Recommended phosphate tests

hardcorn77 · 2026-06-03T11:22:31-0400

What does everyone use to test nutrition other than a Hanna checker? I’m primarily looking for a reliable manual phosphate test kit. I’m currently using a Hanna checker and when the reagents are gone I want to move on.

Gumbies R Us · 2026-06-03T11:56:20-0400

I use the Salifert phosphate test kit and have never had any issues with it!

hardcorn77 · 2026-06-03T11:59:47-0400

Gumbies R Us said:
I use the Salifert phosphate test kit and have never had any issues with it!

Awesome… thank you

BryanM · 2026-06-03T12:17:12-0400

I use hanna, it seems reasonable to me.

hardcorn77 · 2026-06-03T12:50:34-0400

BryanM said:
I use hanna, it seems reasonable to me.

The problem I find with the Hanna checkers is that they will fail. I started out testing everything with Hanna checkers and they eventually failed. I’ve been using manual test kits for everything else for the past year and it’s been great. I’m using Hanna for phosphates right now but I’m switching as soon as my reagents are gone.

ShakeyGizzard · 2026-06-03T12:58:22-0400

Salifert for the win

EricR · 2026-06-03T12:59:44-0400

hardcorn77 said:
The problem I find with the Hanna checkers is that they will fail. I started out testing everything with Hanna checkers and they eventually failed...

Do you mean that the actual checkers died?

I have 4 Hanna egg checkers that I've had for 5+ years and they all still work fine.
*I've had a couple/few issues with reagents but Hanna replaced for free in those cases

c4haskett · 2026-06-03T13:03:58-0400

Salifert is hard to beat. They are reliable, consistent, cheap to test with, and readily available. That is what I use for daily testing. I do use the hanna phosphorus checker that I use 1-2 per week to make sure nothing seems out of whack. You aren't going to get the precision from salifert but IMO that is irrelevant. You just want to make sure you're in the sweet spot of that .03 to .1 mark.

hardcorn77 · 2026-06-03T13:23:00-0400

ShakeyGizzard said:
Salifert for the win

Awesome… thank you

hardcorn77 · 2026-06-03T13:23:50-0400

c4haskett said:
Salifert is hard to beat. They are reliable, cheap to test with, and readily available. That is what I use for daily testing. I do use the hanna phosphorus checker that I uses 1-2 per week to make sure nothing seems out of whack. You aren't going to get the precision from salifert but IMO that is irrelevant. You just want to make sure you're in the sweet spot of that .03 to .1 mark.

That is exactly what I’m looking for… thank you for the reply

hardcorn77 · 2026-06-03T13:26:55-0400

EricR said:
Do you mean that the actual checkers died?

I have 4 Hanna egg checkers that I've had for 5+ years and they all still work fine.
*I've had a couple/few issues with reagents but Hanna replaced for free in those cases

Yep… ph checker started reading 8.6 plus after a year of owning it. After that I switched over to manual test kits but actually stopped test ph lol. Everybody’s experiences will be different but it inevitable that the Hanna will fail so I’d rather just switch over how that my reagents are gone. Want to buy one lol?

ColorMeGone · 2026-06-03T16:26:36-0400

nyos. Much better than saliferts tests in my book.

hardcorn77 · 2026-06-03T16:45:14-0400

ColorMeGone said:
nyos. Much better than saliferts tests in my book.

Thank you

Randy Holmes-Farley · 2026-06-03T17:55:59-0400

hardcorn77 said:
Yep… ph checker started reading 8.6 plus after a year of owning it. After that I switched over to manual test kits but actually stopped test ph lol. Everybody’s experiences will be different but it inevitable that the Hanna will fail so I’d rather just switch over how that my reagents are gone. Want to buy one lol?

I don’t really get the rationale since the manual tests will just have to be repurchased each time it runs out.

If the Hanna is still working, you want to stop using it because someday it will fail?

hardcorn77 · 2026-06-03T19:48:03-0400

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I don’t really get the rationale since the manual tests will just have to be repurchased each time it runs out.

If the Hanna is still working, you want to stop using it because someday it will fail?

It could be failing right now for all I know to be honest and I’m kinda confused on the replies about the Hanna checker. I had asked recommendations on a manual test kits.

Randy Holmes-Farley · 2026-06-03T19:50:59-0400

hardcorn77 said:
It could be failing right now for all I know to be honest and I’m kinda confused on the replies about the Hanna checker. I had asked recommendations on a manual test kits.

I think the issue is that the general consensus is that the Hanna is better, which confuses folks about why you want a different kit if the Hanna is working fine still.

hardcorn77 · 2026-06-03T19:58:03-0400

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I think the issue is that the general consensus is that the Hanna is better, which confuses folks about why you want a different kit if the Hanna is working fine still.

when my Hanna ph checker failed it didn’t just die it gave me wrong results. It’s time to order reagents so I’m switching to a manual kit that I trust a lot more. It’s funny because I stated my reason in the post but many always feel the need to argue another point. I get that people dig them and I’m just not a fan because of my past experiences.