testing for alkalinity?

Ok. What are the steps to testing for alkalinity?
I'm not sure how to understand the numbers.

steps i take:

1) rinse and fill test tube 5 m/l
2) put in one drop of Kh shake tube. Water turns light blue
3) put one drop of Kh at a time until water turns yellow, which takes anywhere from 8 to 12 drops.

is this bad or good?

from what i read it is supposed to be between 2.5-5 meq/l. what the heck is meq? also DKh confuses me because I have read that this should be a different number which is like 15, but I can convert the meq/L to Dkh using some formula? I'm totally confused with this type of test.

thanks.

 

meq is milli equivalents another way to measure alkalinity. MEQ is the chemists' preferred way to measure. dKH is effective for our needs. 7 to 12 dKH is a good range for your tank. Make 10 dKH your goal.

Welcome to 3reef.

 

thank you for the quick reply. I've been reading the forums for months now and this was the first question I couldn't find. I have many questions as I have only been at this hobby for about 4 months, but this website is great.

Ok so the 12 drops I just put into the tube yesterday is my dKh? so how do I convert that number to meq/L?

 

SaltyZoo's Alkalinity Reading Conversion (meq/l / dKH / ppm CaCO3) Utility

I use this to be honest

Steve

 

thanks for the website. I added that to my favorites.

last alkalinit question.

Each drop I put into a 5 m/l tube counts as 1 for dKH correct?
And that number is supposed to be between 8 and 12?

wow, I'm glad I asked because I thought I was testing for meq/l but I was really looking at the dKH number. I thought my alkalinity was high. I was about to do major damage to my tank because I was misinformed.

 

Yes thats exactly how the test works clarky2120
Steve