is hanna salinity tester accuate?

[Spieg]

Glass "bobber" type hydrometers are usually very accurate. The local public aquarium in town uses them almost exclusively. Digital device or refractometer will require periodic calibration with a prepared calibration fluid. I'm currently using an HM Digital unit and have had no issue with it so far.

 

[desagon]

I have the Hanna calamity checker. I’d like to think it’s accurate as it’s my only salinity tester at the moment. I make sure I calibrate it from time to time with the fluid and my system is always at 1.025-1.026. That due to the skimmer pulling out water and throwing it off by a smidge.

 

[vetteguy53081]

So measuring methods can impact results? Thats so wierd. Would you know why this is?

Not necessarily. Gives me a numeric version. Try calibrating the unit.

 

[desagon]

I think one step a lot of people forget is that it has to be dunked in RODI water after you use it to clean it off. I have never left saltwater on it and I would imagine it would throw things off if you don’t keep it clean

 

[Krixic]

I think one step a lot of people forget is that it has to be dunked in RODI water after you use it to clean it off. I have never left saltwater on it and I would imagine it would throw things off if you don’t keep it clean

That accually makes quite a bit of sense, I wonder if thats it?

 

[canadianeh]

I use it and have no issue. I calibrate mine every month. I also rinse it with tap water and then Rodi water and then dry it up. Very important to clean it after each use and calibrate it at least once a month. Otherwise you will have salt build up on it

 

[Billldg]

That accually makes quite a bit of sense, I wonder if thats it?

I always cleaned my with RO/DI water after using it. Digital testers are great, as they allow us to be lazy, LOL!!! Question is, if they are so accurate, Why, are we always testing them against the old tried and true test kits, HMM!!! Like I said, I love my Hanna Alk, Copper, P04 LR and ULR testers.

 

[Krixic]

I always cleaned my with RO/DI water after using it. Digital testers are great, as they allow us to be lazy, LOL!!! Question is, if they are so accurate, Why, are we always testing them against the old tried and true test kits, HMM!!! Like I said, I love my Hanna Alk, Copper, P04 LR and ULR testers.

You certainly have a point there haha

 

[swiss1939]

Yes you are supposed to clean it with RODI after each use. I am curious how much this drifts over time even with doing this. I have started a process of keeping a cup with rodi water ready when I use it, then shaking the hanna tester out after using it in sw (cause I'm not sure if the salinity test part of the probe is the two little holes in the bottom, or the discs on the inside gap of those two probes), turning it off, then swishing it around the rodi cup for a few seconds before turning it on while in the rodi. Waiting for it to start up and if I see it starts up with a quick fluctuation of a few ppt or even a fraction of a ppt, then I turn it off... shake all the water out of it and dunk it back into the rodi cup again and keep doing that until it turns on without any fluctuations in salinity. This usually only happens the first dunk as I assume there is some sw still inside the probes and my theory is sw droplets get stuck inside those two little probe openings at the bottom.

 

[desagon]

That accually makes quite a bit of sense, I wonder if thats it?

I’ve definitely seen people use it and just throw it on the counter afterwards. I assume most problems with this checker are because of that.

 

[K7BMG]

I dont think that old dried saltwater would have my results of being low.
In fact it would read at a higher and higher salinity.

Trust me folks its not a cleanliness issue, at least with my two units it was not.

 

[swiss1939]

Well after half a month of using my Hanna salinity tester and keeping a regiment of shaking the sw off right after then dipping it in a cup of RODI water and shaking it out a few times until it turns on without a quick flash of higher than 0 reading.... this tester is way out of whack after re-calibration!

I kept it clean through that process over the past 2 weeks of mixing eight 5 gal buckets of sw at 35ppt. Tested my tank at 35.2ppt this morning. Re-calibrated this afternoon and tested my tank again.. 38.6ppt. With religious cleaning of the device I still ended up 3.6ppt high potentially. I will be buying a manual salinity tester immediately!

 

[swiss1939]

Just a final follow-up to this. Received a refractometer today with some brightwell calibration fluid and confirmed that my Hanna tester is currently 3ppt lower than the refractometer. Refractometer reading at 40ppt with the Hanna reading 37ppt. This means prior to my re-calibration of the hanna tester I was 6ppt higher than what it was telling me I was at. So I was mixing all my water at "35ppt" when it was actually 41ppt thanks to hanna.

I've been slowly bringing my salinity back down since I re-calibrated it and lost all confidence in its accuracy.

 

[Krixic]

Just a final follow-up to this. Received a refractometer today with some brightwell calibration fluid and confirmed that my Hanna tester is currently 3ppt lower than the refractometer. Refractometer reading at 40ppt with the Hanna reading 37ppt. This means prior to my re-calibration of the hanna tester I was 6ppt higher than what it was telling me I was at. So I was mixing all my water at "35ppt" when it was actually 41ppt thanks to hanna.

I've been slowly bringing my salinity back down since I re-calibrated it and lost all confidence in its accuracy.

Yikes. Man that sucks. I bought a refractometer (and a hydrometer just for good measure) the other day so I will be seeing what's the damage when it gets here. Fingers crossed, I hope I got lucky....

 

[Thespammailaccount]

I use Hanna to match temp however when making water (and verifying salinity and temp of display tank) when Hanna says my salinity is 1.024 and my Milwaukee says my salinity is 1.025 I am ready for a water change

 

[Thespammailaccount]

I did read somewhere I think from BRS that Hanna is to be used to determine the salinity of new salt water not tank water and that it can give a false reading when using it to test your display water. Which makes no sense I would prefer a product that will tell me the salinity of my new salt water and my display water

 

[Krixic]

I did read somewhere I think from BRS that Hanna is to be used to determine the salinity of new salt water not tank water and that it can give a false reading when using it to test your display water. Which makes no sense I would prefer a product that will tell me the salinity of my new salt water and my display water

Thats odd. I wonder why that is.....

 

[swiss1939]

It is kinda ridiculous to spend $60 or whatever it was on this thing and it literally doesn't work correct out the box. Mine was brand new, started a fresh tank by calibrating it then mixing the 40 gal +/- of water for my tank. Used it for two weeks to check my DT during cycle. At the end of two weeks I did 8 5 gal water changes which I used this hanna tester to mix up and at the end of that I re-calibrated and found it 4ppt out of whack from itself after 2 weeks and 16 buckets of sw mix and a handful of DT tank checks (while following their instructions for washing it off and drying it between uses).

As far as I'm concerned, they ripped me off and i'm hesitant to get any of their digital testers.

 

[Krixic]

It is kinda ridiculous to spend $60 or whatever it was on this thing and it literally doesn't work correct out the box. Mine was brand new, started a fresh tank by calibrating it then mixing the 40 gal +/- of water for my tank. Used it for two weeks to check my DT during cycle. At the end of two weeks I did 8 5 gal water changes which I used this hanna tester to mix up and at the end of that I re-calibrated and found it 4ppt out of whack from itself after 2 weeks and 16 buckets of sw mix and a handful of DT tank checks (while following their instructions for washing it off and drying it between uses).

As far as I'm concerned, they ripped me off and i'm hesitant to get any of their digital testers.

I totally get what you mean, although I wonder how some people manage to use it effectively.

Maybe their salinity products are a hit a miss? It just sucks cause i know their other parameter checkers seem to be very popular .

 

[homer1475]

There is/was a huge thread in @Hanna Instruments sponsor forum about the checker.

Basically it boils down to, you either get one that works out of the box, or it doesn't. I fortunately got one that is spot on with my refractometer, and milwaukee(which I know reads 2ppt low anyways).

Hanna also debunked the idea that this tester should only be used on freshly mixed water. No idea where that started anyways? I've had mine since about 2 months after they came out, and use it every day to spot check my tank's and QT tanks.

If it doesn't works properly call/email @Hanna Instruments and they will replace it. Least thats what they were doing.