KH question

[tebstan]

My pH is 8.4 and my KH is 8. So my pH is at the high end of the ideal, and my KH is at the low end of the ideal. Should I add some sort of buffer to even things out? From what I’ve read, KH will only drop over time, but I haven’t seen that in my tests. I do regular water changes, so that may help keep it from dropping. If I should use a buffer, which one? Kent’s Super Buffer dKH is the only one I’ve seen that specifies anything about KH, but it may be too easy to overshoot the pH.

[ErikH]

what is your CA and Mg? They all work in concert together....

Here is a great article by Calfo:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/calcalkmar.htm

[tebstan]

My CA is 440. Don't know my Mg, how can I test for it?

[tebstan]

Looked up some Mg tests. Salifert and Red Sea are more complicated (and expensive) than I'm used to. API's GH test is supposed to reflect calcium and magnesium levels. How does that work, if API also has a separate Ca test? Anyone use API's GH kit? Or do I have to suck it up and go with something more complicated?

[wesheltonj]

API make a kH test, but it only read in whole numbers. Salifert reads in fractions, as does their Mg test.

[ErikH]

The saliferts are not that hard to do. Testing is something you just need to get used to doing. :)

I have a Red Sea Mg kit, it's nifty. Even I can figure it out and I am colorblind. :)

[Europhyllia]

I like the Salifert Kits more and more (apparently I am even more color blind than ScorpinO ;) - results show in numbers on a syringe ... no guessing if that blue is a 1.9 or a 2.2 kinda blue...