Cal and Alk Confusion?

[plum70rt]

I did a search on Alk and got very conflicting results, What is considered to be good #s for Cal and Alk?
Im at 460ppm Cal, and alk is 5 meq, Am I OK?

 

[j21kickster]

those #s are good-

 

[plum70rt]

LFS said my Alk should be 11?
are they Nuts?

 

[j21kickster]

11meq? Thats pretty high up there

 

[broomer5]

plum70rt
I'm pretty sure your LFS meant 11 dKH which would correspond to about 3.93 meq/L alkalinity
You're right ... you will get a lot of conflicting opinions on what's considered "good" numbers - depending on who you ask.
In my reef tank - I try to maintain calcium between 400-420 ppm and alkalinity just at 10 dkH ( 10 / 2.8 = 3.57 meq/L )

 

[bang guy]

NSW is Ca 400 - 420, ALK 2 - 2.5 Meq/L
Since a growth spurt can quickly lower Ca and ALK it's best to have a reserve quantity of Ca and ALK so I *try* to maintain a Ca of 440 and an ALK of 3.0.