jseyfert3

No, there was no question about it. There was never ANY color change, green from the first drop. Never any orange. Observe, drop by drop, one to five drops:





Then 10 drops after the five, "just to make sure":


PH 7.4:


This was Hoppy's response:
Can you even get a 30" T5NO light? A search turned up nothing at this point.

Left C

Coralife used to have 30" T5NO freshwater fixtures in single bulb and twin bulb versions. They have been discontinued by Aqueon, but some places still have them. I found some. They work well with 20 longs.

30" T5NO freshwater single bulb fixture 18w: http://www.amazon.com/Freshwater-Aqu...287231&sr=1-14

30" T5NO freshwater twin bulb fixture 2x18w: http://www.amazon.com/Aqueon-Coralif.../dp/B0009YHU2I and http://www.marineandreef.com/Aqualig...p/res58121.htm


If there was no color change, you don't have 0 degrees. You have more than 5 degrees because you stopped at 5 drops. Usually a high KH indicates a high GH and vice versa, but not always.

Did you shake the test tube after adding each drop?

That API GH test kit is mostly unreliable. The reagents used in it are cheap junk. I hate it.

This Hagen KH/GH test kit is much better and it is on clearance: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...6&pcatid=13526

A much better test kit is LaMotte's total hardness test kit: http://www.aquaticeco.com/subcategor...-Kits-Hardness

I use LaMotte's Alkalinity test kit when I make my 4 dKH solution: http://www.marinedepot.com/LaMotte_K...FITKAL-vi.html

jseyfert3

Actually, after 5 I jumped to 10, still nothing. My pictures indicated that, you just missed where I said that. And no, no color change does mean I have 0°GH. Because the solution is green from the bottle, but is supposed to turn the water orange, then the water goes green after you have added enough solution. Never turning orange in the first place? That means 0°GH. And yes, I shook it each drop.

No offense, but you are talking as if I don't know anything about what I'm doing. I did two labs in my chemistry 130 class this semester with titration (And me and my partner got the most accurate results of any of the lab groups), and I can read the test kit instructions, so I think I know what I'm talking about when I say it indicates 0°GH. I'm not saying it's not bad, and doesn't work. That is indeed a possibility. But before I get the Nutrafin test kit, I'm going to do a KH and GH test on a water supply in a nearby town I'll be in tomorrow. They RO the entire town's water supply (to much radon in the water), so it should be fairly low in both KH and GH. I'll also try bottled water, that should show up something. And, I'm going to get my hands on an official water quality report for my water supply, and see what they have to say. There's would be more accurate then aquarium kits at any rate! Besides, I have time. I'm no longer going to do DIY CO2, I'm simply going to wait till I can get a system built up. So it'll be at least a month, maybe two, before I'll have everything ready to roll.

Left C

Check out what the directions say: "After first drop is added, solution will turn orange. If the water sample contains only l° dGH, the solution will turn from clear to its green endpoint after the first drop is added."

Your sample reached its endpoint (green color) after one drop. It didn't turn orange. So, the GH is 1 degree and not 0 degrees according to the test kit's directions. (Actually it could be between 0 and 1 degree as the test kit isn't very accurate.)

There are 17.9 ppm's in 1 degree or 1 ppm equals 0.056 degrees. This test kit isn't accurate enough to determine its exact ppm.

It has been so long since I used this kit that I couldn't remember what colors the starting point and endpoint are. I was thinking that orange is the endpoint and green was the starting point. This led me to believe that you haven't added enough reagent. It didn't make sense to me that you kept adding drops after you have reached the endpoint.

Orange is the starting point and green is the endpoint. I had to look it up. http://www.americanaquariumproducts....structions.pdf

Good luck with your aquarium. With your broad experience I don't believe that I will be of any further assistance.


(There are some typos after coping and pasting the directions from the pdf. http://www.americanaquariumproducts....structions.pdf )

Directions lor Testing General Hardness (GH)

Read thoroughly before testing. Do not allow
Test Soluflons to get Into aquarium.
To remove childproof safety cop: With one
hand, push red tab left with thumb while
unscrewing cop with free hand.

1. Rinse a clean test tube with water to be tested.

2. Fillthe test tube with5 mlof aquariumwater
(to the line on the test fube).

3. Add General Hardness Test Solution, one drop
at a flme, holding dropper bottle upside down
In a completely vertical position to assure
unllormltyof drops. After first drop ~ added.
solution wUllurnorange. lithe water sample
contains only l'dGH, the soMIon wliturn from
cleor to lisgreen endpoint ofler the firstdrop ~
added.

4. Cop the test tube and Invert several times after
eoch drop. Keep count 01the drops being
added. Do not hold finger over open end of
the tube. as this may affect the test results.

5. The test Iscompleted when the water Inthe test
tube, after having been shaken. turns from
orange to green. Ifyou have difficulty
discerning the color after the firstdrop of test
solution Isadded, remove the cop from the test
tube and while holding It over a v.t/Ie
bockgrcx.ncl bel<down 1Irough the tube.

6. The General Hardness value Isdetermined by
the number of drops 01the reagent that must
be added to turn the water In the test tube
green. Each drop Isequal to 1 'dGH or 17.9
ppm GH (see the chart).

Marauder

Wow Cecil, having a bad day or what? I don't remember you being like this over at PlantGeek.

jseyfert3

Because of my odd test, I talked to my chemistry teacher and he didn't think that is was possible to have no GH and a high KH, but he wasn't to sure. Anyway, that led to him saying we could run a titration on my water sample before my chemistry lab on Thursday. So Thursday I'll be running a more accurate water hardness test then an aquarium water tester will give me.

jseyfert3

My water test results are no longer odd! We have a water softener in our apartment complex. Water softeners soften water through an ion exchange, they remove the calcium/magnesium ions and replace them with sodium ions. Therefore, it seems perfectly logical for my results of 21°KH and 0°KH.

I took the same test kit up the street to the firehouse, which doesn't have a water softener. My results were:

• 20°KH
• 29°GH

So, I can get water from there, but it's liquid rock. On the other hand, water softeners aren't any better for the fish since they just replace the minerals with sodium.

On the bright side, my new stand, currently in the planning stage, will look pretty good. So far: