Help dosing fritz rpm alk part 1

[leroy_jenkinz]

ok so I use instant ocean reef salts and have ran my alk tests several times with red reefs kit ( not expired) freshly made salt and water in my tank are bothsitting at about 4dkh,
My calcium is 440-460
Magnesium is about 1450.
My PH fluctuates from 7.6-7.9 night/day
I have some of fritz RPM part 1 to raise my alk.
My two questions are do I dose the dosage straight to my tank or through my ATO or sump and two the directions say one teaspoon will raise 10gallons by 1.06dkh but not to exceed 5ml per 10 gallon daily soooo does that mean I can dose 3-5 teaspoons in one day depending on what I want my Alk at?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The IO is not 4 dKH as mixed. Might you be reading 4 meq/ L (11 dKH)?

 

[steelwrap]

Im suprised your fresh mixed salt alk reads that low, when i used IO it was never that low. How many gallons is your set up?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Don’t boost the alk before figuring out if the kit is working. You’ll send it too high.

Might you be reading a titration syringe backwards?

 

[leroy_jenkinz]

Maybe the kit is wrong but it reads my PH, nitrates and ammonia etc all correctly. Maybe I’m shaking it to hard between drops or something I honestly don’t know. The test doesn’t use the titration syringe it uses a pippette and I count the amount of drops I use. My setup is 90g with a eshopps sump

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Maybe the kit is wrong but it reads my PH, nitrates and ammonia etc all correctly. Maybe I’m shaking it to hard between drops or something I honestly don’t know. The test doesn’t use the titration syringe it uses a pippette and I count the amount of drops I use. My setup is 90g with a eshopps sump

Get a different kit, at least a test from a friend or lfs.

While unrelated to the alkalinity accuracy, how do you know it reads the others correctly?

 

[leroy_jenkinz]

The ph reads same as my calibrated apex probe, ammonia/nitrates same as my other Salifert tests. Ok I’ll have my LFS test my alk with their test kit and see what’s up before I dose.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The ph reads same as my calibrated apex probe, ammonia/nitrates same as my other Salifert tests. Ok I’ll have my LFS test my alk with their test kit and see what’s up before I dose.

If you do confirm the values, there's a problem with your salt mix. That's quite rare, but if real, might be impacting things other than alkalinity.

 

[leroy_jenkinz]

If you do confirm the values, there's a problem with your salt mix. That's quite rare, but if real, might be impacting things other than alkalinity.

So I’m just about the dumbest person on the planet and can’t follow directions. I was reading the wrong side of the chart, my dkh is roughly 7.5-8. So guess I have a bunch of dosing chemicals for when I ACTUALLY need them down the road lol

 

[steelwrap]

We all make mistakes. You did the right thing by questioning here and it turned out good.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

That confusion is not uncommon. Glad you got it figured out. [emoji3]