Salifert Alk Test kit help needed

[NewSchool04]

I lost the sheet that tranfers your mml reading into meq/L. I had 3.6 mml left in the thin vile and trying to figure out what my Alk is.
Can someone scan a copy to me?

Thanks!

 

[918ReefCpl]

KH in dKH = (1- reading in step #5) x 16
Alk in meq/L = (1-reading in step #5) x 5.71

if you had .36ml left in the syringe your KH value would be 10.2 and your Alk in meq/L would be 3.66

 

[SlowCobra]

 

[NewSchool04]

Perfect!

 

[Doubledown]

Damn he's good!

 

[SlowCobra]

You happened to luck out! I had it scanned from about a month or 2 ago when a friend lost his copy and needed it. I didn't remember which test I scanned but...well... there it is.

 

[NewSchool04]

I've booked marked this thread, I will never be in the dark!!!

Starting to notice the tank pulling more and more Alk & Ca, Kalk drip is starting to struggle to keep up

 

[SlowCobra]

Why not just right click, save image. Then you have it on your PC and can either print it or just refer to it as needed. You just need to run the kalk reactor more.

 

[NewSchool04]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10851984#post10851984 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SlowCobra
Why not just right click, save image. Then you have it on your PC and can either print it or just refer to it as needed. You just need to run the kalk reactor more.

Person who knows how to use a computer talking to a numb skull faking it.

Good idea SlowCobra, I already learned something today and it's only an hour into it :lol:

 

[SlowCobra]

Wait you said kalk drip, are you using a reactor or just mixing it up in a container and topping off? If that is the case, get yourself a kalk reactor or DIY one. I love my PM reactor. Need to raise PH, alk, ca... no problem let the pump run a little more to saturate the water more.

 

[NewSchool04]

I don't see how a kalk reactor would make any difference?

I mix and drip to match evaporation using a reef dosing pump. Water is saturated at 2 teaspoons of kalk per gallon, you can't over saturate it. When you're dosing, it doesn't matter if it's coming from a Kalk reactor or just a container because if it's saturated, it can't get stronger.

 

[NewSchool04]

the dreaded double post!! :mixed:

 

[SlowCobra]

Just looking at my Kalk reactor a short while after the pump shuts off, there is barely any kalk left in my top-off water. Once the pump turns on, it is a night and day difference. Also I have heard Kalk loses its potency when exposed to air after being mixed. In a reactor it is pretty much a sealed container. I go through about 5 gals of top-off a day. I currently have a timer set to turn the pump on 6 times a day for 30mins at a time. At 1:30am with just my fuge light on and not that much Chaeto my PH is at 8.41. Yes I know it is high, I am shooting for 8.6-8.7 to hopefully wipe out my Dinoflagelette issue.

 

[NewSchool04]

Randy Holmes Farley did a study and disproved the "kalk losing potency" rumor that has been floating around forever. If you had a 25 gallon container of saturated kalk water and dripped it over weeks, the kalk at the end of the dose would basically be as strong as the first day of dosing. I think the loss of potency was in the 1 - 2% range.

 

[SlowCobra]

I believe with the reactor it is a continuous dosing. The water is not saturated but the actual kalk dosing is continuous with every time the pump runs. While water by volume can only handle so much kalk mixed with it before it is saturated with the kalk reactor it can be a continuous dose whenever you set the pump to run.

 

[pk1]

pat, your not running a CA reactor yet? That's how I got into my current troubles!

 

[Jeff]

I just got my calcium reactor dialed in and stopped adding limewater. I have a 22 gallon container that holds my topoff water. I just threw kalk in there and stirred it whenever. It would get pumped into my tank via an ATO when needed. It was totally ghetto and totally no-frills but it did do the job. No fancy kalk reactor just an ugly blue container that served as a water container.
Here is the article about kalk in air. Pat is right. limewater exposed to air is really not any less effective or weak then if it were in an airtight container: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-05/rhf/feature/index.php
The kalk reactor manufacturers probably dont want you to know this information. They want you to believe that their product is the only way to deliver limewater. Mine was totally unscientific and I was unable to perfectly dial in my needs but my calcium and alk levels kept my corals thriving.
Now I just use a calcium reactor which is doing everything that the limewater did except bring my ph up.
This system is working for me.

 

[NewSchool04]

no, not using a reactor. Everytime I get to the point that I need it, I nuke the tank and have to start all over!!

I'm good with growing the acros, just not very good at transfering them to bigger tanks.

 

[glassbox-design]

fwiw, kalk reactors just save time and space over normal kalk drips...reactors are actually more likely to add impurities from the kalkwasser than a normal drip, but that's not really much of a concern imo. imo kalk reactors are great because you push water through them so you dont have to worry about pumps getting clogged up.

you can make kalk reactors very easily, in fact they dont even need a to be stirred or a pump to to mix them...just have the input line in the powder at the bottom so the fresh water must push through the kalk (think phosban reactor)...check out tunze's design...i have the parts laying around, after exams next week i'll probably make a small out of a nalgene bottle.

eric

 

[driftin]

Pat, just out of curiosity - what's your evaporation rate every day?