Hanna Instruments checkers

[CarpCharacin]

Has anyone here used Hanna Instruments Checkers? I ordered one for Ammonia. With chemical test kits, you don't get an exact number result, you have to compare the color of the test with the card, but that isn't always completley accurate, so with the Hanna Instruments checker, you put the Ammonia test in it, and it reads the color and gives an exact number more accurate than what you'd get if you compared it with the card the test kit comes with.

 

[sidfish]

I was just thinking this morning the same thing about API master kit, the ammonia test always seems to read 0.25 regardless of what tank and I've seen this brought up on other forums. Some days I have a hard time determining the colour result as some of the shades are very similar.
Look forward to your assessment of the Hanna Brand.

 

[CarpCharacin]

I ordered the Low Range checker which only goes up to 3 PPM, maybe I should have ordered the medium range one, but the low range one is more accurate at the low range than what a medium range one would be, and the main reason to get one is for accuracy IMO.

 

[sidfish]

I'll be watching your thread!

 

[CarpCharacin]

I will be setting up my 180 gallon tank hopefully soon, and I was thinking about implementing an electronic aquarium controller/monitoring system to keep an eye on temp, pH, and NH3, but they are kind of overpriced IMO, and building one myself would take more effort than what it would take to monitor parameters manually and the Hanna Instruments checkers solve the accuracy problem that chemical test kits have, because the checkers provide an actual number instead of just a color, so I ultimately decided just to order the Hanna Checkers instead of trying to put together an electronic aquarium monitoring system myself.

 

[sidfish]

How often do you test your tanks, will buying the reagents be cost effective ?

 

[CarpCharacin]

I'm not sure, but I probably should test my tanks more often, I'm lazy.