carbonate hardness-PH

[elmcerber]

I need to raise my PH a few points (measured at 7.9) and it says on my "reef builder" not to exceed 6meg/L of alkalinity. I have a carbonate hardness test (the booklet says commonly refered to as alkalinity) that measured at 135 mg/L. (Says it is unusually high)
I need to know what the difference in mg/L to meg/L is???
Anyone understand???:notsure:

 

[brians]

1 meq/l = 50 mg/l (or ppm)
So 135 mg/l = 2.7 meq/l
That doesn't sound high at all to me. Natural saltwater is around 3.0 meq/l. I think the average most people shoot for is 3.5-4.5 meq/l.

 

[elmcerber]

it says in the Carbonate hardness test:
105-125mg/L = The ideal range for saltwater conditions.
<105 mg/L = Needs to be raised
>125 mg/L = unusually high. consult your aquarium care specialist
Are you sure your formula is right?

 

[brians]

What brand of test kit is this?
It says in my fasTesT Alkalinity kit that
meq/l x 50 = ppm(mg/l)
Also, I double checked and on the following website it says the same thing. No outside links are allowed on this board so to get to the page I found... go to google.com and search for "alkalinity meq/l mg/l" and click on the third site down.
Here is a quote from that page...
"For aquarium purposes, you can use the following conversion factors:
50 ppm (mg/L) = 1 meq/L = 2.8 dKH."

 

[elmcerber]

it is a "Hagen" liquid test for KH/GH - Carbonate and General hardness.

 

[squidd]

The 50ppm (or mg/l) = 1 meq/l formula is correct...
I run about 4-4.5 meq/l total alk of which 1.25 meq/l is borate alk...

 

[beaslbob]

Originally posted by elmcerber
I need to raise my PH a few points (measured at 7.9) and it says on my "reef builder" not to exceed 6meg/L of alkalinity. I have a carbonate hardness test (the booklet says commonly refered to as alkalinity) that measured at 135 mg/L. (Says it is unusually high)
I need to know what the difference in mg/L to meg/L is???
Anyone understand???:notsure:
ph drops are started with carbon dioxide. Your daytime ph will rise with more plant life consuming the carbon dioxide. I am less worried ab out the actual low ph but that it dropped because carbon dioxide lievle are higher than they should be.
Adding plant life to consume the carbon dioxide is the best thing to do. That way the ph right before lights off will rise and co2 will lower.

 

[brians]

I have no idea why Hagen is saying >125mg/l is unusually high. I even found a hardness conversion calculator on the hagen website and it converts 135mq/l to 2.7meq/l. And I'm sure everyone will agree that 2.7meq/l is definitely not high but actually a little bit low.
http://www.hagen.com/usa/aquatic/gh_kh_conv_cal.cfm
:notsure:

 

[blk822]

Are you using the general hardness test or the cabonate harness test? The general test is for fresh water only with hagen.

 

[elmcerber]

It has both, i am using the carbonate hardness test

 

[na827]

I have the same test kit and it took me 21 drops for it to change color. Which means 210 mg/l, which is well above the 125mg/l high standard. What does that mean.