"Hardness is not something I check, personally, as Alkalinity gives us an
indication of water hardness anyway."
Calcium Hardness is the Ca level and alk does not give an indication of hardness.
Hardness is just **expressed** as CaCO3, to calculate the Ca you just remove the molecular
weight of the CO3
In seawater that hardness will not be just Ca but also Mg and Sr
EX
By definition, 1dGH = 10 mg/liter CaO
Atomic Weight Ca = 40, O = 16, CaO = 56
So 10 mg/liter CaO contains 40/56 *10 = 7.143 mg/liter of Ca
By definition ppm Ca is not for elemental calcium but for ppm CaCO3.
Atomic weight CaCO3 = 100
So 7.143 mg/liter of elemental Ca would be expressed as 100/40 * 7.143 = 17.8575
mg/liter(ppm)CaCO3.
1dGH = 17.86 ppm CaCO3 and 7.143 ppm Ca2+.
You said 2600 and that means 2600 ppm CaCO3 = 365 ppm or mg / l Ca, as 26000 / 7.143 =
364 so it is a little low.You need to be near 3000 ppm. The conversion is 7.143, so 3000 /
7.143 = 420
Your alk is about normal about 3.3 meq / l. The conversion is 17.86, so 170 / 17.86 = 9.5
/ 2.8 = 3.4 meq/ / or 9.5 dKH
Something is wrong with this below
"OK now i followed the directions the correct way and received the following
hardness: 5160
calcium 619
magnisum 4541"
"1 meg/L = 1 ppm (at least in calcium levels, I just guess the same for alk"
No, that is mg / l = ppm. meq / l, as used in Alk or Ca is a whole different beast
Ex
400 mg / l = 10 mmol and mmol x its charge = meq / l .And Ca has a charge of +2 = so 2 x
10= 20 meq / l Ca or 400 ppm or mg / l. And mmol x its molecular weight = mg / l so Ca
has a MW of 40 and seawater has 10 mmol of Ca, so 40 x 10 = 400 mg / l
--
Boomer
Want to talk chemistry ? The Reef Chemistry Forum
http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin/index.php
Want to See More ?
Please Join Our Growing Membership
www.coralrealm.com
If You See Me Running You Better Catch-Up
"Marc Levenson" wrote in message ...
: No, unfortunately it is not.
:
: Hardness is not something I check, personally, as Alkalinity gives us an
: indication of water hardness anyway.
:
: Alkalinity should be between 8 and 11 dKH to match NSW (Natural Sea Water)
: Magnesium should be around 1400ppm
: Calcium should be 400 - 450ppm.
:
: I'd stop dosing Calcium now. Why not take your new test kits with you to the
: LFS and have them do a sample test with you of your water and of theirs? That
: was you could compare some of the results against a healthy reef display in
: their care.
:
: Marc
:
:
: Peter Pan wrote:
:
: OK now i followed the directions the correct way and received the following
: hardness: 5160
: calcium 619
: magnisum 4541
:
: is this more in line?
:
: --
:
: "Dragon Slayer" wrote in message
: ...
: your not doing something right, your calcium is not 2600
: ppm...............unless your just dosed 50 gallon of kalk and its snowing
: in the tank.
:
: alk should be in the neighborhood of 8 dKH or 2.9 meg/L
:
: 1 meg/L = 1 ppm (at least in calcium levels, I just guess the same for
: alk,
: but not sure)
:
: my 75 is at 15 dKH but its steady and calcium is at 420ppm.
:
:
: either your test kit is really whacked or your doing the test
: wrong/reading
: it wrong.
:
: I highly recommend salifert test kits for alk and ca. if you don't want
: to
: get new kits get someone else to test it (lfs maybe) and see what you
: really
: have. if its bad off its best to do a water change to get it close then
: add
: what is needed to get it to the level you want to keep.
:
: after you get the levels you want to keep, you monitor it daily to see if
: alk dropped, if so add part A of the B-Ionic and an equal amount of the B
: part. up the dose daily till your alk levels don't drop. then test
: calcium, it should be in the ball park of where it should be if not you
: may
: have to adjust part B to fix it, then recheck the alk again to double
: check
: it, ca effects alk and vise/versa.
:
: hth
: kc
:
:
:
: "Peter Pan" wrote in message
: ...
: Can any one please tell me what the Alkalinity and Hardness levels
: should
: be. I have a 75 Gal tank
:
: I took the Alkalinity readings and got 170 ppm
: and Hardness is well over 2000 ppm and Calcium of 2600ppm
:
: Im using the Lamotte test kits and stopped after filling the solution
: 10X
: and the color still did not change. ( i did the test twice to enusre i
: was
: doing it correctly).
:
: How far off are my levels and where should they be. I have B-Ionic
: Calcium
: Buffer System to help with the levels... Im just not sure how much of
: each
: to add at this point
:
: Thanks
:
: --
:
:
:
:
:
: --
: Personal Page:
http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
: Business Page:
http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
: Marine Hobbyist:
http://www.melevsreef.com
:
: