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I can't argue with Triton's results either. Sounds like Triton works best for you. If it ain't broke, don't fix it! Happy Reefing.Nice to hear about the reliability of the Alkalinity checker. Perhaps I'll check it out.
Getting back to the Hanna Phosphate checkers: It seems there are two camps here; one group of people that are very happy with the "consistent" results and another group that is unhappy with the "inconsistent" results. Are the "unhappy" people doing something wrong during their testing-as Hanna would have you believe.
It is my firm belief that both camps are correct in their testing results/observations. What it really comes down to is it's a problem with quality control.
You either got a fully functioning unit or a lemon (which I got twice).
There are always "lemons" associated with any product. The lemons for the Phosphate/Phosphorous checkers are probably higher than they should be.
Along those lines, I decided to have my water sampled by Triton to see what my Phosphate levels were.
It seems that using Red Sea, Salifert and Hanna Checker for testing PO4 results all led to some inconsistencies:
The Checker would give the most inconsistent results. On the day I submitted the results to Triton, I used the Checker, 3 times and got results of Zero (first time ever) 0.12 and 0.25. (In the years I've been using the Checker, I receive a result of 0.10 ppm or above about 75%. I know this is not accurate.
The Salifert kit is somewhat difficult to read but it seemed to give results ranging between .05 - .10 ppm. Somewhat more consistent but not what I would consider reliable.
The Red Sea Kit would ALWAYS show a PO4 level of 0.04 PPM. While this is consistent, the fact that it always indicates this number causes me to question the reliability of the results.
Anyway, I received the results from Triton, two weeks ago, and the results indicated a PO4 level of 0.013 PPM. (Compared to 0.oo8 PPM when I tested with them about 2 and a half years ago).
So this indicates to me that none of the test kits or checkers are very accurate, ASSUMING,of course that the Triton method for testing IS more accurate.
Along those lines I will stop wasting my money on reagents and test kits and consider sending my water in for periodic testing, and not just for Phosphate.