checkers
 

good to know about that it only comes with 6. It didn't say that anywhere on the site though. Not saying I wouldn't purchase it if it did but 6? Really. Its just bad business to do that. "buy this, and you will also need this."

The kit is ok, I have used many kits included Lamotte etc and the part about reading the digital read out is nice, but the pouches should be either a spoon or pills/liquid cause its hard to get all of it in the vial for an accurate test.

The cases are bit lame, they don't seem to stay closed. The cork tops are hard to get out and sometimes when you finally pop them out water can go flying. I wish I would of purchased the Lamotte kit for a few more buck and 50 tests. I don't have an issue matching color.

I'll see how the reviews are with the Calcium kit.

Thanks for the feedback.

This is very similar to consumer laser printers. When you buy the printer new, it only comes with a 1/2 loaded cartridge.

I am not disappointed with my checkers as I did read/watch some youtube reviews before ordering mine and all the reviews stated it only came with 6 test packets.

My real concern is over the long term use and how to clean the little glass vials so they don't give false readings in the future. Will PO4 build up over time in the glass vial and mess up future readings?

If there is any beef to be had with the checkers is that I thought I was rocking it with tank perams....... then I got my hanna checkers.......SUPER accurate and let me know I have more work to do on stablizing what I thought were spot on perams

There is a warning somewhere that if you leave the reagent in the vial it can stain, rinse it out right after testing.
Also, I think you set the baseline for the test when you put just water in first and the meter measures the difference in water colour after you add the reagent(more PO4=more blue). I've heard that some people use both vials for one test and premix the reagent in one of the vials. This could give you bad readings as the test kit ages and vials stain blue at different rates.

I have also bought some reagent that gave me 0.00 readings. I was ecstatic until I tested with another box bought from a different store that read 0.10 and 0.08 on each tank.

fill the vials with ro/di water after use until you need them next;)

I have the same experience, I think the pouches are terrible. I'm never 100% sure I got 100% of the powder into the tiny opening of the vials. I would also prefer a scoop to measure powder. I understand the idea though, as I know many people aren't accurate in measuring, but I think those are the same people that wouldn't get all the powder out of the pouches. :lol: My cases don't stay closed either - totally annoying. I find the reagent bottles often leak, so now I make sure to store the kits on end so the reagent bottles are upright.

I have an old 713 PO4 kit that I'm not sure if it really is accurate. It tells me my tank has 0.00 ppm which I can't believe even though I got a reading of 0.07 or something on a different tank. I think these numbers are way too low. Maybe just because it's an old, original kit.

The alkalinity kit I love - no powder pouches to empty. I did find one of the syringes didn't seal well with the tip and I would have trouble with the fluid leaking out as soon as I lifted the tip out of the reagent bottle. Luckily when you buy more reagent you get a new syringe and tip too, and I haven't had this problem since.

I also have a calcium kit that I hate. It gives me readings I can't believe - like 450 ppm on a tank with no dosing using H2Ocean salt. That's not even possible. The calcium kit also uses only 0.1 mL of sample water so even with careful measuring it would be easy to measure 0.11 mL or 0.09 mL which would cause a 10% reading inaccuracy or about 40 ppm when measuring calcium. I sold this kit - I have used Elos for calcium for years and much prefer this kit over the Hanna or Salifert.

I might try a new PO4 checker sometime...

I bought the phosphorus checker and couldn't be happier comparing it to red sea and salifert.. While at first I was disappointed with the pouches I found creasing them prior to cutting open helps alot. Not wasting any.. As for residual left in the vials ro water rinse and vinegar if scaling does occur.

They only come with 6 packs of regent and now it appears that they have changed to push in plugs for the testing bottles, so what's the problem, it is what it is, use it you will be happy with it I'm sure. I only use Hanna for po4 testing salifert for everything else.

Although pretty much virgin fresh to Hanna, I found cutting off top, then peeling open one side right down to bottom. I find doing this makes it WAAAY easier to add and easy to see if there is any left in packet