Hanna calcium checker review

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Zakk

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I grabbed one last week.  Used it a few times.  I will say that it seems quirky at first, then seems to settle in to proper tests.  One note is...make SURE the vial is cleaned out with RO/DI water after every use and make ABSOLUTELY sure that the RO/DI water you use for your test is absolutely 0 TDS.  If it's off, like you rinsed out your container with tap water then filled it with RO/DI, your test will be off. However, with a clean vial, perfect RO/DI water, and following the steps on that video, you will get very consistent results from the checker.  Oddly the results were different from my salifert test (hanna showed higher Ca), but the salifert is sort of ambiguous as to when the solution changes colour, so it may just be me.

Again, contamination of your testing materials can give you a absolutely wonky result.  Remember, you're only using .1ml (6 drops) of your tank water for the whole test.  6 drops. 

The reagent dissolves a lot faster than the phosphate one though, so that's something.  Having to have RO/DI water for the test is a bit strange, even if you buy it from the LFS, it could be off or contaminated, so a handheld TDS meter is almost mandatory for this test.
 

Blob-79

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Zakk link said:
Again, contamination of your testing materials can give you a absolutely wonky result.  Remember, you're only using .1ml (6 drops) of your tank water for the whole test.  6 drops. 

absolutly. same goes for all the other hanna checkers...as far as any sort of contamination messing up results.


Zakk link said:
Having to have RO/DI water for the test is a bit strange, even if you buy it from the LFS, it could be off or contaminated, so a handheld TDS meter is almost mandatory for this test.

Ya i was wondering the same thing. is there anyway distilled water will work for the test? just thinking distilled water may be more convenient
 
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Zakk

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Blob-79 link said:
[quote author=Zakk link=topic=1392.msg9263#msg9263 date=1314736016]
Again, contamination of your testing materials can give you a absolutely wonky result.  Remember, you're only using .1ml (6 drops) of your tank water for the whole test.  6 drops. 

absolutly. same goes for all the other hanna checkers...as far as any sort of contamination messing up results.


Zakk link said:
Having to have RO/DI water for the test is a bit strange, even if you buy it from the LFS, it could be off or contaminated, so a handheld TDS meter is almost mandatory for this test.

Ya i was wondering the same thing. is there anyway distilled water will work for the test? just thinking distilled water may be more convenient
[/quote]

True about contamination.....but most evident in this test.  I had a wonky result and it was because the container I had the RO/DI in must have been wet with tapwater and showed a tds reading of 02.  That was enough to throw it off. 
Absolutely no idea, although it does make sense that it would... you would think they would say distilled or RO/DI somewhere in the instructions.
 
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Zakk

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Darryl_V link said:
Wow....mr.saltwater is the epitome of reef geek.

and I thought I was bad.....haha ...decent vids though.

I find he mumbles a lot...that or heavy metal really did ruin my hearing like they said it would.  What?
 
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