Salifert Profi Test Kits for reef, marine and advanced freshwater aquarists are some of the most precise and accurate test kits on the market. Kits are available for all aspects of the aquarium's chemistry, covering organic and inorganic pollutants as well as valuable marine trace elements to allow for accurate dosing when additives are required.
Calcium alone cannot form the skeletal material of corals and allow calcareous algae to grow. Some other substances are needed as well. A few other constituents are carbonate and bicarbonate. These two substances also have a major impact on the stabilization of the pH in the proper range of 8.1 – 8.4. Such stabilization is also called buffering.The total carbonate and bicarbonate concentration is also called carbonate alkalinity or carbonate hardness. The only difference between alkalinity and carbonate hardness is a conversion factor.
Natural seawater has an alkalinity of approx 2.7 meq/L or approx. 7.5 dKH when expressed as carbonate hardness. For a stable system, the alkalinity or carbonate hardness should have a value similar to natural seawater or slightly higher and should preferably not fluctuate by more than 5%. This means a maximum fluctuation of 0.14 meq/L or 0.4 dKH. Therefore, an alkalinity test kit should be capable in measuring in steps smaller than 0.14 meq/L.
The Salifert KH/Alk test is very straightforward. It measures in sufficient small steps of 0.1 meq/L or 0.3 dKH with a sharp colour change. This makes detection of important yet small change possible. The kit can perform approx. 100 - 200 measurements.
