Hanna Checkers

[Harry g]

Would you guys say in your experience that any of these Hannah checkers are worth keeping instead of selling them for salifert test kits, I just think paying 25$ for 25 tests when I could pay 20$ for 50-100 Salifert tests is kind of expensive.

 

[lapin]

You got um keep um

 

[BriDroid]

It's a personal preference. If you do decide to sell them, they will sell for sure!

Personally, I like the Hanna checkers and use them. Once your tank starts to "run", you won't have to check so often, once a week or so, then the cost isn't quite as high for the reagents. Just my $0.02!

 

[Uncle99]

Would you guys say in your experience that any of these Hannah checkers are worth keeping instead of selling them for salifert test kits, I just think paying 25$ for 25 tests when I could pay 20$ for 50-100 Salifert tests is kind of expensive.

The CA kit is trash as the sample size is too small to get a consistent reading.

The AlK is good because it is fast and easy.

The phosphate checker is the “star” of the group I’ve not found any hobby grade tests better as it can read the super super faint colour change at least, consistently.

Me, I’d chuck the CA but keep the other two.

Salifert and/or Aquaforest are great substitutes for CA as the colour change from pink to blue is easy to see.

Same with nitrate and MG, easy to see.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I stopped using my hanna testers last year cause the monthly cost of replacements was out of hand. I use salifert now for regular day to day testing.

I keep the hanna's since they are super accurate IMO, and I use them once or twice a year just to double check that everything is in order.

 

[TonyB]

I prefer the checkers. I find them to be accurate, repeatable and slightly quicker overall than traditional kits, although slightly more expensive. A worthwhile tradeoff, IMO.

Ive not seen inconsistencies with the CA kit and ICP tests have confirmed accuracy. Once you learn the process it’s easy. I can run ca, alk and check pH all while the 3:00 timer is running down on the PO4.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Honestly, it's up to you if you want to get rid of the test. Personally, I use Salifert and Red Sea and never had any issues with those tests.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Would you guys say in your experience that any of these Hannah checkers are worth keeping instead of selling them for salifert test kits, I just think paying 25$ for 25 tests when I could pay 20$ for 50-100 Salifert tests is kind of expensive.

I sold all mine except Phosphate ULR

Not only is Salifert cheaper, it's also quicker, and smaller.

No regrets.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

I hear ya on the cost increases of the reagents. It’s been crazy. A long time ago I remember reading about someone testing Hanna checkers with different reagents. I think they even had a chart or multiplier to convert the readings (using other brands of reagent) to a solid reading, a correction factor of sorts. I don’t remember who but I’m thinking maybe it was @taricha ? Haven’t seen him around for a minute though.

Otherwise, for budgets sake you could sell them….better yet gift them to a color blind or otherwise visually impaired fellow hobbyist. They have been lifesavers for me with my vision loss. I use automatic pipettes to draw the sample (and reagent Alk), the coralvue stirrers, Alexa for timer, and Ai on my phone to read the displays to me. The cost of reagents is crazy compared to others, but there’s really no choice for me. I have a fairly stable system so I really don’t manually test very often. I wish I was that stable! Ha!

Edit. It may have been @Dan_P
I’ve been looking but haven’t found the thread

 

[rtparty]

Maybe alkalinity if you don’t like color change test kits

The Calcium is trash and you want phosphorus ULR or phosphate ULR, not just Phosphate

 

[daikaijureefer]

I have both salifert and Hanna for all parameters. I don’t like to jump back and forth with test kits on a given parameter unless I think something is really off. The calcium and mag tests take longer but I like that it gives me a number to log instead of guessing between drops. If something seems really off, I’ll check against salifert. I think it’s important to understand that both being hobby grade kits that we aren’t getting perfectly exact numbers anyway, but our best approximation given what is available to us.

TLDR; I like use both tests when I want to verify something and Hanna to track trends overall.

 

[daikaijureefer]

I have both salifert and Hanna for all parameters. I don’t like to jump back and forth with test kits on a given parameter unless I think something is really off. The calcium and mag tests take longer but I like that it gives me a number to log instead of guessing between drops. If something seems really off, I’ll check against salifert. I think it’s important to understand that both being hobby grade kits that we aren’t getting perfectly exact numbers anyway, but our best approximation given what is available to us.

TLDR; I like use both tests when I want to verify something and Hanna to track trends overall.

I just wanted to come back and add that I started realizing with color change kits that since there was always a possible 1-2 drop discrepancy, I tended to fudge the numbers to what I wanted them to be. I was putting a bias on this kit.

Because when there is a small discrepancy and you have to choose, why not choose the number you want?

 

[Harry g]

I hear ya on the cost increases of the reagents. It’s been crazy. A long time ago I remember reading about someone testing Hanna checkers with different reagents. I think they even had a chart or multiplier to convert the readings (using other brands of reagent) to a solid reading, a correction factor of sorts. I don’t remember who but I’m thinking maybe it was @taricha ? Haven’t seen him around for a minute though.

Otherwise, for budgets sake you could sell them….better yet gift them to a color blind or otherwise visually impaired fellow hobbyist. They have been lifesavers for me with my vision loss. I use automatic pipettes to draw the sample (and reagent Alk), the coralvue stirrers, Alexa for timer, and Ai on my phone to read the displays to me. The cost of reagents is crazy compared to others, but there’s really no choice for me. I have a fairly stable system so I really don’t manually test very often. I wish I was that stable! Ha!

Edit. It may have been @Dan_P
I’ve been looking but haven’t found the thread

Yeah when I first bought them used I thought that the expensive part would be the actual checker not the reagents, sure it’s only around 1$ per test and if your testing weekly it adds to around 4$
If you’re measuring alk, calcium, magnesium and phosphate so it’s like a 200$ yearly subscription.