calcium test kits

These are strictly preliminary results, But I thought I'd post them nevertheless. Nothing has been fully proven, But:

Yesterday I started monitoring and adjusting hardness in order to address my Vals issue discussed in the other thread. I tested Tap water which was frighteningly low in Ca, and tested my aging barrel as well.
The tap was somewhere between 30-40 ppm Ca (test reads in 20 ppm increments) the aging barrel also read 40 ppm or possibly slightly below. now the part that matters, is that this morning I dissolved enough CaCl to raise the level 40 ppm, and also added 10 ppm Magnesium. both through calculated dosing. Tonight my CA reads exactly 80 ppm. So at this point (further verification required) it seems that the Ca test kit does in fact at least test ballpark accurately. I will continue to do camparisons based on calculated dosing, and eventually give my final assessment of the kit. One thing I will say is that the Ca test kit has been rock steady consistant with multiple testing on all of my tanks, my aging barrel and my tap water. Back to back tests have revealed identical results every time, no failures.
Dave
 
I have to admit that I do not understand this chemistry stuff at all. Pretty much I always thought getting rid of snails was a good thing. I have been keeping Java Fern for years and quite honestly I like the twisties. I was told years ago that it grew straight in higher light and emersed, got darker and grew straighter.

So at the risk of seeming stupid, does anyone think that really it is the CO2?

I have never run CO2. But isn't there a relationship between the CO2 and the Calcium?
 
Plant growth rate obviously influences the amount of nutrients that remain in a tank, and if you have rapid growth and don't compensate, you will see problems related to nutrient defeciencies. Co2 does enhance growth and if not prepared it can cause problems. In my case, the tap water is virtually devoid of Ca, I'm new enough at plants that it wasn't recognized, and so now I'm learning. In most cases even when folks have hardness numbers close to my tap water numbers there is a bit more calcium than we seem to have. The few plant Guru's that I know around here are either using well water, or going through the hassle of RO and RO right. Therefore there aren't a lot of knowledgeable folks in my area with my water that I can talk to. This leaves me and John to kind of compare notes and learn all we can. I started out low light low no Co2, I have increased things and changed things over the course of the last year to get where I am at now. Bottom line is I have always had horribly soft water and Low Kh, even lower than I really like for my fish if I had no plants at all.
The twisties weren't a big deal with my J-fern at all, but it is still a noticeable sign of defeciency. The snails really were the ones suffering.

Like you I used to always believe that snails should be avoided, eliminated, and so on. When I was young I fell prey to the rumor that snails would multiply out of control, and you could never kill them off.
After doing some studying, I decided to try 3 types of snails, and have since added a fourth to the list. I can hinestly say that I don't intend to ever have another tank without them. They are awesome and helpful in so many ways, and fun to watch to boot. I recently realized that I was actually avoiding snail eaters while planning stocking for my next tank. My brother was suggesting Clown loaches and I had sort of sub conciously wiped them off the list because They would eat my snails.
dave
Dave
 
By my calculations (if my program is correct) to raise 1ppm in 100 US gallons would take0.24 tsp or
1.05 grams (more accurate)
Click to expand...
I went with Johns calculations, I actually used careful volume measurements, but plan to use weight from now on. It's just a pain to convert everything to Grains from Grams so I can weigh it with my scale. I did find some reloaders scales that read in grams, but they are all digital, and I'd rather stick to a balance scale. I'll probably go with something you provided via PM as far as buying a new scale.
dave
 
Yes well, while I must admit I have been tempted by a better life through chemistry I never really paid much attention to it until now. I learned a long time ago what I could keep alive without all that much bother. I mean I was raised on "The Innes Book."

Then one day when I lived in Berkeley I walked into the Albany Aquarium shop and saw the most amazing plants. Next thing you know I had a tangle of hornwort and thought I was a genius. As Dorothy Parker said: "You can take a ***** to culture but you can't make her think."

Eventually I got tired of having three inches of riccia floating on the top of my tank and so I took a bucketful down to the shop to see if anyone wanted some. The goodly proprietor took out a book by some Japanese Aquariest and suggested to me that maybe I should consider something like this.

Somewhere in there we got one of those computer gadgets and moved to Colorado. I don't know if you have ever seen one but these things are pretty amazing. You just plug them in and the next thing you know you find out things you couldn't even imagine before.

Anyway now I actually own some test kits. And though I must admit I have to ask my daughter what the heck PO4 is, I am learning. So you guys are going to have to put up with my moronic babbling because like it or not I am finally going to learn this stuff from you.
 
Welcome to our little world. I have a flat spot on my head from beating it agoinst the wall for years and years. I have had the internet available for close to 8 years, and just really started using it for my benifit about 2 years ago. There is so much really good infromation available to those who can sort the good from the Crap. Keep up the babbling, the rest of us do it as well :D ;)
dave
 
Here's a snippet of the formula I use for dosing calculations.

CurrentPPM = 0
TargetPPM = 40
TankSizeInLiters = 100
PCT = 36.11
GramsToAdd = (TankSizeInLiters / PCT) * (TargetPPM - CurrentPPM) / 10

PCT is the percentage of the substance you wish to dose. For example CaCl2 contains 36.11% calcium. And I have to admit the superior metric system.

Now, if anyone sees a flaw in my math, I'm in trouble :eek:
 
What I done was simplify the equation in Chucks calculator. I've tested this against various online fert calculators and it holds true every time.

ok, here's a code snippet from a program I just wrote based on Chucks formula.

int TankSize = 100;
int GramsToAdd = 1;
double PCT = 61.32;
double GramsOfChem = GramsToAdd * ( PCT / 100 );
double PPMInLiter = GramsOfChem * 1000;
double EachMlAdded = PPMInLiter / TankSize;


This is KNO3, so adding 1ml will raise 100 liters by 6.13ppm. Your mole equations are too much for my brain.....
 
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