So i got the reefmaster API kit..for Cal, Dkh, and phos

J

JonReefer

In Memoriam
I picked up a kit lastnight.
Gave it a test..seems my Calcium is 500 alk is 13..I have no idea how its that high. I dont dose anything yet..and I only do weekly waterchanges with Red sea pro salt.
I tried to test the phospahtes with it..Good lord could they have made the color chart any closer in color between 0.0 and .25
I need like a Spyder color calibrator to tell the difference. I try to hold up the tube and in 1 light it looks like 0.0 and then I turn my body 1/4 turn and looks like .25 so that phospahtes test is useless to me. why cant they make the colors little more easy to tell the difference
 
well I did the phos test again..I used sunlight this time to get the color..its still not really easy but I can see that its the 0.0 color..so I feel better
 
That calcium level combined with that alk level seem almost impossible. I only use the API phosphate test kit, and agree that the colors can be pretty difficult to tell the difference. Are the calcium and alk tests titration tests?
 
i dont know what triation is..the test you just keep adding drops till it gets a certain color and then you look at the chart for what that amount of drops equals out to...Ray said he uses these test for quick testing and others say they are decent.
 
so your calc is 500 and alk is 13 and everything in your tank looks fine huh???

that, my friend, is impressive (coming from the queen of bad luck stories)...when was the last time you tested prior to the new test kits? what were those results?
 
I never tested before...I am not one to really test much..HAHA
Most time I fly by night and do a pretty good job.
yea everything is prefectly fine..My pink lemonade is encrusting nice and got great color, the pearlberry and redplanet i got off ray is coloring up nice and good polyp extension. Plus the blue stag I got from him has a nice deeper blue color. My green bubble tip looks great.
 
Wow...............13 and 500, and you don't add anything?

You don't use purple up or any type of additive?

Just water changes every week? How big of water change?

Red Sea Coral Pro mixes up at 490 for calcium.

I can see weekly water changes keeping calc. up and if you were 1 drop off in the difference in the final color of titration that would be the diff between 480 and 500.
 
So.........

I Googled "TITRATION" for you;

The process, operation, or method of determining the concentration of a substance in solution by adding to it a standard reagent of known concentration in carefully measured amounts until a reaction of definite and known proportion is completed, as shown by a color change or by electrical measurement, and then calculating the unknown concentration.
 
i do about a 4.5g water change a week. No i havnt started to dose anything yet. Everything seems healthy though..I would like to bring it down to like 450/9 I am going to start dosing once I get to that point to try and keep it there
 
Skipping a water change could have the unfortunate side effect of allowing nitrates to pop up, and you don't want that. I use a Red Sea calcium test which measures in incriments of 50ppm, so if the 7th drop stays a certain color, and the 8th changes, it could be anywhere from 350 to 400. What is scale that ATI uses? I use a salifert alk and mag test, and those get you to within .1 or .2 dKH and are a lot more accurate as far as pinpointing exactly what the concentration of those specific parameters are at.

Titration--basically, adding drops until your water in the test tube changes color.
 
yea its the same way 50 each..so i guess it could be anywhere between 450-500
I am not to worried about the calcium a the DKH is alot higher then i want it to be
 
yea its triation..i keep adding drops till it turns from blue to yellow. what do you mean tolerance..I just bought these test kits in the mean time till I can order the salifert alk, cal, mag kits
 
What is the difference between 1 drop and 2 drops? Honestly, I probably wouldn't worry about the salifert calcium test (just my opinion) since there's not a huge difference between 400 and 450 calcium. Anything below 350 probably needs more...more than 450 needs less. You really don't need to know much more than that for it. Alk and Mg can need to be a little more precise...
 
Another tip...make sure that if the test calls for 5 ml, that you test it with a syringe if possible. When I read my ATI phosphate test, it calls for 5 ml. The line was probably at 4.5 ml rather than 5, which could really throw your test off. 1dKH is a pretty big difference too...so you could realistically be at 11.5 and due to a test reading high and the line on the tube being off, you're getting a totally different reading. I'd definitely go salifert on the alk test.
 
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