I ran my usual seachem calcium test today I got a reading that was low (around 380). I immediatley commenced to correcting the "problem" by adding 1/2 quart calcium chloride solution. Then I started to think hmmm... how did my calcium get so low when my dkh has consistantly been 8 and my calcium reactor should add both in appropriate levels. So I ran another test using the reference solution from the test kit (390) and it came out 275! Oh no. I normally use bottled distilled water as the top off water for the test. Could it be the water? I reran the test again using RO/DI and guess what, the reference test came out perfect! Ran a test on the tank water using RO/DI... 660 Ouch! Moral of the story. Dont trust bottled distilled water. And of course dont be to quick to correct a problem UNTIL you think it through. If I would of waited for a while I know I would have said to myself "that test cant be right, cause my reactor adds calc and dkh equally."
Something I dont understand is, how would water make the test come out low? I could understand it how it could add calcium to a test, but how can it subtract it?
Something I dont understand is, how would water make the test come out low? I could understand it how it could add calcium to a test, but how can it subtract it?
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