- Joined
- Feb 23, 2014
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- Cincinnati Ohio
180g DT with 240 total water.
I tested Alk this morning with my Hanna. it came in at 14.5 !!!!! yikes! I tested TWICE
I started with a 25g water change today to lower the # in panic mode
"Wait a minute!!" I said, "my high # doesn't make sense....I havent dosed any Carbonate since my last test"
so i called a friend who worked as a bio scientist for a reef product company.
I explained things and he laughed. He said my glass vial was either:
1) not crystal clear clean .....and to clean it with vinegar and/or 99% rubbing alchohol then THOROUGHLY rinse it with rodi
or
2) the glass vial has been scratched up using paper towels to wipe & clean. when the colorimeter sends a beam of light and hits the micro scratches, the light get refracted, giving false readings
he went onto say that Hannas work great out of the box but over time as the glass gets discolored or scratched, it will give false reading. they've used Hanna in lab situations and were told by experts the cleaning cloth is the ONLY ACCEPTABLE cleaning tool to use on the vials.
I soaked my vials in vinegar then cleaned with 99% rubbing alcohol. Thoroughly rinsed, dried. I put a strong light behind and inspected for any caking, smudges, scratches etc...
RETESTED = 7.9 after cleaning the vial and a 25g WC ... where it was 14.5 when I started this hot mess.
theres no way my Alk dropped from 14.5 to 7.9 just bc of a small WC... It had to have been a dirty vial (even though it looked crystal clear to me when I ran the 14.5.... and like a dumbie used a paper towel to wipe down the vial and got 14.5)
I think I might go back to Sailfert where I can drip test and not have as much chance that the colorimeter is reading wrong false bc the vial is funky
I tested Alk this morning with my Hanna. it came in at 14.5 !!!!! yikes! I tested TWICE
I started with a 25g water change today to lower the # in panic mode
"Wait a minute!!" I said, "my high # doesn't make sense....I havent dosed any Carbonate since my last test"
so i called a friend who worked as a bio scientist for a reef product company.
I explained things and he laughed. He said my glass vial was either:
1) not crystal clear clean .....and to clean it with vinegar and/or 99% rubbing alchohol then THOROUGHLY rinse it with rodi
or
2) the glass vial has been scratched up using paper towels to wipe & clean. when the colorimeter sends a beam of light and hits the micro scratches, the light get refracted, giving false readings
he went onto say that Hannas work great out of the box but over time as the glass gets discolored or scratched, it will give false reading. they've used Hanna in lab situations and were told by experts the cleaning cloth is the ONLY ACCEPTABLE cleaning tool to use on the vials.
I soaked my vials in vinegar then cleaned with 99% rubbing alcohol. Thoroughly rinsed, dried. I put a strong light behind and inspected for any caking, smudges, scratches etc...
RETESTED = 7.9 after cleaning the vial and a 25g WC ... where it was 14.5 when I started this hot mess.
theres no way my Alk dropped from 14.5 to 7.9 just bc of a small WC... It had to have been a dirty vial (even though it looked crystal clear to me when I ran the 14.5.... and like a dumbie used a paper towel to wipe down the vial and got 14.5)
I think I might go back to Sailfert where I can drip test and not have as much chance that the colorimeter is reading wrong false bc the vial is funky
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