Testing kits

[Pelfiredc]

Any thoughts on testing kits Red Sea versus salifert versus hanna in ease-of-use cost and accuracy......need to replace existing kits......readings of API all over the place..

 

[BAD FISH]

Hanna checker is the way to go extremely accurate and easy to use. That's my opinion anyway they are expensive tho.

 

[Brando457]

Hanna checker is the way to go extremely accurate and easy to use. That's my opinion anyway they are expensive tho.

The Hanna phosphate and alk checkers are good, I've personally used the cal checker and found it to be crap.

I use salifert and red sea, they are both great.

 

[BAD FISH]

The Hanna phosphate and alk checkers are good, I've personally used the cal checker and found it to be crap.

I use salifert and red sea, they are both great.

I use the red sea for cal aswell but I don't like that you have to scoop one of the regents I feel I don't always have the correct amount. I try to level it off as much as possible bit it may not make much of a difference

 

[Boomer]

The Hanna Checker is not extremely accurate at all. All one has to do is look at its data sheet. However, it is good enough for us. Matter of fact, the only thing that Hanna makes, we use in the hobby, that good are the Phosphate meters.

Hanna Checker

Precision: ?0.04 ppm (mg/L) ?4% of reading @ 25?C


That means,for example, if the meter reads 0.16 mg / l the phosphate you have is somewhere between 0.12 - 0.20 and you do not know where. As 0.16 - .04 = 0.12 and 0.16 + 0.04 = 0.20. That 0.01 resolution means much of nothing. Now if had Precision that was :

?0.01 ppm (mg/L) ?1 % of reading @ 25?C

Then we could say extremely accurate

 

[BAD FISH]

everytime there is a good thread you get one of them I swear! Hanna checker is the leading water testing company in the world actually there main concern is making drinking water safe world wide. When I say EXTREAMLY I mean compared to any other test kit you can find for this hobby. When my alk comes in at ppm even if its off 4ppm its still consistent and I'm going to get the actual reading instead of dkh. thanks for chiming in , adding no help and bashing a fellow reefer that's what this forum is for.

 

[Boomer]

How is something a good thread when one makes errors and there was no bashing here. Alk in ppm is not a actual reading and neither is dKH. There are expressions. The only actual reading is meq/l. And Hanna ?s not the worlds leader HACH Labs is.

 

[Pelfiredc]

Thanks for direction........I need it to be pretty accurate....not at splitting hairs just yet. Anyone else ??? Ty guys again!!!!!!

 

[Tranquil201]

I personally like Redsea. I use the following tests from them Mag, Cal, Alk and also have their marine care bundle for nitrate nitrite........ Redsea tests have always worked for me. I'm sure some on here may not care for redsea. I tried Hanna Calcium and hated it. One result was 500 next test 400. Test was always all over the place. The only Hanna checker I still use is Phosphate. The alk test wasn't bad but I just stuck with redsea. The Hanna test can be inaccurate from many variables. Finger prints on the vial, micro bubbles to name a couple . Im not saying other test kits don't have flaws. I'm not saying these wont work for you. I'm just shareing my experience.

 

[Boomer]

Pel

In recent years nobody has made side by side comparison of kits and meters for accuracy. So, it is hard to say who's is more accurate. Salifert has been the leader in this hobby, especially as their kits are direct at seawater. I say seawater, as most kits in this hobby are really FW kits/ meters and seawater skews the readings of many FW kits/ meters, as the salt in seawater cause reading errors. The Red Sea kit is a very well put together kit but sill suffers from seawater interference. It is not all measurements that do this. For us it is mostly the Alk that is skewed but not in the Salifert Alk kit, as it is set to seawater. If I was picking for you it would be Red Sea for all, but the Salifert for Alk and the Hanna meter for Phosphate. Lastly, one of the most difficult things to measure and get it right is Alk. And when we say Red Sea, we mean the Red Sea Pro, not the older RS which are horrid.

 

[BAD FISH]

that's why you take the ppm and covert it using the equation they provide for you to get an alk reading. We all get it your more intelligent that I am yet you don't understand the topic was opinions on test kits to help choose a better kit,not who knows the most about how they work. So why don't you go troll around somewhere else like Duluth Minnesota !

 

[Widdy]

that's why you take the ppm and covert it using the equation they provide for you to get an alk reading. We all get it your more intelligent that I am yet you don't understand the topic was opinions on test kits to help choose a better kit,not who knows the most about how they work. So why don't you go troll around somewhere else like Duluth Minnesota !

Seriously? Since you're slow on the uptake. This is Boomer's Chemistry forum.

 

[Boomer]

Troll, this is my forum Bad Fish any more bashing and you are the one bashing here, you will be removed if you continue with it.

 

[BAD FISH]

I apologize the page did not refresh when I was posting my last post and didn't see the information you posted . It seamed you were only posting negatively at my post and not contributing to the op question.

 

[BAD FISH]

sometimes I read attitudes that arent there forgive me

 

[Boomer]

Ok Fish we are good

 

[duromega]

And when we say Red Sea, we mean the Red Sea Pro

Boomer I use Red Sea Reef foundation
but not sure if it's the Pro even that the box says it

is this what you refer by Pro?

 

[Boomer]

Yup, duro that is it. They change the name awhile back to Reef Foundation. The Reef Foundation is a testing " system" multi test kits, such as your image. The individual kits are

 

[Charley]

For me, as a newbie, in the hobby since March only,when I finally got around to testing I struggled with the test kits that involve titrating. Even though some can be more accurate than digital checkers I did not feel I could consistently get myself a proper reading because I was not confident as to when the color changed over. In this sense, the Hanna checkers are best for me. I know the issues of the perhaps not adding the same amount of powder, dissolving, smudges, etc but at least I feel I can do it the same everytime.

But totally get that for some people titrating is no problem at all. Great! Cheaper and some tests more accurate as Boomer points out.

I think in the end, you have to go with what is comfortable for you to use and measure consistently. Though some tests are better than others it does not seem to make a big enough difference to sweat over it like I usually do for our size tanks!.

But most certainly would go with Boomer's recommendations first and see if it works for you.

Just my thoughts.

 

[rookie07]

"titrating", isn't that what happens at a wet T-shirt contest?