Help With Kalkwasser

[Radiography14]

Hi there

I was wondering if anyone could help me with this.


I have mixed a bunch of kalkwasser in a 20 gallon rubbermaid container today and i stirred it with a powerhead for an hour ,THEN LET IT SET FOR 2 HOURS then i kept the cover over the top and decided to test for alk and calcium content.

my alk or hardness tested just right at a 12
my calcium tested 120

what is wrong with this pic?

after the stirring with the powerhead the water set for 2.5 hours when the testing happened?

this is going to be used as top off water in my tank. this replaced the evaporated water.


are these levels where they should be?


thanks for reading
P.S I HAVE A 20 GALLON TANK

Hobby Experience: 6 years

[marduc]

the test kit is designed for use in salt water, not in lime water. ALmost all these kits are dependant on a certain ph range to be established to get accurate results. Testing kalk at ~12.5 PH is going to skew the results for a kit designed to test SW at 7.8-8.5 PH.

2 tsp. of kalk per gallon and your set.. it will be saturated, if you feel the need to test for anything test the pH.

Have you read Dr. Randy Holmes-Farley's articles in the reef chemistry forum?? if not check em out, and get to know em and love em :D

[jer77]

Even when testing the pH of limewater with a meter calibrated for seawater, the high pH will cause error in the measured results. The further you get from 7.0 the more error you'll have.

[Radiography14]

HOW DO I KNOW IF THE CHEMISTRY IS RIGHT THEN FOR THE AMOUNT THAT I WANT TO PUT IN THE TANK WHEN THE WATER EVAPORATES?. IS THERE SOMETHING I CAN TEST TO MAKE SURE THE TOP OFF LIME WATER IS RIGHT FOR MY TANK. I ALREADY TRIED THAT CALCULATER ONLINE AND ITS SO CONFUSING. WHAT DOES EVERYONE ELES KALK TEST AT IN THEIR RESIVOIR?

[shag26272]

i mean youre just dripping it in right? start it slow and test your tank

[Radiography14]

NO NOT DRIPPING IT IN REPLENSHING EVAPORATED WATER IN TANK AND I HAVE A PUMP WITH AN AUTOMATIC TOP OFF SENSING THIS DIFFRENCE.

[sjm817]

First, please dont type in all caps. It make it seem like YOU ARE YELLING

It is a bit of trial and error as ca/alk demands, evaporation rates are different for everyones tanks. Start with 1/2 - 1 tsp/Gallon, monitor your ca/alk/ph levels and see how it goes. If your levels are not maintained, increase the amount. 2 tsp/Gallon is max.

What Your Grandmother Never Told You About Lime
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.htm

How to Select a Calcium and Alkalinity Supplementation Scheme
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2003/chem.htm