Hanna Colorimeters

[crowndroyal]

Hello everyone , 

I am here wanting to ask about the and testing. "Hanna Checkers" I have been thinking of purchasing these but am lost as to test for GH in my tank. They offer a magnesium and calcium checker which is the basic elements of GH but how on earth would you put those two tests together to get your GENERAL HARDNESS.

 I found this but not sure how the results were obtained braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=How_to_read_a_water_report ( scroll to about half way down the page )

so with that said what Checkers would be an absolute necessity  besides ammonia and nitrite

here is a link to their checkers  hannainst.com/products/checker-colorimeters.html



I am also wondering if there is anyone in here that adds trace minerals to their tanks

EG: 

www.seachem.com/cichlid-lake-salt.php

www.seachem.com/tanganyika-buffer.php

www.seachem.com/cichlid-trace.php


I only ask this cause I know with a marine aquarium this is pretty important step for coral(s) as the trace elements will detrime how fast your coral will grow and how bright they will be.

so wouldn't the trace elements be  important for Trophs and essentially effect their color and size as fish feed off their environment as well as their food just like coral. 

[Mastiffman/ Duramax7Man7]

Very intersting... I will have to sit down when I get some time and read through this. I use a Gh/Kh liquid test kit.

I don't add anything now but SeaChem CIchlid Lake Salts to my tanks that does have some minerals/ elements in it.

[Aqualoon]

I can't say much about their Gh/Kh testers, but at work we have purchased their pfund and pH to spot check our laboratory results (we have an in house factory laboratory, then always send out for a 3rd party lab) and their stuff is rather accurate for how low they price their equipment and it's easy to use. Also they have very good support and response times for any questions.

[crowndroyal]

Nov 8, 2016 15:48:57 GMT -5 Aqualoon said:

I can't say much about their Gh/Kh testers, but at work we have purchased their pfund and pH to spot check our laboratory results (we have an in house factory laboratory, then always send out for a 3rd party lab) and their stuff is rather accurate for how low they price their equipment and it's easy to use. Also they have very good support and response times for any questions.

yes their support is good , I am just trying to confirm how one would actually test and get a total GH with just a magnesium and calcium test. 

they told me to 


add the Calcium Hardness and the Magnesium hardness results

together, then multiply the result by 17.86. which would give you your GH. 


Problem is I ma not sure that is right as it took me several emails to attempt to explain that I wanted to know how to arrive at a GH value from the magnesium and calcium tests as Hanna does not have direct KH and GH testers. 

[crowndroyal]

Ok an update on this.


I have been doing some research and found the solution

General hardness (GH) is primarily the measure of calcium (Ca++) and magnesium (Mg++) ions in the water. Other ions can contribute to GH but their effects are usually insignificant and the other ions are difficult to measure. GH will not directly affect pH although "hard" water is generally alkaline due to some interaction of GH and KH.
GH is commonly expressed in parts per million (ppm) of calcium carbonate (CaCO3), degrees hardness (dH) or, more properly, the molar concentration of CaCO3. One German degree hardness (dH) is 10 mg of calcium oxide (CaO) per liter.

In the U.S., hardness is usually measured in ppm of CaCO3. A German dH is 17.8 ppm CaCO3. A molar concentration of 1 milliequivalent per liter (mEq/l) = 2.8 dH = 50 ppm. Note that most test kits give the hardness in units of CaCO3; this means the hardness is equivalent to that much CaCO3 in water but
does not mean it actually came from CaCO3. Water hardness follows these guidelines:



0 - 4 dH, 0 - 70 ppm : very soft
4 - 8 dH, 70 - 140 ppm : soft
8 - 12 dH, 140 - 210 ppm : medium hard
12 - 18 dH, 210 - 320 ppm : fairly hard
18 - 30 dH, 320 - 530 ppm : hard

so we would add the Calcium and Magnesium results then multiply by 17.8 to get our GH reading.