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Calc and alk issues (long)


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I'm pretty sure that the Hagen kit measures alk in ppm CaCO3, I'll check when I get home tonight. In that case your alk is low, you want about 125 to 200. Your calcium level is a touch on the low side as well though most people usually aim for 400 ppm or so.

Of course this is actually a good thing, your alk and Ca levels are pretty much perfectly balanced! You should be fine just the way it is as you don't have any big calcium uptake in the tank. If your change water is at the right level it will bring both up a bit until they are in the right zone.

If you decide you want to fix it fast what you need to do to is wait a few days and then dose with a 2 part addative or maybe some kalkwasser, something that will increase both alk and calcium.

Here's a handy table you can use to convert between the 3 units.

http://ozreef.org/library/tables/alkalinity_conversion.html

Edited by midgetwaiter
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Okay that is good to hear. I'm going to do a few WC and dose with the 2 part additive. Will that bring the levels up to par, or will it just maintane the levels i have now? Those Hagen guys sure like to make things complicated. They should have that chart printed in the little instruction book they give you!!

Thanks for the reply's midgetwaiter,

Mark

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Okay that is good to hear. I'm going to do a few WC and dose with the 2 part additive. Will that bring the levels up to par, or will it just maintane the levels i have now? Those Hagen guys sure like to make things complicated. They should have that chart printed in the little instruction book they give you!!

Thanks for the reply's midgetwaiter,

Mark

If you follow the direction on your 2 part addative it should sort things out, it might take a litttle while but you'll get there. Now that you have things in balance resist the uge to do anything dramatic. Better a little low and slowly inproving than way out of wack again.

Glad I could help.

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The other very important part of the calcium/alk. equation is magnesium and you should be testing for that as well. If it is out of whack you are never going to get a good balance between your calcium and alk. Your magnesium should be about 1350-1400 ideally. If it was me I would do about 3 50% water changes over a course of 3 weeks (1 a week) and test every time both your newly mixed up salt water and your tank after you have done the water change.

IME the Salifert test kits are much more accurate and easier to read and when it comes time to replace you kits you may want to consider that. Your test kits are getting old as they are usually good for about a year unless otherwise specified. HTH

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  • 6 months later...
  • 8 months later...

Also to add to this long discussion are you aware that Hagen test kits for either Calcium or Kh I can't remember which one but one of these kits, the readings are Half of what they actually are. What I mean to say is that if you measure 200ppm then it's actually 400ppm. Now this was told to me by a friend at Aquarium Illusions a couple of weeks ago. I'm following this rule and I'm having great success with the few corals I have. Hopefully this helps.

My bad I misunderstood the guy, The ideal readings for Kh are 200mg/L, in the test kit they say 105mg/l is ideal. That's what I was trying to say.

Edited by Dominic
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  • 2 months later...
Well turns out I mis calculated my dosing procedures. I wasn't adding enough. I finally got my calcium levels to 340 ppm which is way better. But now my alk reading is 80 ?? the hagen test confuses me though, with all the dkh's and meq/l I don't know what 80 is refering to but I'm pretty sure thats way low.

I feel you frustration Waterlogged. I'm haveing a hell of a time balancing my nano. This thread has helped.

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