About To Put A Bullet In My Tank!!!

I found this site which explains a lot(I know for me it has)...hope it helps you guys too

Beginner FAQ: Water Chemistry
Here's the home site for this and I have to give copyright notice...so, it's their stuff...it says:
Copyright
The FAQs owe their existence to the contributors of the net, and as such it belongs to the readers of rec.aquaria and alt.aquaria. Articles with attributions are copyrighted by their original authors. Copies of the FAQs can be made freely, as long as it is distributed at no charge, and the disclaimers and the copyright notice are included.
Beginner FAQ: Contents

 

I just talked to the tech support guys at doctors foster & smith and they've told me that my Alk at 4.5 meq/L is a bit high....The test kits however, according to them are pretty much new as they stock them often....I've been adding Mag for 5 days with a small increase, it was at 964.5 on the first of the month, it is now at 1000. I'm gonna do a small water change tomorrow to lower the Alk. But I must ask, is 4.5 meq/L really that high? isn't it supposed to be between 4-5?

 

Yeah I think thats fine, thats where I keep mine at around there. I think that either the testers are bad/expired or your doing something wrong or your having trouble reading them. I dont understand how all of your levels are so low.

 

hmm when it comes to buffering the water, i was always led to believe that water changes are good enough?? Am i wrong?

 

Magnesium
Calcium
Use some good additives instead of that expensive bottle crap. You want results these will get you the levels you want.