Why Not make PPM the Standard For Alkalinity ?

Justfebreezeit · Dec 10, 2018

I think dKH is the most widely used. Its pretty consistent through reef2reef and youtube videos, including brs, wwc and the like. I like it being read in its own format honestly.

Scrubber_steve · Dec 10, 2018

Justfebreezeit said:
I think dKH is the most widely used. Its pretty consistent through reef2reef and youtube videos, including brs, wwc and the like. I like it being read in its own format honestly.

dKH would be my second pick, for the >>>just pick one already, & everyone use it<<< movement

Chuk · Dec 11, 2018

I like to use ppm and meq/ L

Scrubber_steve · Dec 11, 2018

Chuk said:
I like to use ppm and meq/ L

Chuk · Dec 11, 2018

Scrubber_steve said:

Can’t do it

Scrubber_steve · Dec 11, 2018

Chuk said:
Can’t do it

Hans-Werner · Dec 12, 2018

The problem is, the measure of ppm in this case is just an "as if", Steve, an equivalent. It has nothing to do with what there really is in saltwater and it is just as outdated or even more so as dKH. Like Randy said, the only real thing would be to express it all as mmol/l or meq/l. The latter one is even better because it also takes into account the charge of the ions. You would see at once how much sodium, calcium, magnesium ions etc. must pair with chloride, sulfate or bicarbonate ions. The problem is, ppm and to a certain degree dKH are everyday units while mmol/l and meq/l contains two units which both are not very familiar to most US citizens. One liter is 0.6242 US gallons and mol or mmol has something to do with the Avogrado constant and is quite an abstract measure for most people. So I fear your revolution will get only a small demonstration.

Scrubber_steve · Dec 12, 2018

Hans-Werner said:
The problem is, the measure of ppm in this case is just an "as if", Steve, an equivalent. It has nothing to do with what there really is in saltwater and it is just as outdated or even more so as dKH. Like Randy said, the only real thing would be to express it all as mmol/l or meq/l. The latter one is even better because it also takes into account the charge of the ions. You would see at once how much sodium, calcium, magnesium ions etc. must pair with chloride, sulfate or bicarbonate ions. The problem is, ppm and to a certain degree dKH are everyday units while mmol/l and meq/l contains two units which both are not very familiar to most US citizens. One liter is 0.6242 US gallons and mol or mmol has something to do with the Avogrado constant and is quite an abstract measure for most people. So I fear your revolution will get only a small demonstration.

Thanks for the response Hans.

Would you agree that it would be a positive for the >>hobby << to have alkalinity reported by everyone using just one measurement standard?
People looking for assistance report it in ppm, or dKH, or meq/L. This makes things more confusing to people new to the hobby & those looking to help.
I'm somewhat tongue-in-cheek with all this, but still, I think I make a reasonable point.

I'm not a chemist, & I'm not asking for the method of testing to be changed, just the reported standard.

To make my point; I can use the RedSea Pro Alk test kit & it will give a result on the card in dKH & meq/L.
I then can go here & convert it to ppm, because I like ppm.

I could also buy this Hanna Alk tester today & this is what I would get