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Hara

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Aug 28, 2002
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Location
Louisiana
Finally, the super dooper Hagen Deluxe Master Test kit arrived!
Here are the stats on the tank...Are we ready for our first inhabitants yet?!?!?

Ammonia 0
Nitrite .02
Nitrate 20
Calcium 420 ppm
Ph 8.6
SG 30
Phosphate test showed off the chart at the high end of the scale after doing it twice...but the reagent was blooping out of the bottle instead of making neat little drops, don't know if I can trust that one.
 
Wait until Nitrite is zero point zero zero.

You PH is a little high, could be from the Nitrite.

ALK level is an inportant number...
 
Alk tested at 110. According to what I have interpreted from other's discussions, this would be way too low, right?

I have the lime now, other than a 30.00 kent marine dosing system, is there an economical home made method? Could I not just squirt an ounce or so once an hour?
 
I fashioned up me a drip kalk device.

Total cost $0.00

I took an empty 1 gal bottled water jug and a few feet of ro/di tubing. Placed the approprate hydrated lime in the 1 gal jug of ro/di water (per anemoneman 1tsp/gal) Shook up real good and let sit for a few hours.

Put ro/di tubeing in top of jug and placed jug on shelf above sump. Started syphon of lime water and tied a knot in the tubing to provide a slow drip.

So far it looks like its gonna take 14-15 hours to dose 1 gal of lime water into the 80.
 
Anemoneman said:
Keep us posted on your success with dripping kalk this way. I haven't had luck with DIY drips but if it works, lets spread the news.

Mark

What would you define success?

Given that I have not used kalk (lime water) before I am guessing that a stable PH and decent calcium levels would define sucess.
 
I need help sorting out your numbers all....My test kit reads 100 mg/L.
How does this look in the grand scheme of things seeing as the book is saying that the ideal readings for SW are between 100-125. Anything over 125 is considered unusually high. Your readings are in much smaller numbers, ie 3.0 and 2.5 Meg/L. What exactly do I need to do conversion wise?

(I am mathematically challenged :) )


This topic was moved to the current forum and was merged with the previous topic. This was done so the entire thread could be viewed in one thread, as well as one forum and to avoid confusion.
 
I was using the carbonate hardness test, which I was told was the alkalinity test.
 
Here is a little bit about the different units of ALK.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2002/chemistry.htm said:
Units of Alkalinity

The various units used for alkalinity are themselves cause for confusion. The clearest unit, and that used by most scientists is milliequivalents per L (meq/L). For a 1 millimolar solution of bicarbonate, the alkalinity is 1 meq/L. Since carbonate takes up two protons for each molecule of carbonate, it "counts" twice, and a 1 millimolar solution of carbonate has an alkalinity of 2 meq/L.

A unit that is used by many kits and some industries involves representing alkalinity in terms of the amount of calcium carbonate that would need to be dissolved in fresh water to give the same alkalinity. Typically, it is reported as ppm calcium carbonate. Of course, it has nothing to do with calcium, and there may be no carbonate in the water at all. Nevertheless, it is frequently used. Since calcium carbonate weighs 100 grams/mole (100 mg/mmole), then a solution that has an alkalinity of 100 ppm calcium carbonate equivalent contains 100 mg/L calcium carbonate divided by 100 mg/mmole calcium carbonate = 1 mmol/L calcium carbonate equivalent. Since carbonate has 2 equivalents per mole, this 100 ppm of alkalinity is equivalent to 2 meq/L. So to convert an alkalinity expressed as ppm CaCO3 to meq/L, divide by 50.


Finally there is the German term dKH (degrees of carbonate hardness), or just KH (carbonate hardness).Strictly speaking, it is the same as the carbonate alkalinity (AC in equation 8). Unfortunately, it is a very confusing term, as it has nothing to do with hardness. Further, it has been corrupted by the marine aquarium hobby to mean the same as total alkalinity, and every test kit that tests for dKH with a single titration is giving total alkalinity. The only kit that I am aware of that even makes a distinction between carbonate alkalinity and total alkalinity is one of the Seachem kits (Reef Status: Magnesium, Carbonate, & Borate) and it thankfully doesn’t use the term dKH at all. Consequently, most hobbyists should think of dKH as simply another measure of total alkalinity. The results obtained with such a kit (dKH) can be divided by 2.8 to yield the alkalinity in meq/L.

For those who are mathematically challenged, here is an alkalinity conversion table for all three units. Alkalinity Conversion Table

From the previous numbers given, if your CA is still at 420 mg/L then your numbers are looking pretty good. The CA and the Alk are balanced. To keep them there use a balanced solution for CA and ALK additions, such as Kalk, or the 2 part CA and ALK supplaments like B-ionic.
 
What would you define (as) success?

I meant maintaining a steady drip without clogging, stopping up, or increasing flowrate. Keeping up with the kalk usage (making more) and ease of refilling or changing out containers.

Keeping your Ca above 400 ppm depends on your evaporation rate (if you're replenishing with only limewater).

Mark
 
Well I am going into my 4th day of kalk usage. SHould I see an improvment in ca levels yet? I will check later on. I tested my PH and it looks like its holding steady as I took a reading in teh AM (pre lights) and a reading in the PM (with lights) both at about the middle of the light cycle and the readings looked to be around the same reading and I think it was 8.1.

Last time I took a alk reading it was 4meg/l
:?:
I have a ? for everyone. When do I clean the kalk jug of all the white residue on the bottom? I dont have much right now but I can see how each day adding more kalk will slowly cause more and more buildup on the bottom. :?:
 
fishfreek said:
When do I clean the kalk jug of all the white residue on the bottom? I dont have much right now but I can see how each day adding more kalk will slowly cause more and more buildup on the bottom. :?:

I suggest cleaning it out once a week. It's harmless until it gets to the depth where it could be sucked into the siphon. It's mostly CaCO3 and a little undissolved kalk powder. Both of which will slowly dissolve in fresh water.

To be honest, I clean mine out bi-month (every other month). but then I'm using two 5 gal buckets (Stage 1 and Stage 2).

Guy
 
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