Hanna Checkers

[Blaque Kuchel]

I'm looking into getting myself some Hanna Checkers for my mixed reef. Which ones do you recommend as minimum and which other would you recommend that would just be nice to have?

All input is welcome and appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Silent]

Hanna has alk, cal, phosphate or ultra low phosphate which are common for people. They don't have a nitrate and mag one so you will need a reg test kit for that.

 

[Crabby48]

Alk tester and ulr phosphate tester. Calcium tester seems most people say it’s hard so I would skip that one

 

[User1]

Alk tester and ulr phosphate tester. Calcium tester seems most people say it’s hard so I would skip that one

Agreed. I use their Alk and phosphate ULR. Easy tests to run with the Hanna unit which means they will get done

 

[Bayareareefer18]

+1 dkh and po4.

 

[Blaque Kuchel]

What's the difference betwen tye phosphate and phoursous checker

 

[Blaque Kuchel]

Would it be beneficial at all if I went with the normal phosphate checker versus the ULR phosphate checker

 

[reef_daddy]

What's the difference betwen tye phosphate and phoursous checker

Math. Most of the hobby references phosphate, which you can convert Phosphorus to, but nobody wants to do that. The Phosphate checker dose the conversation for you.
skip to 4:00 in to get the breakdown.

 

[s_tempest]

What's the difference betwen tye phosphate and phoursous checker

The answer takes you back to general chemistry.
The Hanna Phosphorus ULR checker (HI736) measures phosphorus, in other words, the stand-alone element P. This checker measures in units of parts per billion (ppb), in other words one billionth of a gram of phosphorus for every gram of water.
The Hanna Low-Range checker (HI713) measures phosphate. The phosphate compound is one P with four O atoms. This checker measures in units of parts per million (ppm). 1 ppm is one thousand times higher concentration than 1 ppb. One mole of phosphate weighs more than one mole of phosphorus (moles, from general chemistry), in fact it weighs 3.13 times as much, so you cannot go directly from ppb of phosphorus to ppm of phosphate. But you can convert from ppb of phosphorus to ppm of phosphate by multiplying by 3.13 and dividing by 1000 (or just multiplying by 0.00313).

Most of the discussion of nutrients in fish tanks talks about phosphate in ppm, so that's the compound and number you want to use or to get you. The Low-Range phosphate checker gives you phosphate directly, so that is useful. But its accuracy is 0.04 ppm, meaning it is harder to know if the difference between 0.01 or 0.02 (or 0.01 vs 0.05) is real or just variability among measurements. The ULR phosphorus checker gives you values as phosphorus (so you need to do that multiplying) but it has an accuracy of 5 ppb. When you multiply that by 0.00313 to get phosphate, you see that you can better trust the difference between 0.01 vs 0.02.

It looks like there is now a Hanna Ultra Low Range phosphate checker, HI774, that combines the better resolution of the ULR phosphorus checker with the gives-you-phosphate of the Low-Range checker. It looks like this checker gives you slightly less accuracy than the ULR phosphorus checker but better than the Low-Range phosphate checker.

 

[s_tempest]

I have the Hanna alkalinity checker, ULR phosphorus checker, calcium checker and pH meter - these come together as a kit. I find these all pretty easy and quick to use. As someone who doesn't see colors all that perfectly, I always feel uncertain with the color-comparison charts. With my other test kits I commonly think "The color I am seeing isn't on the reference chart anywhere! Pink, purple & blue - these words mean nothing to me! "
So I like having a machine view the color for me and give me a number. You need to worry about things like calibration and drift over time, but this is solved by having someone also (like your LFS) check your water every once in a while.

 

[S.Pepper]

The answer takes you back to general chemistry.
The Hanna Phosphorus ULR checker (HI736) measures phosphorus, in other words, the stand-alone element P. This checker measures in units of parts per billion (ppb), in other words one billionth of a gram of phosphorus for every gram of water.
The Hanna Low-Range checker (HI713) measures phosphate. The phosphate compound is one P with four O atoms. This checker measures in units of parts per million (ppm). 1 ppm is one thousand times higher concentration than 1 ppb. One mole of phosphate weighs more than one mole of phosphorus (moles, from general chemistry), in fact it weighs 3.13 times as much, so you cannot go directly from ppb of phosphorus to ppm of phosphate. But you can convert from ppb of phosphorus to ppm of phosphate by multiplying by 3.13 and dividing by 1000 (or just multiplying by 0.00313).

Most of the discussion of nutrients in fish tanks talks about phosphate in ppm, so that's the compound and number you want to use or to get you. The Low-Range phosphate checker gives you phosphate directly, so that is useful. But its accuracy is 0.04 ppm, meaning it is harder to know if the difference between 0.01 or 0.02 (or 0.01 vs 0.05) is real or just variability among measurements. The ULR phosphorus checker gives you values as phosphorus (so you need to do that multiplying) but it has an accuracy of 5 ppb. When you multiply that by 0.00313 to get phosphate, you see that you can better trust the difference between 0.01 vs 0.02.

It looks like there is now a Hanna Ultra Low Range phosphate checker, HI774 that combines the better resolution of the ULR phosphorus checker with the gives-you-phosphate of the Low-Range checker. It looks like Hanna gives is slightly less accuracy than the ULR phosphorus checker but better than the Low-Range phosphate checker.

Nice write-up and great information. And no, I don't remember my general chemistry. But thankfully, my b-n-l is a chemical engineer and is only a phone call away.

 

[s_tempest]

Nice write-up and great information. And no, I don't remember my general chemistry. But thankfully, my b-n-l is a chemical engineer and is only a phone call away.

Yeah, I geek out a bit on this stuff. I'm a geochemist (combine geology and chemistry), currently teaching a course on marine biogeochemistry. My wife's degrees are in chemistry. My in-laws were chemists before retirement (one in industry, one at a college) and my sole s-i-l works in pharma (marketing). We're fun at parties

 

[S.Pepper]

Yeah, I geek out a bit on this stuff. I'm a geochemist (combine geology and chemistry), currently teaching a course on marine biogeochemistry. My wife's degrees are in chemistry. My in-laws were chemists before retirement (one in industry, one at a college) and my sole s-i-l works in pharma (marketing). We're fun at parties

I bet. ;Hilarious

 

[Blaque Kuchel]

Thanks for all the insight!