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Calcium conflict

Mark...

Mark...

I asked this question on reef2reef hoping Randy would answer, but no luck so far. So I'll try here.

My calcium on my Hanna reads 567 and on my red sea its 360. Alk (Hanna) is 7.67 for the record. I was very careful doing these tests.

I'm using 0 tds ro/di for the calcium Hanna test. Could that be the problem? It says use non iodized water? I assumed good ro/di water was ok?

Thoughts? Thanks!
 
downbeach

downbeach

There's been a lot of posts on RC regarding the Hanna Ca checker being problematic, and for that reason, I never used one. It might be prudent to get a second opinion on the Ca with a different test kit. However, I did use the Hanna Alk meter and was happy with its performance.
 
Mark...

Mark...

downbeach said:
There's been a lot of posts on RC regarding the Hanna Ca checker being problematic, and for that reason, I never used one. It might be prudent to get a second opinion on the Ca with a different test kit. However, I did use the Hanna Alk meter and was happy with its performance.
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My Red Sea says 360. I keep reading the Hanna cal has issues. I think it could be the test water.
 
redfishbluefish

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Mark... said:
...........I'm using 0 tds ro/di for the calcium Hanna test. Could that be the problem? It says use non iodized water? I assumed good ro/di water was ok?
Click to expand...


RO/DI water is "non-iodized" water. The DI stands for de-ionized, so it's just fine using for testing.

I'd reinforce what Jim said....have someone else test. I thought the calcium issue was with early batches of reagent that was being used and it was all "fixed"........unless you are using those lots of "bad" reagent.
 
Mark...

Mark...

redfishbluefish said:
RO/DI water is "non-iodized" water. The DI stands for de-ionized, so it's just fine using for testing.

I'd reinforce what Jim said....have someone else test. I thought the calcium issue was with early batches of reagent that was being used and it was all "fixed"........unless you are using those lots of "bad" reagent.
Click to expand...

Thanks..I get another test to confirm. If you test ro/di itself, would the calcium be zero?
 
saltkreep88

saltkreep88

Mark... said:
I use IO salt and just use kalk in top off. No dosing right now.
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Since IO mixes to 400-420 calcium at 1.026 and your alk is around 7, I would have to think the hanna meter is the more accurate of the two. Kalk adds calcium and alk in the proportion that corals use, so it would be difficult to get a calcium level that high without putting alk through the roof from the starting level of 400~ from the IO. There are other variables as always in this hobby but I would think the hanna is close to correct. Is the red sea the "pro" line, and is it expired?
 
Mark...

Mark...

saltkreep88 said:
Since IO mixes to 400-420 calcium at 1.026 and your alk is around 7, I would have to think the hanna meter is the more accurate of the two. Kalk adds calcium and alk in the proportion that corals use, so it would be difficult to get a calcium level that high without putting alk through the roof from the starting level of 400~ from the IO. There are other variables as always in this hobby but I would think the hanna is close to correct. Is the red sea the "pro" line, and is it expired?
Click to expand...

Red Sea is about 9 months old.
 
H

horseplay

NJRC Member
Having used Red Sea and base on your dosing method and salt I think the Red Sea is close to correct. CA is super-saturated in the aquarium water it would be almost impossible to not see a lot of precipitation at these levels.
 
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