Should I get the Phosphurous Checker?

[Aquattro]

I use the regular unit, and for 4 years I consistently got 0ppm. Which was what I wanted to see. Good enough for me. I have an Elos kit, I can't tell if it's 0.01, 0.1, 42.8, etc. Might be my eyes

[asylumdown]

+1. I use the regular unit as well. It's the ULR unit that I think is better suited as a pez dispenser.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by asylumdown

+1. I use the regular unit as well. It's the ULR unit that I think is better suited as a pez dispenser.

Nah. I've got a Batman pez dispenser, way better!

[tytown]

Agree on the Elos PO4 kit, that thing is a total waste of money.
So Wheelman and Craig, what are some typical values your phosphorus checker reads? And what do you expect it to read when you test?
Running GFO I would hope to see 10 and below but going by their rated accuracy there's no way I guy can even rely on that.
Just trying to gauge peoples phosphates and their expected reading from their ULR phos checker....
Thanks for all the replys so far

[Craigdillman]

Well for example last week my reading was 0.06 and this week (water change week and GFO change time) it was 0.09 so it just started to rise

[lastlight]

i previously owned the regular tester and always got zero which i never believed. i certainly had algae which apparently IS possible with real zero readings lol. i now use the ULR and for a while i couldn't get back-to-back consistent readings.

now i do a few things that seemed to have made testing reliable and i now like the device:

- only use one of the glass containers. zero the unit and add reagent to same one. avoid differences in glass/scratches etc between containers.

- store ro/di in container between uses then rinse well before use

- made a decent paper funnel to ensure i can more accurately get all or almost all the reagent into the container

- always rotate the glass to the same orientation in the device

[mikellini]

This thread is making me feel better about getting the phosphate checker vs phosphorus. As it is, I think there's too much number-chasing going on in this hobby.

[Craigdillman]

I have the hanma one with ppb love it seems to get fairly constituent reading but mostly I use it to test before after after GFO so I know when to replace it test before WC and once a week I can see p04 rising and sometime I need to change out gfo between WC others not. Honestly I couldn't handle trying to read what color off hue blue was which so opted for it

Just my 2 cents