Salifert Test - help

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chris172
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Salifert Test - help

Post by chris172 » Mon Jan 27, 2014 2:43 pm

Just getting into water treatment and thought I would get myself a Salifert Hardness/Alkalinity test kit and am totally confused with the results and how to implement them in my water treatment regime.

Did what it said in the instructions and when I got the pink result and read the measurement it was 0.45 on the syringe.

Result table is in dKH and meq's and unsure how to translate.

I'm using the water calculator here on JBK to adjust my tap water and thought this test would help/confirm my water report but totally baffled as to how to interpret it.

any help gratefully received.

incidentally my water report reads...

HARDNESS:
Calcium (mg/l) 78
Calcium carbonate (mg/l) 195
millimoles (mmol/l of Ca) 1.95

DRINKING WATER RESULTS:
Alkalinity mg/l CaCO3 115
Calcium mg/l Ca 67.6
Magnesium mg/l Mg 6.36
Sodium mg/l Na 17.6
Sulphate mg/l SO4 62.6
Chloride mg/l Cl 34


Thanks
Chris
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Dave S
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Re: Salifert Test - help

Post by Dave S » Mon Jan 27, 2014 2:49 pm

chris172 wrote:Just getting into water treatment and thought I would get myself a Salifert Hardness/Alkalinity test kit and am totally confused with the results and how to implement them in my water treatment regime.

Did what it said in the instructions and when I got the pink result and read the measurement it was 0.45 on the syringe.

Result table is in dKH and meq's and unsure how to translate.

I'm using the water calculator here on JBK to adjust my tap water and thought this test would help/confirm my water report but totally baffled as to how to interpret it.

any help gratefully received.

incidentally my water report reads...

HARDNESS:
Calcium (mg/l) 78
Calcium carbonate (mg/l) 195
millimoles (mmol/l of Ca) 1.95

DRINKING WATER RESULTS:
Alkalinity mg/l CaCO3 115
Calcium mg/l Ca 67.6
Magnesium mg/l Mg 6.36
Sodium mg/l Na 17.6
Sulphate mg/l SO4 62.6
Chloride mg/l Cl 34


Thanks
Chris
When you get to your meq/l reading, from your syringe reading, (0.45), multiply by 50 to convert to alkalinity as CaCO3.
Best wishes

Dave

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barneey
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Re: Salifert Test - help

Post by barneey » Mon Jan 27, 2014 2:52 pm

Look at the instruction chart 0.45 = 8.45dKH * 17.80 = 150 Caco3

http://saltyzoo.com/SaltyCalcs/AlkConv.php

ASSUMING you did the 4ml water test
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chris172
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Re: Salifert Test - help

Post by chris172 » Mon Jan 27, 2014 3:32 pm

Thanks....

So is that my actual alkalinity that goes in the water treatment chart under both alkalinity AND/OR hardness?

My water report says 115 for alkalinity or is that a different reading ?

Sorry for the daft Q's
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vacant
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Re: Salifert Test - help

Post by vacant » Mon Jan 27, 2014 5:54 pm

chris172 wrote:So is that my actual alkalinity that goes in the water treatment chart under both alkalinity AND/OR hardness?
see note [1], last paragraph
chris172 wrote: My water report says 115 for alkalinity or is that a different reading ?
If that is from your water company, it's an average that can vary from day to day. 115 vs 150 is quite a large difference. If your water company report is for their whole area then don't worry. If your water supply can came from a river some months and an aquifer other months, don't worry. My water company gives a report for my post code - water comes from a borehole and doesn't vary much. I'd trust your "150" if you did the test correctly.

If you sent off water for an analysis, I'd ask them.
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GrowlingDogBeer
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Re: Salifert Test - help

Post by GrowlingDogBeer » Mon Jan 27, 2014 6:19 pm

vacant wrote: If you sent off water for an analysis, I'd ask them.
Personally I would just do the Salifert test again to check you did it properly and trust that. It's quite a reliable kit.

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