Got my new test kit in today.

[caferacermike]

For setting up a 160g tank I was rewarded with a brand spanking new Doc Wellfish, Aquarium Pharmaceuticals master fresh/salt water test kit and tote box. Sweet! I even have the huge placard that they hang at the LFS.

So yes of course I immediately did a test.

Tell me what you think of my parameters.

Ammonia, 0
Nitrites, 0
Nitrates, 20ppm
PH, 8.4 (but I knew that thanks to my Pinpoint PH monitor)
Carbonate Hardness, KH, 179
Calcium, 37 dropsx20ppm 740ppm

I think I'm doing quite well. What does the KH actually represent in my tank and is it high/low enough? Is that a measure for alkilinity?

http://www.plecofanatics.com/gallery/data/500/100_1128.jpg

Any suggestions? They will make much more sense to me now that I can test out and see my results.

[Richard]

KH is a measure of carbonates in your water (i.e. Alkalinity). Your kit is measuring in ppm and most of us go by either dKH or meq/l.

1 meq/l = 2.8 dKH = 50 ppm

So your right at 10dKH or 3.5 meq/l. I try to keep my tanks at 10dKH so I tink your good.

The calcium reading is probably off though. You should verify that kit against another like salifert to see how off it might be.

[caferacermike]

Thanks Richard for the heads up. I was told my CA was off the charts at Rivercity Aquariums as well, about 2 months ago using the Doc Wellfish method and the Salifert test. I posted that in my first thread here. I was dosing Reef Complete like liquid candy since I was getting large bottles of it super cheap. Have since cut back to almost nothing. I somehow had it in my head that my Euroreef skimmer would remove some of what I added since it is rated for about 4 times my tank size. I was reading about dosing larger amounts as a skimmer will remove what you put in it. Since then I have been told that skimming will not remove CA as they really only remove organic wastes. I'm believing it since my CA levels haven't been dropping.

Oh and just noticed that my test kit lists both DKH, 10, and PPM, 179. I just typed it out in PPM as I did not know what members read it as.

[Richard]

I really can't think of anything you would need to dose more of because of heavy skimming. Just keep up with your salinity since that can drop over time if you are pulling out lots of skimmate and just topping off with freshwater without ever checking salinity.

Some do say that heavy skimming will remove trace elements. I'm not sure I agree with that but either way it would be so minimal that it isn't something to concern yourself with IMO.

[Louie3]

your master test kit came with all of that? I must have gotten ripped off! i diddnt get, calcium and ALK!