Alkalinity with Salifert

[vietcu]

I just got my test kit today, and tested my water. This is what I have, is this about right or am I too high/low? Don't have the calcium test for it until Tuesday.

KH in dKH = 9.6
Alkalinity in meg/L = 3.42

Salinity is at around 1.021-023
Magnesium is 1500.

Does that look about right to you guys?

 

[Akronviper]

I believe DKH should be 11 or a little higher and Salinity seem low for my preferences.

 

[Aadler]

I tend to run salinity around 1.025-.027. 1.025 being NSW.

KH is fine, 8 is low end, 12 is high end, 9-10 is great.

mag is great as well dont need any higher tho.

 

[Tswifty]

looks good... I aim for 10 dKH myself, but I know a lot of people run around 8ish.

Also... like Mike said... I would bump your SG up... I run at 1.026

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php

 

[aerius007]

I would say you are a little low on the alk and the salt, 10-11dkh is best (9.6 or even a tad lower is fine though) and I run salt at 1.025-1.026. However if you are having a parasite issue with the tang your salt may be better on the low side.

 

[Frick-n-Frags]

FWIW, the ocean runs around 8ish too. so there's your baseline.

corals build skeletons faster with elevated alk and Ca (380ppm in the ocean) and coralline too.

so that's why you see people run at like 10-12dkh alk and w/e 400--500Ca <--please note, you cannot just take both these params up and up. at some point based on their ratio and the pH, you will precipitate CaCO2

too high of alk interferes with Ca uptake too

you want good target values? alk 9-11, Ca 400-450. extra, but not playing around near the precipitation point either

 

[vivek]

alkalinity 8-12 is fine. What really matters is stability of your parms rather than chasing an arbitrary no. especially if your goal is SPS. The more you stock your tank with sps the harder it gets to keep that alkalinity higher.Also remember that the test kits can only give you a ballpark no. i always go with a +/- 1DKH value error especially with the salifert kit. I use both a lamotte and salifert for alk. While my salifert reads 9dkh the lamotte reads 8.4. also depends on how good you are reading colors. i for one always second guess myself.