Hagen Calcium Test
 

Anyone out there use the Hagen Calcium Tester? I tried it last night (first time) and I could have added those Bottle 3 drops forever without it turning purple. I am pretty positive my calcium level is not THAT high :smile: . Just wondering if I am doing something wrong. The first drop makes it a darker pink than the pink they show. I didn't want to waste the entire reagent 3 bottle just to see if it would ever turn purple. Any clues :question:

FYI I ended up putting 20 drops in before giving up

Chad

I had a Hagen calcium test kit. I don't think it works...at all :mad:

Toss it in the garbage and get the Salifert. That's what I did :biggrin:

hmhm, thats not a vote of confidence thats for sure :lol:

Well it did not cost me much so.. no big deal.. I will look for that one.

I went looking for a Salifert test kit and I couldnt find one anywhere. J&L, Big Als, King Eds. So I bought the Nutrafin kit. Little hard to read but it does work, just need to be in a well lit room. J&L said they were having a hard time getting the Salifert kit in, but they may have some now. :cool:

Many, many moons ago, I used a Seachem calcium test. Not impressed at all. I have been a dedicated Salfert user for years.

A friend is using the new Seachem test and was pleased with it. Many more tests than Salifert for the same price. So on my last order I bought one.

I must say its a very impressive calcium test kit. Readings are near identical to my Salifert. Seachem has made some good changes and I will stick with theirs for now.

I don't remember seeing any Salifert when I was at J&L yesterday. I guess I will have to go do some searching.. ugh :frown:

Chad, the Hagen has two options, carbonate and general. The general will let you add drops forever as it's measuring Mg as well as Ca.
That being said, I'd still throw it out and get a Salifert or other recommended good kit. The Hagen I used when I started gave me wrong measurements every time.

That's odd. J&L is the only place I've seen Salifert kits. Could you not find any Salifert kits there or just not the calcium kit?

Brad that tester from hagen is the hardness test kit not the Calcium test kit.
Chad, 20 drops of # 3 would come out to be 400mg/l for calcium which is not extremely high. I have used hagen test kit's since day one and they work great, are cheep and easy to use. With the calcium kit you have to make sure you shake # 2 for about a minute.

1 Drop of # 3 is = to 20mg/l of calcium.

hope that helps

I'm with Jonathan on this, i've only every used the Hagen for calcium and Alk tests. Never had a problem.

Clinton

My Hagen Calcium kit seems to work fine. Its results correspond with the results from my Salifert kit.

Jon, you're right. Maybe I need to read slower. :eek: However, I also used the Ca kit and didn't get results matching my Salifert kit. This thread came up about a year ago and many people responded much the same as this thread. Some found problems, some didn't. This says to me that the Hagen kits are at best inconsistent. I've never heard anyone say that about Salifert, so for the extra coupe of dollars, I'll choose Salifert. JMO.

My Hagen test kit has also proved to be as accurate as the Salifert kit-as with Sam, I have also used both.
Like Jonathan mentioned-400 ppm is not too high, it's in pretty good range, maybe a little low but not that bad at all.
Calcium is a chemical that is hard to get a precise measurement with regular test kits-thus that's why we have to add so many drops before a chemical reaction takes place, just the same with alkalinity.

cheers, Rich :mrgreen:

Just did not see the Calcium one there, BigAls has it too but they stop carrying it so they have only small amounts left. No calcium kits tho :sad: so I bought a different type called "Red Sea" . I have not opened it yet. If ppl say its no good I will take it back too.