KH question

bking

bking

Member
I have been doing this hobby for a little while now,,but just recently got into corals,,I was advised to check my hardness level,,,(there's a good joke there) but anyhow...I bought the tester,, but it doesn't state anywhere what the level should be..all the guy at the store said, was that it should be above 12,,but how far above 12, and what is too high,,thanks for any help
 
msd2

msd2

Active Member

Originally posted by Kip4130
Here is a balancing table.
Alk/ dKH/ Calcium
0.00 0.00 360
0.50 1.40 370
1.00 2.80 380
1.50 4.20 390
2.00 5.60 400
2.50 7.00 410
3.00 8.40 420 (Near sea water)
3.50 9.80 430 (My average)
4.00 11.20 440 (My goal)
4.50 12.60 450
5.00 14.00 460
5.50 15.40 470
6.00 16.80 480
6.50 18.20 490
7.00 19.60 500
alk and dkh are the same thing.. just different units
dkh and Ca must be measured together... you want them chemically ballanced as in the table above.
they are many units that measure dkh... here is the conversion for all of them... 2.8dkh = 1 meg/l = 50ppm kh
levels above 450/12 are great... but hard to maintain and keep stable in my opinion.... an SPS tank will benefit from higher levels
So Im a bit confused, I tested my ALK yesterday w/a new test kit that actually gives me numbers (instead of the low-normal-high rating, thanks red sea btw for lying about this on the box) and I came up with 8, CA was 460. So this chart concerns me a bit, do i need to bring up the CA higher and is 8 going to retard growth of corals or harm them??
 
msd2

msd2

Active Member

Originally posted by msd2
So Im a bit confused, I tested my ALK yesterday w/a new test kit that actually gives me numbers (instead of the low-normal-high rating, thanks red sea btw for lying about this on the box) and I came up with 8, CA was 460. So this chart concerns me a bit, do i need to bring up the CA higher and is 8 going to retard growth of corals or harm them??
:happyfish
bump :) so If i understand correctly than a alk reading above 7 is cool, just ahve the ca at 500?
 
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