New Reef Chemistry Calculator!!~!

[ItsMee]

I just have to say THANK YOU for the mag,alk,ca calculator....and the new calculator that uses flash ROCKS!!~! THANKS!


http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chem_calc3.html

[salreus]

very nice. life is great when you don't have to do that math. hehe.

[jdieck]

I am glad it is helpful

I tried to add new features:
a) After entering your current and desired levels if you click on the graph it will give you a visual indication of were your parameters are in respect to the recommendation and will also change the write up to whatever apply to your specific situation.

b) The idea of the charts for Calcium,Alkalinity and Magnesium is that having it being calculated for your system volume and your particular supplement you can use it for future references, unfortunately some browsers are not able to print the chart but if you can you can keep it and use it to calculate future amounts based on your desired increase.

c) In addition it can better detect when some entries are missing or are improper

d) A note has been added to the issue of Balanced Calcium and Alkalinity to clarify what usually is mistaken as recommended levels.

I will appreciate any feedback you might have in case you find any bugs to be corrected.

Enjoy!

[TCU Reefer]

That's awesome! Going under my favorites.

Thanks you very much.

[ItsMee]

Originally posted by jdieck

Balanced alkalinity is just a reference to NSW.......(continued, cant copy and paste-too long to type)

it says "it is not intended as a target". Then why do I need to know the "balanced" NSW information?

[Reefrus2003]

Very Helpful

[jdieck]

Originally posted by ItsMee
it says "it is not intended as a target". Then why do I need to know the "balanced" NSW information?

Basically you can live without it but for some "deeply scientifically oriented" is nothing but a reference when you need to make further adjustments.
Let me see if I can explain without confusing more:
See the the following pic:

The orange line is the line of balanced Calcium and Alkalinity.
All consumption and balanced additions will move parallel to this line (like when you are in Zone 1 and do nothing, the parameters will drop to fall naturally into the target zone.
Assuming you start in zone 3 with high alkalinity (5 meq/lt) and low calcium (350ppm); very common mistake when adding buffers to increase PH, Say you add Calcium Chloride to bring up your Calcium to the target of 425ppm (green line) in this case the calculator will tell you that your balanced alkalinity at 425ppm is 3.2meq/lt.
In this case because the balanced alkalinity is below your actual alkalinity of 5meq/lt what it is telling you that after adjusting the Calcium and you wait for the Alkalinity to drop when it reaches a level of 3.2 meq/lt you will have to make a second adjustment with Calcium Chloride to bring the final number to 425ppm.

It is a similar situation with the rest of the zones, in some cases you wait for a second adjustment in others you just need to adjust both parameters.
At the end is just a reference that could help remove the guess work of subsequent adjustments but the preferred path many of us elect (Which is OK) is just to make adjustments with testings in between until we get the system were we want it. We might end up making one too many adjustments but it is not a big deal unless we keep overshooting.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Yes, it is a great calculator! Good job. I'll sticky this thread for a while.

The idea of whether the calcium and alkalinity are balanced or not is so you can know whether just adding more of a balanced additive (if parameters are low) or allowing then to drop on their own (if parameters are high) can end up back at NSW levels. It isn't a target. If the values are balanced, you can do these things, if they are not, you need to correct one relative to the other somehow.

[ItsMee]

I see. So if my calcium waa a little on the high side: 500 ppm-the balanced alkalinity would be 6.95 meq/L. But if my alkalinity was only 5 meq/L, I would want to bring it up to 6.95 and then let both CA and ALK fall together in a balanced fashion. Right?

[Billybeau1]

Actually No. If your calcium is high and your alk is ok then you would just stop supplimenting alk and let the calcium fall on its own. Everyones tanks have different calcium consumption depending on how many calcifying organisms you have in your tank. They dont fall together at the same rate usually. In some cases I suppose.

[jdieck]

Originally posted by ItsMee
I see. So if my calcium waa a little on the high side: 500 ppm-the balanced alkalinity would be 6.95 meq/L. But if my alkalinity was only 5 meq/L, I would want to bring it up to 6.95 and then let both CA and ALK fall together in a balanced fashion. Right?

This is the reason it shall not be used as a target. Although you could take that aproach you run the risk to end up too high in the zone 1 and may end up probably precipitating and wasting your supplement because your alkalinity is already high so making it higher could make things worst.
Check the figure, In this case (Calcium 500 Alk 5) the best thing is do nothing and let both drop parallel to the lines. In this case the black line to the left of zone 4
By the time Alkalinity is consumed by itself down to a target level (Say 3.5 meq/lt) follwoing the line your Calcium will also be consummed but still be a bit on the high (about 470 ppm) so the chart will be telling you that at that point you want to maintain alkalinity only so Calcium continue dropping. by doing so you move horizontally from right to left and get into the red target zone with Calcium between 400 and 450ppm

[jdieck]

Originally posted by Billybeau1
Actually No. If your calcium is high and your alk is ok then you would just stop supplimenting alk and let the calcium fall on its own. Everyones tanks have different calcium consumption depending on how many calcifying organisms you have in your tank. They dont fall together at the same rate usually. In some cases I suppose.

Actually for the case you describe (Calcium high Alkalinity on target Zone 4) you will stop adding Calcium.
Yes there are cases were Calcium and Alkalinity consumption may not balance this is why is important the testing and monitoring.
See this article in regard to unbalanced conditions:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-12/rhf/index.htm

[Billybeau1]

Awesome job JD

[jdieck]

Thanks!

[Whaledriver]

ItsMee
Do you have a higher resolution photo of your baby picture icon. I set it up as the wallpaper on a computer and it gets alittle fuzzy blown up.Thanks

[boxfishpooalot]

I love this calculator. I give you ***** stars(5)!

Fwiw, It would be great If I could download software for this that I could use on the computer without internet! I would buy somthing like this.


Did you see Seachems web page? They copied your calculotor idea But its a good idea anyways.

[jdieck]

Originally posted by boxfishpooalot
I love this calculator. I give you ***** stars(5)!

Fwiw, It would be great If I could download software for this that I could use on the computer without internet! I would buy somthing like this.

Thanks but it is enough reward to see it being really helpful to everyone who needs it with no strings attached.
A lot of work has gone into it from several people like Kademani who was the original initiator and Randy who provides the articles and helped me with some calculations and many more aquarists who have tried it and provided feedback and ideas for improvements not mentioning the manufacturers who gave their permision and provided their products information.
It has been a great group effort from the aquarium community for the aquarium community.

[Boomer]

Great job again JD

[jdieck]

Thanks Boom, please let me know if you find anything weird.
Seems that some pop up blockers like SurfPal from Panicware may prevent the charts from reloading so they need to be momentarely disabled and some older browsers like FireFox 1.07 seem to have have trouble making the graph in the first page react to changes in the data entry and FireFox in general is unable to print the charts, its printing does not seem to be able to handle embeded objects but in general not bad so far.

[salreus]

oh nevermind.....I am losing my mind.

[Billybeau1]

hmmm. was it the ape with his thumb up the air ?

[boxfishpooalot]

You know what would complete the calculator! A part that specifies how much acid to add to reduce an alkalinity overdose. Such as vinigar addtions or Hcl additions would be good!

I see a lot of reefers posting about 5meq/l alk help!

Just a thought

[jdieck]

Originally posted by boxfishpooalot
You know what would complete the calculator! A part that specifies how much acid to add to reduce an alkalinity overdose. Such as vinigar addtions or Hcl additions would be good!

I see a lot of reefers posting about 5meq/l alk help!

Just a thought

That will be somehow controversial as at those levels the best thing to do seems to be just to wait it out but what about how long it will take to drop by itself at different consumptions if you do nothing? Humm...
I think it might be confusing and after all how many of us know the actual alkalinity consumption? what do you think?

[Warner Marine]

fantastic tool... thanks!! And I sent you email, too.

jon

[jdieck]

Thanks Jon, I'll be looking forward to it.

Jose