Accuracy of Hanna Calcium Checker

So, I decided to use my Hanna Calcium Checker after the monday's meeting and found that my Calcium is over 600ppm. I have never tested over 450ppm on the Salifert Test so I don't really trust this reading.

I also tested my Alk with the Hanna Alkalinity Checker and is 8.45 dKh.

I remember Derricks tank tested in the 545ppm range so I think there is something going on with this test.

That would mean that my calcium is super low because it was 480~ ish. the only variable there was that we used his RODI water...

Yeah thid test is too complicated compared to the salifert test.

sisterlimonpot wrote:That would mean that my calcium is super low because it was 480~ ish. the only variable there was that we used his RODI water...

my RODI water is still showing 000 TDS, 003 is going in(was 7, but has dropped down)

we found out that most people are using lab grade reagent water in their testing...your test on monday was high like mine. The results are definitely wrong because I retested with the Salifert test and have 460ppm.

Unless your salfiert is wrong

Maybe Paul has access to or can tell us where we can get some.

I seriously doubt the Salifert test is wrong. Never seen my water over 460ppm and I have been dosing 2-part since I started my tank. Seems like the Hanna Calcium Checker is more complicated compared to the Alkalinity Checker.

Couldn't we make a. 5.gal jug of sw to the specs on the package then compare the results to the package?
My old salt said @ 1.025 you will have to X ppm ca

Ya but the measurments it says on the salt bucket arnt accurate so it wouldent help

Lots of threads on the subject of salt with ca and alk levels. Too many factors to compare.

Most water will read Ca in it. That is the problem with standard RODI. Just head over to thermofisher.com and buy a bottle of HPLC grade or LCMS grade water. Should be around 25$ a bottle, big investment for sure but if you want to use the tests I guess you might need it?

well I just tested mine again using rodi water and then bumped the results with red sea kit and the readings were only 20 ppm difference. hanna tested 480 and redsea was 460. one thing that I noticed was that after i added the powder to the vial and shook it for what ever time it said... there were lots of bubbles stuck to the sides of the glass. Before putting it in the tester I held the vial on its side and turned it slowly until all the bubbles were gone.

Ya you have to make sure bubbles are gone

Mike have you bought any distilled water from the supermarket and see if your results varied from using RODI water?

I don't know if there if the ca level would be different btw rodi and distilled water. Will have to research it. Its a bummer because the hanna tester was expensive and I only used it once.

Ill buy it from u if u dont want it lol

It depends...

On if you can get it to be accurate?

I just read up on the local water qualities of Camarillo(http://www.ci.camarillo.ca.us/main.aspx?q=6087&p=9637)

and its saying there is 186ppm of calcium. Could that have not been pulled from my RO, thus inflating the reading?

dflad posted earlier on this thread (pg 1), that there will be calcium in the water even 0 tds RODI. The question from Jimmy was, does distilled water with 0 tds have calcium in it? Or maybe we can a liter of lab grade reagent water from a local club scientist, hint hint.

dwolson2 wrote:I just read up on the local water qualities of Camarillo(http://www.ci.camarillo.ca.us/main.aspx?q=6087&p=9637)

and its saying there is 186ppm of calcium. Could that have not been pulled from my RO, thus inflating the reading?

so technically speaking if you minus 186 from your results you would get the calcium thats in your tank.

That's my question.

That's doubtful, I would imagine that the water from the city isn't going to be consistent with their calcium level. You'll just be using a rubber ruler to measure your calcium. Looking at the distilled water in the grocery stores they aren't 100% chemically pure, they have a +/- variable for solids. hmm... it seems that the only true way to get accurate results is to do what Paul has already suggested and get the lab grade water.


Paul, if you're following, I went to the website and was confused as to what exactly to get. can you post a link to the right fluid to get?

Thanks

hey do you know anyone working at NAVFAC/NFESC on CBC side, they used to do lab work but they now outsource the work. Just wondering if we could find some lab water on base.

dude... I have no idea what any of those acronyms mean... I only know a little bit of the navy lingo... enough to get me by.

http://www.piercenet.com/browse.cfm?fldID=78FEF524-6AFB-4C4A-BEB5-02FEDCA7AB36

http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/catalog/ProductDetail.do?N4=270733|SIAL&N5=SEARCH_CONCAT_PNO|BRAND_KEY&F=SPEC

Those should get you started. The first one lists the calcium content. Good luck.

P

I have been reading a lot about the ca checker and it seems that the problem really isn't with the rodi water it is with the accuracy of the 0.1 ml of tank water. it seems that the syringes that come with the kit doesn't dispense the right amount of tank water due to the large droplets that come out, sometimes it's 2 drops and some times it's 3, and that creates the inaccuracy. What people have been doing is replacing the 1ml syringe that came with the kit to a 0.3 or 0.5 ml syringe, to accurately get the right amount of fluid in the vial.

At lunch today I went ahead and did a few tests of my own, trying out this theory. I had a 30 units syringe. which I gathered 0.1 ml to be 10 units (just from a quick search on the net). I conducted 3 tests with this new syringe.

I followed the test procedures to a tee except I used rodi from my topoff. The first test yielded 478ppm, the second test I got 450 and the third I got 444.

I then grabbed the red sea calcium kit and tested it twice, getting 495 and 500 respectively.

As you can see, the hanna is quite a bit lower than what I believe to be the correct reading. It may be that the reason for the difference is that 10 units doesn't exactly equal 0.1 ml. I am guessing that it is slightly more.

However, as you can see I was fairly consistent with the hanna checker, except for the first one. I'm not trying to make excuses for the kit but I'd like to point out that there was 1 difference between the first test and the last 2 tests, which was I didn't wash out the cuvette with rodi water on the first test, it was cleaned and stored from the last time. That may be the reason for the 28 ppm difference, I don't know. I wanted to test one more time but I didn't want to waste another test.

Conclusion, there may be some truth to this but then again I was never getting outrageously higher readings compared to other test kits.

Mike, if you want to try this out I can bring a syringe to the meeting for you to see if you get consistent results as well as lower readings.

nikecivic wrote:So, I decided to use my Hanna Calcium Checker after the monday's meeting and found that my Calcium is over 600ppm. I have never tested over 450ppm on the Salifert Test so I don't really trust this reading.

I also tested my Alk with the Hanna Alkalinity Checker and is 8.45 dKh.

I remember Derricks tank tested in the 545ppm range so I think there is something going on with this test.

Have you used RedSea test kits? If so, how do you like them compared to Salifert?

I read through the thread on RC about the complaints about the checker. the biggest hope was that hanna was going to make some corrections to the product but it seems that they won't be making any changes.