Hanna Checkers. Are they all that. Are they worth the money?

[PeterEde]

I have a Salinity checker and HR No3 checker. Both give me cause for concern.
Why would an electronic instrument need calibration so often?

I last called maybe a month ago. Yesterday I checked my water and felt the measurement might be wrong. So I calibrated again and got a reading of 40. what the heck. I replace wet skim with salt and evap with RO. I can only assume when I mixed for my last WC my meter was out then and mixed at 40ish?
What is inside these things that can go out of cal so quick?
Designed to fail is my guess.
If I could get a reliable hydrometer I would but all I can find in Australia are cheap garbage ones. One of which I already tried and the scale had slipped.

Again with HR No3 checker. I know my Nitrate was high so instead of trying to eyeball color I decided to get a real idea of numbers and bought the checker. I get swings of 10ppm one day to the next with no change to feeding or anything else. I am fast losing faith in Hanna.
Maybe a better test kit with great range is required.
What is the best No3 test kit? I have Redsea

Tank still looks good. No obvious issues and am now working to reduce salinity over the next few days

 

[blaxsun]

Variations between reagents, testing procedures, etc.

 

[Ober_Reef]

I have a Salinity checker and HR No3 checker. Both give me cause for concern.
Why would an electronic instrument need calibration so often?

I last called maybe a month ago. Yesterday I checked my water and felt the measurement might be wrong. So I calibrated again and got a reading of 40. what the heck. I replace wet skim with salt and evap with RO. I can only assume when I mixed for my last WC my meter was out then and mixed at 40ish?
What is inside these things that can go out of cal so quick?
Designed to fail is my guess.
If I could get a reliable hydrometer I would but all I can find in Australia are cheap garbage ones. One of which I already tried and the scale had slipped.

Again with HR No3 checker. I know my Nitrate was high so instead of trying to eyeball color I decided to get a real idea of numbers and bought the checker. I get swings of 10ppm one day to the next with no change to feeding or anything else. I am fast losing faith in Hanna.
Maybe a better test kit with great range is required.
What is the best No3 test kit? I have Redsea

Tank still looks good. No obvious issues and am now working to reduce salinity over the next few days

I have two salinity checkers, one Hanna and one of the classic ones you view through the eye hole. So far I have always trusted my Hanna checker though. I have essentially every checker other than the ammonia checker and the new Mg one and I use all of them other than the Ca checker. For someone like my self who works a ton and has two small children under three these checkers are a god send! Just my opinion

One last thing to say..... I do calibrate my Salinity checker frequently but mainly because it’s so easy for the HI98319, I just tear the pouch(I bought ton off Amazon) place it in for a couple seconds and it’s done.

 

[PeterEde]

I have two salinity checkers, one Hanna and one of the classic ones you view through the eye hole. So far I have always trusted my Hanna checker though. I have essentially every checker other than the ammonia checker and the new Mg one and I use all of them other than the Ca checker. For someone like my self who works a ton and has two small children under three these checkers are a god send! Just my opinion

One last thing to say..... I do calibrate my Salinity checker frequently but mainly because it’s so easy for the HI98319, I just tear the pouch(I bought ton off Amazon) place it in for a couple seconds and it’s done.

My question is though why does it need calibrating so often. The industry I work in instruments such as this are only calibrated once a year. If I did that with this check the tank would be dead.

 

[Reefer Matt]

My question is though why does it need calibrating so often. The industry I work in instruments such as this are only calibrated once a year. If I did that with this check the tank would be dead.

These testers are hobby grade, not lab grade equipment. None of the hobby test kits are 100% accurate. Instead of trying to get specific numbers, I suggest staying in an acceptable range, to achieve consistency over accuracy.

 

[mmorriso]

In my experience (I’ve used almost all of them) they won’t tell you the “truth” but they can “lie” to you consistently which isn’t too bad.

The salinity tester is great until it isn’t, and they typically fail subtly.

End of the day, what’s the point of a checker you need to regularly validate with a manual test anyway? Mine sit on the shelf since I lost faith in them.

 

[eqbal9947]

I honestly hate the phosphate tester, gives me a wide variety of numbers.
The Nitrate, Copper and Alkalinity ones are super consistent
My PH checkers is GARBAGE.

 

[blaxsun]

@mtl summed it up best: hobby grade vs. lab grade. I always have a manual titration kit kicking around to verify the accuracy of my Hanna testers, but I know they can fluctuate as well. I look at it this way: If my alkalinity is off ±0.5dkH, calcium or magnesiums ±50ppm - what's the worst case scenario? Not much, to be honest.

 

[Reef.]

I have a Salinity checker and HR No3 checker. Both give me cause for concern.
Why would an electronic instrument need calibration so often?

I last called maybe a month ago. Yesterday I checked my water and felt the measurement might be wrong. So I calibrated again and got a reading of 40. what the heck. I replace wet skim with salt and evap with RO. I can only assume when I mixed for my last WC my meter was out then and mixed at 40ish?
What is inside these things that can go out of cal so quick?
Designed to fail is my guess.
If I could get a reliable hydrometer I would but all I can find in Australia are cheap garbage ones. One of which I already tried and the scale had slipped.

Again with HR No3 checker. I know my Nitrate was high so instead of trying to eyeball color I decided to get a real idea of numbers and bought the checker. I get swings of 10ppm one day to the next with no change to feeding or anything else. I am fast losing faith in Hanna.
Maybe a better test kit with great range is required.
What is the best No3 test kit? I have Redsea

Tank still looks good. No obvious issues and am now working to reduce salinity over the next few days

Fish poo that has nitrate in it.

I find the nitrate checker very good, tho 10ppm is quite a big variance, not sure poo would account for that but 10ppm is not a big concern imo, if you nitrate is 10 or 20, it’s still in an acceptable range.

I am tempted to say maybe your testing procedures need tightening up, I have used the nitrate checker for a while now and always get results that seem accurate, they slowly increase over the week from 15 to 20, but I am OCD when testing.

Their salinity checker I would pass on, a $1 for a single packet of calibration fluid and it needs caliction often, not for me.

 

[doubleshot00]

I think some checkers are hit or miss. I know my phosphate ulr has an occasional swing but still better than my eyes trying to figure out the different shades of blue.

Im very happy with mh Hanna Nitrate Hr (i have two just incase) phosphate ulr and alk. For salinity you cant beat the Milwaukee imo.

 

[DE FISH]

Yes they are but I’d recommend a 10ml micropipe your need to send it off for calibration every 3 - 6 months

 

[Mike Butler]

I have a Salinity checker and HR No3 checker. Both give me cause for concern.
Why would an electronic instrument need calibration so often?

I last called maybe a month ago. Yesterday I checked my water and felt the measurement might be wrong. So I calibrated again and got a reading of 40. what the heck. I replace wet skim with salt and evap with RO. I can only assume when I mixed for my last WC my meter was out then and mixed at 40ish?
What is inside these things that can go out of cal so quick?
Designed to fail is my guess.
If I could get a reliable hydrometer I would but all I can find in Australia are cheap garbage ones. One of which I already tried and the scale had slipped.

Again with HR No3 checker. I know my Nitrate was high so instead of trying to eyeball color I decided to get a real idea of numbers and bought the checker. I get swings of 10ppm one day to the next with no change to feeding or anything else. I am fast losing faith in Hanna.
Maybe a better test kit with great range is required.
What is the best No3 test kit? I have Redsea

Tank still looks good. No obvious issues and am now working to reduce salinity over the next few days

Hi, I'm in Australia also (NSW 2234) and unfortunately we are on the wrong end of the world for all the good support equipment. I currently use the "Ultimate Aquacare Portable Refractometer" with good results for salinity testing and I haven't had to calibrate again since the first time. The only piece of Hanna equipment that I use is the "Seawater Alkalinity (dKH) tester. a bit fiddly to get an accurate test but reasonable accurate against a chemical/water test colour test or LFS test kit. I don't seem to have access to any other Hanna equipt. but some of the reviews I've read are not good.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Fish poo that has nitrate in it.

I find the nitrate checker very good, tho 10ppm is quite a big variance, not sure poo would account for that but 10ppm is not a big concern imo, if you nitrate is 10 or 20, it’s still in an acceptable range.

I am tempted to say maybe your testing procedures need tightening up, I have used the nitrate checker for a while now and always get results that seem accurate, they slowly increase over the week from 15 to 20, but I am OCD when testing.

Their salinity checker I would pass on, a $1 for a single packet of calibration fluid and it needs caliction often, not for me.

Why not make a quarter gallon of diy calibration fluid for about 10 cents and check the calibration every time?

 

[gbroadbridge]

Again with HR No3 checker. I know my Nitrate was high so instead of trying to eyeball color I decided to get a real idea of numbers and bought the checker. I get swings of 10ppm one day to the next with no change to feeding or anything else. I am fast losing faith in Hanna.
Maybe a better test kit with great range is required.
What is the best No3 test kit? I have Redsea

All the hobby grade tests have about the same level of accuracy and uncertainty.

You'll waste a lot of money trying to find something that wont vary with each test. Just pick one and stick with it and maybe just measure once a week to look at trends rather than exact numbers.

 

[OfficeReefer]

I have several of their items I use as sanity check for Apex probes. The salinty checker has not given me any grief, the alkalinity is a breeze and the phosphate acceptable. The Nitrate HR not very useful and the LR is a terrible design due to the filter piece and extra step one has to do. Leaks everywhere on the first try and wastes reagents.

 

[Reef.]

Why not make a quarter gallon of diy calibration fluid for about 10 cents and check the calibration every time?

Because the Hanna calibration fluid is not a salt solution it’s a conducive fluid so you couldn’t calibrate it with the diy fluid, you could use the diy fluid to check each time that your reference solution is still reading 35ppt on the Hanna but if it wasn’t you would then need the Hanna calibration fluid to calibrate it, this would help catch the checker before it went out of calibration but wouldn’t really save on buying the Hanna calibration packets.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Because the Hanna calibration fluid is not a salt solution it’s a conducive fluid so you couldn’t calibrate it with the diy fluid, you could use the diy fluid to check each time that your reference solution is still reading 35ppt on the Hanna but if it wasn’t you would then need the Hanna calibration fluid to calibrate it, this would help catch the checker before it went out of calibration but wouldn’t really save on buying the Hanna calibration packets.

No, that's not the case.

I calibrate my Hanna Salinity checker with a DIY solution all the time. I use the same calibration solution to calibrate the Salinity probe on the aquarium controller as well.

Whoever told you that has told you nonsense.

BTW, the Hanna fluid is simply Potassium Chloride.

 

[Reef.]

No, that's not the case.

I calibrate my Hanna Salinity checker with a DIY solution all the time. I use the same calibration solution to calibrate the Salinity probe on the aquarium controller as well.

Whoever told you that has told you nonsense.

BTW, the Hanna fluid is simply Potassium Chloride.

Why did you ask me if it was possible if you already do it?

 

[gbroadbridge]

Why did you ask me if it was possible if you already do it?

I didn't ask you.

I was explaining that it is not necessary to buy sachets from Hanna to calibrate the salinity checker. You can make gallons of the stuff for penny's

 

[Memisis]

I use hanna Alk, Po4, No3(HR & LR), calc, and I used to use copper for QT. I like them compared to titration tests and having to visually compare colors on a chart. I feel that they are accurate, but more importantly I think they are consistent. There are always variables like new batch of powder or liquids and user
test process variables that can impact the measurement from test to test, but they are great for stability.

My most used tests are Alk, Po4, No3 HR. They are very easy to use and I get very consistent measurements with the same batch of test chems.