Let's talk about the hanna meters....

[Troylee]

I know there is a thread floating on the first page right now that got hijacked pretty bad lol.... It was about someone buying one and it went off track....
Anywho let's start the discussions here with the proper title....
So i purchased one back when they came out and so did a couple of my friends, one even had the high dollar meter and compared it..... His results showed a slight difference like .01 or .02 close enough for use anyways.....
So myself and others always seem to get 0.00 all the time... To me it raises a flag and makes me think how accurate is it really??? If you talk to some of the big dogs in reef industry they strive to just to keep them low and have never really saw zeros before using the old school hanah.... I just find it really wierd that almost everyone that owns one if these photometers is getting zeros across the board....
Thoughts?????

 

[cmcneil]

i dont get zeros at all,i have been fighting the nitrate phosphate battle for a while.i started using the mini hanna and was getting readings of .22
i have been running the pellets for about a month and get readings like .10-.12
i have gotten a few weird readings but always retested after those readings.hanna claims the mini is as accurate as the full size meter and at our LFS we tested the store tanks using both and got similar readings.

 

[MattL22]

R they worth the $ I'm fighting the hair alage battle but get a reading of 0 from the test kits

 

[Troylee]

Interesting... I dose vodka/mb7 so I expect them to be really low but I just think it's wierd everytime I see a picture it's 0.00 the only thing I can think is todAys gfo and carbon dosing has beat it....

 

[soccerbag]

I'm glad you started this Troy. I have come close to buying one many times but it just doesn't seem cost effective (yet I have no issue paying $300 for a buggar of a chalice frag...lol). I'm interested to hear others experiences. I haven't closed the door on buying one but it seems there are always mixed reviews. I will be following along.

 

[ronnie]

I tested a friends SPS aquarium that has algae and quite a few brown colonies - .28 was the result.

My aquarium tested at 0. I do daily water changes, get great growth (SPS), and still see growth with my chaeto.

I agree it probably isn't the most accurate, but good enough for us. A 0 probably means there is still some there, but it likely isn't high enough to be bad.

 

[Troylee]

R they worth the $ I'm fighting the hair alage battle but get a reading of 0 from the test kits

Well there gonna be more accurate than any test kit out there for sure...
With a major ha battle going on I'm sure they would give a false reading also since the algae is eating up the po4....

 

[MattL22]

I have been vodka dosing and adding special blend and using gfo in a reactor can't kick it

 

[ReeferRob]

Im about ready to throw mine in the drive way. I've been bacterial dosing for MONTHS when I got mine it read 1.28 over three weeks its finally down to .38 and steady. Interesting thing is if I re test the same solution I get varied results. One time I tested the same vial 4 times got .38, 1.08, .12 and .78. So just like any test out there I don't know what to believe.
Also curious how we are supposed to rely on a test unit that has multiple errors before actually registering???

 

[cmcneil]

Has anyone contacted the manufacturer and questioned this yet?

 

[gilmour01]

i've gotten nothing but 0's with it as well on 2 different tanks. i'm curious to see how their new ALK meter compares to a quality test kit.

 

[Werdlone]

ReeferRob...how are you retesting the same sample?? If you are using different test tubes to "zero" or calibrate the unit, then you are measuring incorrectly. I was doing this the first couple of times and always got zero reading. You have to use the same test tube to zero the meter, then add the powder and quickly dissolve it and read again. You should get a better reading. Using one test tube to zero and another to measure will throw off the calibration. I get readings of 0.02 or 0.03 with mine. Was 0 everytime I used 2 test tubes.....

 

[Troylee]

Well I will admit there is alot of user error in the simple device also... I my self got very frustrated the first few times I tried to use it because of the 3 min timer... I filled the vial with tank water pressed the button and then removed it and added the regeant, shook and seem to wait to long every time and the meter turned off...
After a few failed attempts i realized hey there is 2 vials.."duuuuuh!!!!" add the reagent to one vial first and then let it mix while testing the regular water, then you don't have to wait and beat the clock....
I tried mine today and it was all 0.00 after 3 attempts but I did have a couple occasions where I got different readings with the same vial....

 

[Troylee]

Lol I typed over you... I don't see how it would throw the calibration off since it's the same tank water.... Could you explain this????

 

[ronnie]

The problem with that is apparently the curvature of both vials is not exact, so the readings are skewed.

The time is an issue, so I prep every thing I can before it is go time. Get the powder ready, get my timer ready, pause whatever I'm watching on TV so I'm not distracted, and then measure.

 

[ronnie]

HA - I'm psychic!

 

[Troylee]

Lol... Hmmm makes sense... It don't say anything about using one or both vials in the directions unless I over looked it...

 

[ronnie]

There was a big thread on RC and the guy from Hanna said not to use both.

 

[Troylee]

Cool.... I'm getting somewhere.... This thread has been a sucsess so far...

 

[BIG FISH]

I have one and noticed I was getting high readings for what I expected and then cleaned the vial so it was crystal clear and got the same reading a couple times after that plus the readings were consistent. I think that if your vial is not clean the meter reads wrong. I clean the vial with a towel so it get's a good reading every time. I think that in general for P04 this is the best way to go. I wish there was a better way to go but I thought there would be flying cars by now too. I guess we just get what we get until there becomes something better in the FUUUUTUUUUUURE. I think this thread is a great idea maybe we can pin down the best way to operate these things to get good results for everyone. Way to go Troylee