why high mag and cal?
- Thread starter h8z2luze
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h8z2luze
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Now I am confused. The other day I had 10 nitrates, 9 alk 540 cal and 1500 Mag and I havent done a water change... Now I tested and...
1.026
amm - 0
nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
cal - 480
alk - 10
mag - 1250
1.026
amm - 0
nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
cal - 480
alk - 10
mag - 1250
mcarroll
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1/2 cup (4 volume ounces) per gallon should do the trick. (When you add salt mix, you're adding ALL the elements....so raising one or two isn't possible.)
There is an inverse relation between alk and Ca...if one is very low, it can make the other appear higher in testing.
Could just be that you're not 100% consistent with your testing procedure.
Consistency is much more important than accuracy, fwiw. Might even say that so far as we care about it, accuracy comes from consistency. Get your consistency down and you've nailed both.
If you don't feel you are able to be consistent, try a different brand of test. API, Salifert, Red Sea and the rest, as well as Hanna's digital meters are all pretty different in the mechanics of the testing. Some people have a strong preference to one type or another.
I was never comfortable with Red Sea or API myself....I ended up with Salifert and Hanna kits. (Day to day I use Salifert....by far the most user-friendly to me.)
-Matt
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mcarroll
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Forgot to mention that I was being a bit specific and referring just to alkalinity, calcium and magnesium tests....Salifert is my favorite for those tests.
Nitrate test kits are a bit notorious for being hard to read (Phosphate tests are much worse), so maybe watch some online videos, watch your LFS use their kits and see what they are like, etc...before you plunk too much money down. Without finding a Hach vendor (which I do like better, but do they sell to the public online now?*) and getting their color comparator kit (aka color wheel and comparison box), I'm not sure I have a favorite nitrate kit. Or pH.
Personallly, I think a nitrate kit isn't going to tell you anything you don't already know (e.g. overfeeding, lack of maintenance) or can't tell from the speed of the algae regrowth on your glass.
-Matt
* Indeed they do. Live chat with or call Hach before ordering tho....they have some variations of these kits available too and I don't know what all the options are.
Nitrate test kits are a bit notorious for being hard to read (Phosphate tests are much worse), so maybe watch some online videos, watch your LFS use their kits and see what they are like, etc...before you plunk too much money down. Without finding a Hach vendor (which I do like better, but do they sell to the public online now?*) and getting their color comparator kit (aka color wheel and comparison box), I'm not sure I have a favorite nitrate kit. Or pH.
Personallly, I think a nitrate kit isn't going to tell you anything you don't already know (e.g. overfeeding, lack of maintenance) or can't tell from the speed of the algae regrowth on your glass.
-Matt
* Indeed they do. Live chat with or call Hach before ordering tho....they have some variations of these kits available too and I don't know what all the options are.
- Hach nitrate test kit. 0-10 mg/L ($78). If I were going to test for nitrate (see above) this is what I would do. Range is better than any other kit.
- Color-cube test 0-50 mg/L ($25; looks identical to the nitrate cube in my
oldancient Kordon master kit. Hrm.) - As well as nitrate test strips. 0-50 mg/L ($20)
