Low Tech 10g

[Red_Beard]

I do!
Pretty easy, 2ml tank water in the vial, dump in a spoonfull of reagent, (do not mix yet!) Fill the syringe to the 1.0ml mark and add that to the vail until the syringe reads .4ml then mix it for 10-20 seconds, it should be a pink color.

Now the titration starts, hold the vial in one hand and swish it while slooowly adding drops until the vial turns blue. Once blue, stop adding drops and look to see how much is left in the syringe and look that number up in the chart to see what the ppm ca is. Let me know if you have questions!

 

[Lasse]

I do!
Pretty easy, 2ml tank water in the vial, dump in a spoonfull of reagent, (do not mix yet!) Fill the syringe to the 1.0ml mark and add that to the vail until the syringe reads .4ml then mix it for 10-20 seconds, it should be a pink color.

Now the titration starts, hold the vial in one hand and swish it while slooowly adding drops until the vial turns blue. Once blue, stop adding drops and look to see how much is left in the syringe and look that number up in the chart to see what the ppm ca is. Let me know if you have questions!

I do exactly like this - only one remark - add the very small drops and very slow when you come near the expected value and swirl the sample around 5 sec before next addition - the colour change take up to 5 sec near the endpoint.

There is one other problem with salifert´s test - IMO. Even if it is an European brand - they answer in ppm instead for mg/L. When concentrations in saltwater is below 50 ppm of anything - it does not matter so much because the conversation factor att 35 PSU is 1.0233. 50 ppm becomes 51 mg/L but if you read 420 ppm as Ca - it means that this is equal with around 430 mg/L of Ca. If you read 1290 ppm Mg - its equal to around 1320 mg/L Mg.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Advil_LiquiGLs]

Thanks for all the help guys. Sorry for not responding earlier, was working all day yesterday. Ill try again with the calcium test today. I woke up today to a whole host of problems in my tank, but thank you guys for giving me the answers. Wouldnt be making it this far without you

Problem 1: My refractometer might not be calibrated right. I bought a microgram scale on amazon. I want to make a more precise fluid because I was not able to get 3.65 grams salt on the scale, the closest value it could read was 3.6 grams. Also, my water was off, again my scale wasnt that precise, but the resulting fliud should have been close to 1.025 salinity on the refractometer and it was high. So I adjusted it and once I get my microgram scale I can repeat the calibration fluid and get a proper calibration on my refractometer. But that means everything Ive been doing in terms of salinity is off. I checked my tank with the calibrated refractometer and it read 1.201. So Ive probably been undermixing this whole time. The inhabitants of the tank are still doing ok, and I dont wanna just up the salinity too quick so Im going to calibrate my refractometer with the perfect fliud and raise the salinity gradually, over the course of several water changes.

Problem 2: My snails keep falling over like a helpless turtle. I usually have to rescue them daily, but this morning I woke up to a dead snail on its back and a hermit crab muching on another snail next to it. I have a sneaking suspicion my skunk cleaner shrimp decided it was time to enjoy some escargot once the dinner plate was set for him. I have been feeding it blood worms and he eats them with gusto, but it seems he has now taken a liking to snail.

I love my skunk cleaner though he really is the best. Ive named it "Cocktail". RIP to my cleanup crew though. I thought banded trochus can right themselves?

Problem 3: The calcium test. When I add the 6ml of the second reagent to the test it automatically turns blue. So next time ill add slowly so I can actually see the color change happen. I think my calcium is low and the reaction is happening before that 6ml dose you're supposed to put into the container at once, hence the confusion.

 

[Advil_LiquiGLs]

My salinity is 1.022.

Redid calcium test. Test turned pink and then purple after just 3 drops of solution. Put one more drop in and it turned blue. On the table this reads 80 calcium, which is indeed, very low. Is this a correct reading?

 

[Red_Beard]

80ppm is quite low, but i would focus first on getting your salinity in range, that will add a bunch more calcium in doing so. It is tough to work on any single element when they are all low together.

 

[Lasse]

It seems unlikely that you only have 80 ppm in your water. In order to check this - Take 1 L of RODI water and add around 38 g of your saltmix. Mix well and test with your Ca test. Depended of salt - you should read between 360 - 430 ppm Ca. Do the test and please come back with the result. 2 ml sample - a level measure of the powder, using the small red measuring scoop. No stirr. 0.6 ml reagent 2 and it should be red.

If your test show low - your test is possible wrong

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Advil_LiquiGLs]

That's strange because every time I put the 6mL reagent 2 in dont get red or pink, I get blue instantly. No stirring and Im working as quick as possible without making mistakes. Ill try it again...bear with me sorry guys for being a derp!

 

[BigDangler]

That's strange because every time I put the 6mL reagent 2 in dont get red or pink, I get blue instantly. No stirring and Im working as quick as possible without making mistakes. Ill try it again...bear with me sorry guys for being a derp!

haven't done a calcium test in awhile but im sure its supposed to be blue.. but u keep adding drops and swirling til it turns pink i think.. then you look up that number... theres no way your calcium is 80

 

[Advil_LiquiGLs]

OK. I did the calcium test again and again. 2mL tank water. Then I added one level scoop of reagent 1. Did not shake or stir. Then I went to 10mL on syringe sucking up reagent 2. Then I dumped 6mL (depressing plunger to 0.4) and swirled. It turns from pink quickly ro blue. Should I stop shaking it when it turns pink? But it says swirl 5 seconds and when i swirl the 5 seconds the test turns blue. What exactly am I doing wrong?

 

[MichaelM]

You add way too much reagent. The test comes with a 1ml syringe and you are supposed to add 0.6ml reagent before drop-wise addition until the color change. Adding 6ml is the mistake.

 

[Lasse]

Then I went to 10mL on syringe sucking up reagent 2. Then I dumped 6mL (depressing plunger to 0.4)

I suppose that the misprint gnome have shown its ugly face here and that the figures 10 and 6ml should be 1 and 0.6ml. If my assumtion is right - you need to mix 1 L of new saltwater and redo the test on this new salt. I do not know which type of salt you use but most commersial salts for saltwater aquariums use around 38 grams of salt to 1 L of water in order to reach a salinity of 35 psu (1.026). Can´t exclude a faulty test before you have done this test.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Red_Beard]

Yes, what @Lasse said. You should never have to refill the little 1.0ml syringe for this test.

Did you get your overall salinity levels up?

 

[Rocks reef]

A simpler way around this is to raise your kH to around 8-8.5. You posted it is 6.2 currently.
Alk and cal will rise and fall with each other, so bringing you alk up will also bring cal up.
However, calcium testing is SO inaccurate. Randy Holmes has a great write up on why you really don't need to test calcium if your alk is in the range you want it to be.
I never test calcium because there isn't a test that is accurate unless you want to spend thousands of dollars on lab equipment.

 

[Advil_LiquiGLs]

Hey just chiming in Ill get to all the replies but yes, thank you thank you so much for all the information. Ive been tied up at my jobs so I havent been able to properly sit down and assess everything in the last couple days

Yes I actually meant 1ml and 0.6 ml

I use instant ocean brand aquarium salt

Ill make a batch of saltwater with those numbers and ill test it when i get home

Thank you so much again for the help yall