dGH? dKH?

[Sinn]

guys..

im really confused

when i did my test with my aquavital test kit,

it shows that i have >21 dGH= >373.8 ppm (total hardness)

now that doesnt worry me...

but what really keeps me wondering is that the Carbonate hardness

is 0 dKH!! or after conversion its 0 ppm!!!!

ive read up on the instruction manual and it says total hardness shows the calcium and magnesium desolved in salt

and carbonate hardness is the i dont know what ( something like ph stabilizer?? )

but then again when i read abt it online it says that " Alkalinity can be measured as GH (total or General hardness) or KH (Carbonate hardness). I would recommend a carbonate hardness test kit as your primary measure of alkalinity."

my questions are,

what in the world is dGH and dKH?

what in the world is alkalinity? ( opposite of acidity? )

Whats the use of kalk ( read it somewhere about maintaining calcium, since my total hardness is >373 ppm does it mean i dont need kalk? )

and finally

anything else u wanna add to that..

someone pls enlighten me..

im really confused, and i hate chemistry

Thank uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

- i have a 7 cm coral sand bed, and live rocks ( dont know if these information helps but im just saying it)

[Tanzy]

dGH(Degree of German Hardness) and dKH(Degree of Carbonate Hardness) are the empirical scale for alkalinity. Alkalinity is the concentration of carbonates, bicarbonates and borates in the water, it can be used loosely as an indicator of the buffering capacity of the water. The higher the buffering capacity, the more stable the water pH tends to be. More importantly, carbonates and bicarbonates are used by hard corals to build their skeleton with calcium, so it's good to know it's level if you want healthy corals.

Kalk is the German word for chalk and kalkwasser is chalk water, but this is not accurate as Kalk used in marine aquariums is actually calcium hydroxide. When added to the water, it increase your calcium and alkalinity level in a one to one ratio, because the hydroxy group reacts with carbon dioxide to give you bicarbonate. I can't remember how to read dGH(but >21 is probably too high) and convert it, can you get a more up to date testkit that uses at least dKH if not meq/L (S.I. unit).

Why do you hate chemistry?

[dodo]

wah biang...too chim too understand

never know must measure dGH...iccit neccessary?

can't we substitute dGH test with PH test?

Pls advise.

[[d]3v|L]

siala tanzy proffesor seh...

[eprouve]

Tanzy, I hate Chemistry too... can never get the terms and numbers right. The proton, neutron, electrons thing is enough to confuse me for a year, let alone balancing moles and atoms and... you get the drift...

So I, like dodo, certainly didn't understand what you just said

[Tanzy]

To answer dodo's questions, dGH and pH are totally different things.

dGH is the old scale for measuring alkalinity of water. Now, it is measured in dKH or milliequivalents(meq/L) or parts per million(ppm). Alkalinity translates as the concentration of carbonates and bicarbonates in the water so you will need to measure alkalinity if you intend to keep hard corals.

pH is the measurement for the concentration of hydrogen ions in the water or commonly just refered to as acidity. pH is important to measure because it can affect the metabolism of organisms in your tank and also the concentration of certain ions present in the water. It is best to keep pH at about 8.2-8.4.

[wedgee]

Tanzy me got a problem with me water too, i was too anxious to test out the reputable benefits of Kalk last month, and overdosed it over a few weeks cause i didnt get a Ca testkit (yes, silly me... ). The last straw came when i saw white spots forming on my tank glass... Now after testing it last week with a Salifert kit, it is at 750ppm!!! But my Alkalinity is only at 7dKH/2.8 meq/L (correct conversion i hope?)

Wat can i do while waiting for the Ca to come down naturally? I wana dose Alkalinity supplements in the mean time, to try and get it to higher, wat brand and name of supplement shld i get?

Thanx!!!

[Achilles Tang]

Water change immediately!!!!!!

[wedgee]

Changed liao yesterday, but no effect to the Alk leh, still at 7... But i think the Ca went down by quite a lot, cause the previous test i did b4 water change, i couldnt even get the reading after going up to 750ppm!!!

Any Alk supplements i can get? Anyone?

[Tanzy]

Wedgee,

Alk at 7? 7 dKH? Adjusting the alk up to match calcium is a way to solve the problem, but if your tank isn't too big then, change the water again, preferably about 50% should do the trick.

Seachem Reef Builder is a good source of alk.

[Sinn]

i hate to say this but i still dont understand...

hahaha

gonna read up from the site wedgee gave to me...

dont understand the relation between calcium and alkalinity, if theres any in the first place....

thanx anyway guys.....