AquaJohn Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 I got my hanna phosphate alk and calcium checkers today Woott. my phosphates are down to .18 alot better than 2.0 that it was a while ago. Alk was 133 ppm I think it translated to 7.5 ish if I did the math right now to the bad one lol I ran the calcium check 5 times and each time it was over limet the 600 was flashing on the screen. now I have never dosed cal or used any product to boost my cal. I am fairly sure I did it right each time Took some Ro/Di from my top off tank. added 1ml of regent A and filled the vial to where the bottom of the serface of the water was level to the line. placed in the checker hit the button when the c1 was on. when it said c2 took out the vial and added .1ml from a sample of my tank water. I did fill the thing all the way up like it says to do and then put in .1 ml. Dummped in a pack of regent B shook for a bit let it set for 15-20 seconds and it looked clear. Replaced it hit the button only to see flashing 600 ;(. so after 5 times I gave up and just to see what happend I filled the second vial with ro/di with no regent in it and dumpped out about 1/4 of my last test vial and filled it back up with straight ro/di just to see if it would read lower. and when i ran the test it was at 560. I have ALWAYS had low cal never been over 400 could it be the last bucket of salt I got I have done 2 water changes with the new bucket pushed it that high ? I just use the regular coralife stuff. the closest LFS is an hour dirve grumble grumble grumble. anyone else use the hanna cal checker see what I am doing wrong. I trashed my old test kit when I ordered the hanna stuff it was all well over a year old and figured it was out of date anywho. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 Did you check the Hanna website or RC forum? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 http://www.MrSaltWaterTank.com/mr-saltwater-tanks-coverage-of-macna-2011-part-2/ I asked Hanna about similar issues @ the 8:27 mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rchavez Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 I have watched videos and tested multiple times and can never get consistent results. I contacted Hanna today and they sent me a word document with some "tips" on how to test. My results are all over the place! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaJohn Posted December 20, 2011 Author Share Posted December 20, 2011 (edited) So I get to spend 17 bucks on a bottle of water lol and I thought beer was a rip off at a football game. Is there another sorce to get DI water thats not contaminated thanks for the heads up Edited December 20, 2011 by AquaJohn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaJohn Posted December 20, 2011 Author Share Posted December 20, 2011 Ok off to walgreens in the am to see if distiled water works Thanks for the heads up again my head was getting sore from beating it against the wall Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+olaggie01 Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 There is a thread on RC that documents all the salt values (alk, ca, mg), might want to check to see if corallife is high out of the box. Oceanic salt used to read out at 600+ out of the box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonJones Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 From my understanding, unless this has changed in the last year or so, the hanna alk and phosphate meters are considered reliable, but not the calcium. I remember reading several articles and decided to purchase the other two, but not the calcium, as a result. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+olaggie01 Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 Plus, the calcium is not significantly easier than a regular test kit, at least from what I've heard. The PO4 and Alk are simple and are more important tests imho. I have never heard of anyone with CA burnt tips or having SPS necrosis from CA issues, only PO4 and Alk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaJohn Posted December 21, 2011 Author Share Posted December 21, 2011 No but if you are setting up a calcium reactor or running calk it might be good to know what your calcium is. I got some distiled water and ran 2 tests the first was 530 the second 425 lol but i do have to say I was not real carful on the first one so may have put an extra drop of tank water in the sample. I agree I should have read about them before buying but I was buying the other 2 anyways and had read great things about them never did get to reading on the calcium one. But I am considering adding a calcium reactor becuase my tank usualy reads below 400 even right after a water change. After using it I will probly switch back to chem tests for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBMarlin Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 "After using it I will probly switch back to chem tests for it." Good choice. There is no benefit IMO to the Hanna calcium checker, it's not more accurate and it's not easier than traditional tests. So I must ask, what's the point? I own the checker and have had the same problems that you describe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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