Calcium Test question
- Thread starter n2retics
- Start date
briand7878
Member
I have the same test kit. I will try to post a pic later im working right now. you will see a very distinct color difference between the pink and purple. mine for instance usually stays pink for 20 drops of the second bottle then drop 21 instantly changes it to deep purple. ill post one later if i remember.
groupergenius
Active Member
Like this....
n2retics
Member
So are you suppose to count the number of drops it takes to make it purple or till it turns blue. Mine usually turns blue around 17 drops. I have added purple up that last two days, and it still will not go up. Some one give me a honest opinion on purple up. What do I need to do to get the calcium level up, and will to much calcium hurt my fish? I have a 65 gallon tank, with around 75 lbs of live rock, live sand bed, as for fish I have two clowns, 1 yellow tang and 1 flame angel, as for corals I havearound 60-70 mushrooms, a green open brain, a fox coral, a green stylophora, bubble tip anomone, cleaning crew I have snails, 4 pepermint shrimp, hermit crabs, well I think that is about it. Any help would be very appreciated.
Jerry Burris
Jerry Burris
D
dennis210
Guest
If you want to raose your calcium you also have to know what yor Alk is. I try to run Ca at 440 -460 and Alk at 200 ppm CaCO3 or 11.2 dKH. When you know what your parameters are and still wish to raise calcium try Turbo calcium or reef complete.
IMO don't waste time with purple up. Also how old is your system?
IMO don't waste time with purple up. Also how old is your system?
groupergenius
Active Member
Till it's blue.
Too much calcium, alkalinity, magnesium addition at one time is not healthy. Space it out. Corals, fish, and inverts don't like fast changes IMHO.
Check this calculator. Try to not make huge swings in your Ph.
http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chemcalc.html
Too much calcium, alkalinity, magnesium addition at one time is not healthy. Space it out. Corals, fish, and inverts don't like fast changes IMHO.
Check this calculator. Try to not make huge swings in your Ph.
http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chemcalc.html
briand7878
Member
I have never used purple up just kent calcium and it works great.
D
dennis210
Guest
For three years now I have only used Turbo calcium, super buffer, and reef complete.
They have worked ok and been able to monitor and keep my levels where I wanted.
But that said I just purchased kalkwasser mix so I can drip it with RO water everyother day and not have the normal 2.5 gallon evaporation top off every Friday.
For test kits I use Hagen. The alk is in there hardness test kit. You can toss the GH test side and once you have it just replace the KH reagent as needed. Your results will come in ppm CaCO3. Most people talk in dKH units, but the conversion is easy. NH3, NO2, NO3,
PO4, Alk, and Ca test kits are all available in the Hagen line. I bought the Master kit and added a Red Sea Mag test kit, a digital pH meter ( I can't stand color titration charts), and a refractometer. "Gadgets make me happy" If I could afford it all tests would be electronic instead of chemical titration.
They have worked ok and been able to monitor and keep my levels where I wanted.
But that said I just purchased kalkwasser mix so I can drip it with RO water everyother day and not have the normal 2.5 gallon evaporation top off every Friday.
For test kits I use Hagen. The alk is in there hardness test kit. You can toss the GH test side and once you have it just replace the KH reagent as needed. Your results will come in ppm CaCO3. Most people talk in dKH units, but the conversion is easy. NH3, NO2, NO3,
PO4, Alk, and Ca test kits are all available in the Hagen line. I bought the Master kit and added a Red Sea Mag test kit, a digital pH meter ( I can't stand color titration charts), and a refractometer. "Gadgets make me happy" If I could afford it all tests would be electronic instead of chemical titration.