DIY KH Keeper reagent
- Thread starter e34stx
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Dennis Cartier
Valuable Member
I had never heard of the unit until you asked about it in the DIY Alkatronic reagent thread. Looking at it, it uses a 9:1 mixing ratio for the reagent. Do you know how much aquarium water is used per test?
I am sure we can calculate/guesstimate the strength of the reagent and come up with an over the counter replacement. It might take some trial and error, but it should be quite feasible to figure it out.
Dennis
I am sure we can calculate/guesstimate the strength of the reagent and come up with an over the counter replacement. It might take some trial and error, but it should be quite feasible to figure it out.
Dennis
Dennis Cartier
Valuable Member
I thought about this some more. Do you have a Salifert alkalinity test on hand? If so, can you do a test using 1 ml of the mixed reagent from the KH Keeper. Let me know what the reading on the syringe is after the colour change occurs. Also please let me know what the actual tested alkalinity is (using the tests reagent).
Dennis
Dennis
Dennis Cartier
Valuable Member
Unfortunately I only have Salifert, so I am not sure how the Red Sea one works. If you can get a hold of the Salifert version and use it to test, we should have a shot at figuring out what the normalization of the KH Keeper reagent is.
Dennis
Iirc, the kh keeper reagent is 0.2N concentrate that is then diluted to 0.02N. Only looked at it by the numbers though when reverse engineering how the thing works, didn't actually try generic acid it out on an actual unit
Dennis Cartier
Valuable Member
Hmm, interesting. That is the exact (diluted) normalization as the Alkatronic. They start with 0.1N and dilute it 4:1 to end up with 0.02N as well.
This can be confirmed by the Salifert test using the KH Keeper reagent. The formula for converting the Alkatronic result when using the Salifert test with it's reagent is:
( 1-syringe reading ) x 250 x 0.056 = dKH
If the KH Keeper is also 0.02N after dilution, then that formula should also work for the KH Keeper.
Dennis
Dennis Cartier
Valuable Member
Borat
Valuable Member
To run a titration test (any device) using 0.1N hydrochloric acid in a 100ml volume of test water you need approximately 3ml of reagent (at DKH 8.4)..
If you can track the amount of water and the amount of acid being added (is that info not provided on the app??) - you can calculate the rough concentration of acid.
If you can track the amount of water and the amount of acid being added (is that info not provided on the app??) - you can calculate the rough concentration of acid.
Dennis Cartier
Valuable Member
Hmm, well they show the device using 7ml of reagent for 8.0 dKH in their advertising, but I am not sure what the volume of water they are testing is.
Perhaps the test with 0.1N HCL diluted down to 0.02N will bear fruit.
Dennis
Perhaps the test with 0.1N HCL diluted down to 0.02N will bear fruit.
Dennis
Dennis Cartier
Valuable Member
Both of these sync up nicely with the quantity of reagent they advertise as being needed for 8.0 dKH.
For @Borat 's example (converted to 8.0 dKH, using 0.02N and 50ml sample size):
(8/8.4) * 3 * 5 / 2 = 7.142857143 ml
Which matches what @elysics calculated it at (7.15ml).
Now let's see if it works for @e34stx using his 0.1N HCL on hand.
Dennis
Dennis Cartier
Valuable Member
