

Once you get the steps down, it’s not that bad, IMO. Personally, I cannot stand trying to determine what shade of pink or yellow something is. I would still prefer the Hanna even if it just gave a range or was less exact. I think if you were testing multiple tanks, the time it takes to test would be prohibitive, but if you have just one or two tanks it’s doesn’t really take that much more time than any of the other tests. I have my girlfriend help me test each week and together we cen test everything in under a half hour (I don’t know how I lucked out getting a GF that nerds out about reef tanks and video games as much as I do).

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Ive used salifert and elos tests for alk cal and mag. No.problems.
Sorry about ur hanna checker!
D

 

[Dan_P]

Giving birth to twins through my eyeball would be easier than using a hanna tester for nitrate levels. I was only slightly discouraged before I used the hanna because I watched a YouTube video about it. Not only did the guy say it was difficult but he also said he’d never use it again because he has 3 tanks and it takes 17 minutes per tank to perform.

Sorry, not sure if it’s discouraged to complain about stuff like this here but I’d hate for anyone else to buy this in hopes that they’re about to walk into the land of milk & honey for nitrate testing. I feel like I should be able to launch a shuttle into space after what I just did.

How is it people are recommending this thing? Maybe it’s because I’m a newbie.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The Hanna Marine Nitrate rest is not for everyone. The test itself might be the best on the market for accuracy and precision. Maybe I should start offering to buy these testers from unsatisfied reefers.

 

[homer1475]

The Hanna Marine Nitrate rest is not for everyone. The test itself might be the best on the market for accuracy and precision. Maybe I should start offering to buy these testers from unsatisfied reefers.

You can have mine.

Ive used it a total of 10 times. All 10 times I get an over reading if doing normal(flashing 5), or a very erroneous reading(several other test showing right around 5ppm) when running the dilution process(again no mixed salt water is truly nitrate free so the dilution process is not accurate)lol

Like I said, very accurate as long as you don't have to dilute the sample for the over 5ppm measurement.

 

[zukihara]

 

[DaneGer21]

Anyone who is unhappy I’ll make you a deal, I’ll pay shipping, you send me the tester haha

 

[DaneGer21]

You can have mine.

Ive used it a total of 10 times. All 10 times I get an over reading if doing normal(flashing 5), or a very erroneous reading(several other test showing right around 5ppm) when running the dilution process(again no mixed salt water is truly nitrate free so the dilution process is not accurate)lol

Is it possible to use a refractometer calibration fluid to dilute? Only guessing here

 

[homer1475]

Refractive index of a liquid and salt water are 2 different things. I do not know whats in calibration fluid, but I would be willing to bet it's not plain salt water.