Thoughts on ease of use- Hanna Low Range Nitrate Checker

[SDK]

I have been slowly changing out my test kits as I deplete the reagents or they or go out of date, primarily with Hanna Checkers. I am now at that point with my Red Sea Nitrate test kit.

Reading some of the reviews of the Hanna Low Range Nitrate Checker and looking at a PDF of the instruction sheet has me a bit hesitant to pull the trigger. I am primarily interested in ease of use. It seems like this checker has a pretty complicated set of steps, and will actually be more time consuming than a standard test kit.

I test for detectable Nitrate in the 5ppm range, and the Red Sea kit has always been fine for this. However, it now seems like refills for thier standard NO3 kit are no longer available, and you have to buy their $49 “pro” kit that costs as much as the Hanna Checker.

Salifert is $17 and may be my best option if I can test for 5ppm (plus or minus a ppm or 2), but I have no experience with this kit.

To pare it down, looking for an accurate enough for the above stated needs test that is fairly quick and easy. I have two teenage athletes at home and my schedule gets very stretched. Bonus points if you have the Hanna and can comment on any of this.

 

[Miami Reef]

Why don’t you just get the Hannah HR checker (High Range)?

 

[SDK]

Have you (or anyone else) used one, and how did it perform?

I am not sure about how accurate the high range version is down towards the lower end of its testing range. It is something I would consider if it’s good for my application.

 

[Schraufabagel]

Get the high range checker. I have both that and the low range one. The low range one is quite a few steps and the reagent refills are more expensive. All in all, the low range one sucks

 

[MNFish]

I have high range and it reads the same as my salifert does. Seems very accurate and is easy to use.

 

[Miami Reef]

I have the High Range and it’s very accurate IMO.

 

[Tamberav]

High range is great. It will certainly be accurate enough. 2-5ppm I wouldn’t even consider that low.

 

[Spieg]

Thomas on BRS did the LR test in a video. No way I would do that many steps... way too complicated. I have the Hanna HR checker but don't really trust the results because it reads so much higher than (more than double) my NYOS or Red Sea test kits.

 

[SDK]

Thanks all. I think I will try the high range one, and cross reference/verify the results against my Red Sea kit. I have enough reagents left to do both tests for a month or two.

 

[Drich5150]

Get the hr one. Easy to use. Very accurate.

 

[Gtinnel]

Let me start by saying I've never used the Hanna LR Nitrate, but I was really excited for its release, until I watched a video of the steps involved. There is no way I'm going to go through all of that hassle to test nitrates.
I ended up using the salifert test, which does fine IMO down to about 1ppm, until the Hanna Nitrate HR checker came out. Bow all inise is the HR checker and would strongly recommend it.

 

[piranhaman00]

Salifert remains the best nitrate checker, so simple and very accurate

 

[reefteaser]

I’ve used Salifert for years, but recently purchased several Hanna checkers. I’m tired of trying to read color charts, and when I cross checked the two all came out almost identical.