Alkalinity Question

mudplayerx

Active Member
I ran out of my regular alkalinity test kit from Aquarium Pharmaceuticals a little over a month ago. They didn't have any test kits around here so I didn't get to buy another one until I went to Nashville just yesterday. Long story short, its been over a month since I've tested my alkalinity. The one they had in Nashville was manufactured by Red Sea and I hate it.
I tested my water three times yesterday at different points in the day and each time the tube was so clear that it didnt come close to anything on the color chart. It was so clear it looked almost like I put no test solution into the beaker (which would indicate incredibly low alkalinity).
My calcium is 420 (hehe) and my ph is 8.2 to 8.4 (hard to tell on color chart). I have been dosing once a week with a very light dose of kalkwasser.
My question is, how can my alkalinity be so incredibly low if both my other readings seem on target and pretty stable? Do you think the test kit is just a piece of garbage? I did notice that when I dosed some of the liquid alkalinity buffer that came with the test kit that my yellow polyps definately opened up more.
GAH! HELP ME PLEASE!
ps- the test kit has an experation date of 2007.
 

mudplayerx

Active Member
Darnit! I should have known better than to buy another Red Sea test kit. The funny part is that the instruction manual says "if you are having trouble reading your alkalinity with this test kit, try our alkalinity test kit pro . LOL I think Red Sea test kits deserve the same shelf as the visijet protein skimmer.
DARNIT!
 

reefnut

Active Member
I'd go a head and get a Salifert calcium kit too so you can check the accuracy of the one you are using... which is only another 18$.
 
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