I still, after all these years, readily admit that my understanding of the chemistry of this hobby is my weakest link. Would it be true, in loose terms, that pushing Alk higher would mean pushing Ca and Mg higher so that Alk can be maintained at the elevated level?
I agree- not my strongest area either.
The cynic in me might agree with you, however, I think if that was the case they'd be more interested in detailing a dkh conversion.
Since I tend to use dKH as the measurement, I'm more familiar with the 8 to 11 dKH rule. But the conversion to meq/L is right off the Salifert test kit instructions, and that is where I got the numbers I posted above.
Articles by RHF will show what the closest to NSW numbers should be.
I've been looking through the articles by RHF. He hasn't yet tested the SeaChem test kit for alk, but he does seem to echo the sentiments from the SeaChem literature that does not give a conversion to dkh because of its limited accuracy.
I've always used dkh, and because of the new test kits I'm getting used to meg/l. Marc, be careful with those Salifert kits. They've long be lauded as the superior test kit of the marine industry until everyone started hoping on the Elos bandwagon. I like the SeaChem test kit because while it may not be as exacting- only giving readings in the ".5" meg/l increments, there is less room for error.
When I used the Salifert Alkalinity test kit, there was always a large margin for error in the way that the test was performed. In fact, I even think there was a thread awhile back here on RC about inconsistencies with the results particular to the Alk test. I also found that their test kits spoil more quickly than others.
Good luck with those damsels...
Thanks, I think...
They're really fine, there's plenty of hiding and swimming room.
awesome looking tank! can't wait to see things all grown in more!
Thanks so much! You and me both!
Algae with Zero Levels- my latest musings here...
Nitrate- 0
Phosphate- 0
I was about to order a small reactor to run GFO to reduce phosphates, because, well, I was convinced I had phosphates.
I tested for Nitrates over the last week. Still zero.
The tank is crystal clear, but I'm wondering why I'm scraping brown algae, diatoms, off the acrylic every other day. There's also stringy cyano in patches throughout the tank. I have a significant amount of flow- Almost 50x turnover for my 8ft softie dominated tank.
Might this still be a bit of new tank syndrome? - the tank is just about 3 months and 4 months cycled.
I do have a decent fish load- 15 fish, but most very small.
Total system water volume is probably around 160 gallons currently.
I do feed heavily twice a day and there is DT's phyto mixed in with my premade food. However, if it was a result of the feedings, wouldn't I be showing nitrates/phosphates- either directly from the food or uneaten food decay?
Fish, Corals, Inverts all look fantastic. My yellow Fiji Leather is closed up, but that is fairly normal as it does this periodically- when open it's gorgeous.
The only other thing of mention is that my Alk shot up to 5meg/l. It's been lowered to 4-4.5meg/l and my ph has been 8.2...but this we already know
My Calcium is a bit low- 340-360, so I buffered this.
The only other telling thing is that there's more of the stringy cyano near the front where I added crushed coral about a month ago.
I'm also very deficient in the clean up crew department. I only have 4-5 Tiger Trochus Snails, 4 or 5 Ceriths, 1 scarlet hermit, a brittle star, mini brittles, and about 30-40 blue leg hermits. I'll be picking up 250 baby ceriths from Steve hopefully this weekend. Still, I don't thing this explains it.
Any thoughts? Any other information I can provide?
