Calcium and Alkalinity

[charile1]

What is the desired calcium, alkalinity and ph for a reef tank? And what are some good test kits that are not too expensive.

 

[bigbris1]

CA 380-420
AlK 4-6 meq/L

 

[Paintbug]

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

Saifert or SeaChem are going to be the best bets for test kits.

 

[charile1]

Thanks for the reply.

Do you know of a good website with descriptions of corals? Anything besides liveaquaria.

 

[lemonhead]

calicum- 400ppm to 440ppm
alkalinity- i usually measure cardonate hardness (KH). KH- 9dkh to 12dkh.
ph- 8.1 to 8.5. ideally 8.3
i like Aquarium Pharm. - calcium test kit easy to do, fairly accurate if you shake the second bottle each time you use it. kh test easy also just one bottle and count the drops. ph test add 5 drops compare to color chart.

 

[Paintbug]

http://www.marinedepotlive.com/
http://www.petsolutions.com/Saltwater+Corals-C-76-C-.aspx
http://www.reeffrontiers.com/photos_corals/index.php?cat=1

those should keep you busy