Eggs over easy: What Hanna checkers do you use?

[Gman83]

For other I have salinity with temp reading. I love being able to quickly check a new batch of water.

 

[trevorhiller]

@Peace River please add the Hanna High Range Nitrate (HI782) & Hanna Salinity Pen (HI98319)!

These are commonly used and will make this a very useful data collection for future hobbyists trying to decide.

 

[Susan Edwards]

not sure if they are for sale anywhere, but here is a file if you or a friend has a 3d printer.

Hanna Checker Stand by RobBzReef

Note: I get a lot of questions on how to modify this in fusion using the provided f3d file. Search for my youtube channel (robbzreef) and there is a step by step 'how to' video there. If you find that helpful a like and subscribe is greatly appreciated.https://www.youtube.com/@RobBzReef v3...

www.thingiverse.com

I did find some on etsy. But will save file as we will get a 3d printer later this year. thanks

 

[BigSkyRich]

Eggs over easy: What Hanna checkers do you use?

Water testing is important and many reef keepers use Hanna checkers to monitor their water quality. For many of us, the benefit of seeing a number on a screen instead of trying to judge the shade of pink, green, or some other color is significant. The Hanna checkers include meters for phosphates, nitrate, ammonia, magnesium, calcium, alkalinity, and more. Some reef keepers have even use 3D printed racks to keep their Hanna checkers and the related reagents organized. However, not everyone uses these testers and some have stayed with the color strips related to manual testing while others have moved to automated testing solutions. What is your experience with the Hanna checkers? Which options do you have and which ones do your regularly use? Please share your thoughts in the discussion thread!

View attachment 3050889
Photo by @RobB’z Reef

Stopped using them after extremely negative customer service experience. Prior to that, used most all of them

 

[Peace River]

@Peace River please add the Hanna High Range Nitrate (HI782) & Hanna Salinity Pen (HI98319)!

These are commonly used and will make this a very useful data collection for future hobbyists trying to decide.

Done. Thanks for the input!

 

[MarsReefer]

I'm using ULR phosphate, UHR Nitrate, Salinity Pen, Calcium, and Alk (dKH).

Currently have a bad batch of the alk reagent so I have no idea what my alk is which is kind of annoying. Not sure what makes a random batch of solution bad. and BRS is out of stock (maybe they pulled it because it was all bad?) so i'm just hoping i'm not too out of whack.

 

[PR_nano]

Softies only
Phosphorus ulr
Nitrate HR

Bought
Alk to start adding some lps

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

HR nitrate
ULR phosphate
pH
Salinity pen
dKH alkalinity

Iown the calcium but it is too complicated for such an inaccurate test, and I haven't seen enough good reviews to try the magnesium yet.

 

[flashsmith]

I bought into the hype and quickly realized that they were the worst purchases I've made in the hobby. I still haven't even gotten my defective on day one Mag tester replaced. All of them very unreliable tools.

 

[saltyhog]

Phosphorous ULR, Nitrate HR and Alkalinity PPM multiple times a week. Also would not be without the high range copper checker when QTing fish with copper.

I use Salifert for Calcium and Magnesium.

 

[KrisReef]

I need HI755 reagent and the word on the web is that there is a bad batch of mojo juice loose on the street?

People who have had bad customer service experiences can't be faulted but not getting reliable results is typically user error, (with exception for batches of reagents tainted with Fentanyl?- the cartells are to blame in those cases!)

I use a syringe to get the tank sample (generally 10ml) and use the timers to make certain the reagents are reacting the proper amount of time, as needed. Storing the cuvettes full with RODI after triple rinsing them makes the testing easier. The damvelopes, shaking and banging them on the edge of a countertop to get the dust into the bottom before cutting on the lines has saved a lot of retesting time from powder accidents with the reagent packs.

Thanks Hanna for hobby grade meters that provide useful results.

 

[Pistondog]

Saltwater alk
LR phosphate
HR nitrate
Calcium
copper
Hi98108 pocket ph for sanity check on apex probe.
1st 3 weekly
Last 3 rarely

 

[Kiwi reefer]

Would be great if hanna made an all in one setup

 

[Tyrone]

I noticed some of my Hanna checkers cuvettes that I have used often last night are growing mold in the lids. Has anyone else noticed their cuvettes doing this? I have a little spray bottle with RODI water that I sprayed a little water scraped it out with a butter knife and rinsed with RODI spray bottle.

 

[trevorhiller]

Would be great if hanna made an all in one setup

They do have the new multiparameter one, however, I think it is still missing a few (mag, copper for example). Seems like it would be an easy fix to update it to make it a "super tester."

 

[trevorhiller]

I'll share my experiences with them, since I have quite a few.

The pH (white egg) checker is garbage...
The magnesium one is questionable. I had mine replaced and still get higher readings than my other sources. By around 100 ppm. I haven't used it much since getting the Trident though.
Copper checker is good to go.
Alkalinity checker is good to go.
Phosphate ULR checker seems alright.
Phosphate High Range should be phased out, I don't see a use case for it for where most keep their phosphate levels.
Nitrate High range is good to go.
Salinity pen is nice and pretty accurate. I made DIY calibration solution via Randy's recipe so I can calibrate it frequently and it's reliable from my experience. Not having to buy the calibration packets now is nice too.

I think a lot of people that have trouble with them need to hone their testing procedures. Using a pipettor, funnel, auto mixer, timer, cleaning & storing vials with RODI water between tests, cleaning the glass before zeroing and testing, etc. When you drill down on your testing procedure you can get pretty consistent results.

I do think that some people expect laboratory-grade results leaving them disappointed with the Hanna testers. If that's your expectation, you are surely to be disappointed. Professional-grade colorimeters get up into the hundreds to thousands of dollars range for single and multiparameter tests respectively. It's probably unreasonable to expect that performance out of a $60 device.

 

[trevorhiller]

I noticed some of my Hanna checkers cuvettes that I have used often last night are growing mold in the lids. Has anyone else noticed their cuvettes doing this? I have a little spray bottle with RODI water that I sprayed a little water scraped it out with a butter knife and rinsed with RODI spray bottle.

Haven't noticed this, but warm, wet and dark = mold. I'd probably give them a soak in citric acid periodically.

 

[Just John]

Thinking about adding the alk checker. Can anyone tell me how long that one takes?

 

[trevorhiller]

Thinking about adding the alk checker. Can anyone tell me how long that one takes?

It's instant. Add 10 mL sample, zero, add 1 mL reagent, get reading. <60 seconds start to finish.

 

[biom]

I had Phosphorus ULR but soon become clear that it is unreliable I would get 3 different readings using three different batches of the reagent the difference was bigger than 50%. But it was years ago I hope it is not the case now. I still prefer old school Salifert tests even for phosphates - yes they are not at all useful for readings below .05 - .07 but who is chasing nowadays low phosphates , it looks the new trend is to keep phosphates between .05 - 0.1