theshadowinc
Fishaholic
Everyone wonders on how to make the 4dkh solution well I am going to show you how to do a preporation test for your KH test kit you get from api. I have gone through many test kits some bad and some good and always wondered about the reading of my 4dkh solution I make for my aquarium. 4dkh is used for planted tanks for checking the live status of your co2 levels in a drop checker and also with charts. Today is your lucky day I have experamented alot with the kh test kits and alot with mixing solutions. I have tried all different kinds of ways to make 4dkh some good, some being okay and some being a total failure. This method I use for testing my test kits to see how perfect they are to being accurate. (I think the worst part I ever had was when I did a tank change and had to set it up again refilling the fuild etc and my drop checker showed green when it was actually overdosed so the fish told me) This is for making your solution of 4dkh in smaller bulk. I have notice that temp effects making the solution as well and sometimes plays a big factor. I also figured this is more suited here due to everyone in the planted section cares more about kh than a fish only tank. (Unless you are breeding sensitive fish)
(Have to remember when you store your solutions to make sure its air tight so no condensation happens or evaporation happens cause it changes the solution on you)
What you will need
~ Distilled Water (Not RO water) Never tested this method with RO water, would depend on the system you have
~ KH Test
~ Thermometer
~ Measuring Cups more than one would be ideal in this. I used dry mesuring cups I find my solutions come out more accurate for some reason
~ 5 Bottles will be needed ( 2 of them holding 2 cups and the rest able to hold 2.5 - 3) Make sure they did not hold carbonated water at anytime, that means pop or soda what ever you call it
~ Syringe
~ Measuring cups and Measuring spoon
(For demistration I used 2 buckets for 2dkh and 5dkh and didn't do the 4dkh I did the 4dkh in a huge batch after this test)
Instructions
Phase 1 (Main Solution)
~ Wash everything a few times and rinse well with distilled water and allow them time to dry
~ Fill a bottle with 2/3 distilled water, 1 Cup works best I have found can not be less than 1 cup of water
~ Add 5 teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda(Baking Soda) to the bottle
~ Gently swirl it around a couple of times
~ Squeeze the bottle to get rid of some of the air and cap it tight
((Do not shake the bottle Vigourously or it will cause some of the carbonates to break down leaving CO2))
~ Now leave it beside the thermometer for a few hours 2 is a good rule of thumb here (Every few mins swirl it like 15mins is a good rule of thumb)
Phase 2
~ Read the thermometer and these are what you are going to use for mixing (Celcius readings only convert if you need to)
18 Degrees~ 1.5ml of main solution
19-20 Degrees ~ 1.4ml of main solution
21 Degrees ~ 1.3ml of main solution
(Havn't tested other temps yet)
~ Measure 2 cups of distilled water into a capable bottle
~ Use the syringe and measure 2ml-4ml of Main Solution from well under the surface (DO NOT SUCK UP ANY UNDISSOLVED BAKING SODA FROM THE BOTTOM)
~ With syringe well under the surface of the water we measured earlier (Has to be under the surface) add the amount as to what your temp reads and cap it
~ Swirl the mix around gently, you now have a solution of 10dkh
Phase 3
~ Add 1/2 cup of 10dkh solution to 1/2 cup of distilled water. You now have 1 cup of 5dkh solution
~ Add 1 cup of 10dkh solution to 1 1/2 cups of distilled water. You now have 2 1/2 cups 4dkh solution
~ Add 1/4 cup of 10dkh solution to 1 cup of distilled water. You now have 1 1/4 cups 2dkh solution
~ Now use your KH test kit to test the kh of the 2,4,5 and 10 dkh solutions and record your results
~ If the results agree with the known KH of each sample your kit is calibrated. If not you can make a graph of the kit readings on the X axis versus the known values on the Y axis and use that to convert the kit readings to correct readings. your kit will then be calibrated
For future calibrations, store these solutions in a tigtly sealed bottle, label them with there kh values
For best accuracy, calibrate your kit every time you use it
Instruction Pictures
Preporation Materials
Phase 1
2 hours after
Phase 2
Measuring it out for the bottle
Putting it into the bottle to make 10dkh
Phase 3
I measured out everything as to phase 3 instructions
10dkh test, it took 10 drops to change the colour bang nailed this right on the money
On the left is the bucket of 5dkh and the right is 2dkh I didn't do a 4dkh well I did but a big batch of it I figure these will help guide you along the way
1 drop in both
2nd drop in both as you can see the 2dkh is on the money and so was the 10 dkh so my test kit is bang on the money so far
4th drop and problems already starting to change colour on the left but not quite so not really a true 5dkh solution
5th drop turns it the colour we are after, but do to the premature colour starting to change I retested this to be sure and then did a 4dkh and seemed the 4dkh was bang on but for some reason the 5dkh was off just a little bit, so could be the kits fault a faulty kit but everything else tested find and testing 4 times and 3 out of 4 came back good I would say its human part on this for the premature colour change so I redid the 10dkh soloution and did it again and everything seemed perfect so must have been human error
When you are doing your test to just calibrate your test kit and notice you are off lets say 11 on the 10dkh just remember to add 1 to all the test part for the 2dkh will be 3 drops and the 4 will be five and the five will be 6 confusing but after you try it a few times it works perfect most the time, if you don't end up with the 10dkh solution when you test it one of 2 things happened
1. you didn't let it sit long enough, this will usually make a lower dkh solution but remember you test kit could be off to
2. You shaked it and not swirled it, this will cause sometimes really high dkh readings is why i stress do not shake
If you follow this with a little common sence it will be easy to calibrate your test kit for KH, and also make it easier for making your 4dkh solution in a smaller amount
I found a method simular on the net but didn't want to rely on weighing out my stuff did not want to have to rely on scales that might be off a little bit of researched and some long hours of testing and this is what I have come up with and seems to work every time for me. Also temp plays a huge part on making a 4dkh solution and I didn't find out till I noticed my drop checker lying to me and my fish telling me co2 was to high is why I came up with this method that works well for me. What works well for 1 person might not work well for another
Measurements (What my measuring cups say)
1/2 cup = 125ml
1/4 cup = 60ml
Just to clarify the measuring stuff I used
http
/www.stabb.com...ls/convert.html used this for conversion of temp
(Have to remember when you store your solutions to make sure its air tight so no condensation happens or evaporation happens cause it changes the solution on you)
What you will need
~ Distilled Water (Not RO water) Never tested this method with RO water, would depend on the system you have
~ KH Test
~ Thermometer
~ Measuring Cups more than one would be ideal in this. I used dry mesuring cups I find my solutions come out more accurate for some reason
~ 5 Bottles will be needed ( 2 of them holding 2 cups and the rest able to hold 2.5 - 3) Make sure they did not hold carbonated water at anytime, that means pop or soda what ever you call it
~ Syringe
~ Measuring cups and Measuring spoon
(For demistration I used 2 buckets for 2dkh and 5dkh and didn't do the 4dkh I did the 4dkh in a huge batch after this test)
Instructions
Phase 1 (Main Solution)
~ Wash everything a few times and rinse well with distilled water and allow them time to dry
~ Fill a bottle with 2/3 distilled water, 1 Cup works best I have found can not be less than 1 cup of water
~ Add 5 teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda(Baking Soda) to the bottle
~ Gently swirl it around a couple of times
~ Squeeze the bottle to get rid of some of the air and cap it tight
((Do not shake the bottle Vigourously or it will cause some of the carbonates to break down leaving CO2))
~ Now leave it beside the thermometer for a few hours 2 is a good rule of thumb here (Every few mins swirl it like 15mins is a good rule of thumb)
Phase 2
~ Read the thermometer and these are what you are going to use for mixing (Celcius readings only convert if you need to)
18 Degrees~ 1.5ml of main solution
19-20 Degrees ~ 1.4ml of main solution
21 Degrees ~ 1.3ml of main solution
(Havn't tested other temps yet)
~ Measure 2 cups of distilled water into a capable bottle
~ Use the syringe and measure 2ml-4ml of Main Solution from well under the surface (DO NOT SUCK UP ANY UNDISSOLVED BAKING SODA FROM THE BOTTOM)
~ With syringe well under the surface of the water we measured earlier (Has to be under the surface) add the amount as to what your temp reads and cap it
~ Swirl the mix around gently, you now have a solution of 10dkh
Phase 3
~ Add 1/2 cup of 10dkh solution to 1/2 cup of distilled water. You now have 1 cup of 5dkh solution
~ Add 1 cup of 10dkh solution to 1 1/2 cups of distilled water. You now have 2 1/2 cups 4dkh solution
~ Add 1/4 cup of 10dkh solution to 1 cup of distilled water. You now have 1 1/4 cups 2dkh solution
~ Now use your KH test kit to test the kh of the 2,4,5 and 10 dkh solutions and record your results
~ If the results agree with the known KH of each sample your kit is calibrated. If not you can make a graph of the kit readings on the X axis versus the known values on the Y axis and use that to convert the kit readings to correct readings. your kit will then be calibrated
For future calibrations, store these solutions in a tigtly sealed bottle, label them with there kh values
For best accuracy, calibrate your kit every time you use it
Instruction Pictures
Preporation Materials
Phase 1
2 hours after
Phase 2
Measuring it out for the bottle
Putting it into the bottle to make 10dkh
Phase 3
I measured out everything as to phase 3 instructions
10dkh test, it took 10 drops to change the colour bang nailed this right on the money
On the left is the bucket of 5dkh and the right is 2dkh I didn't do a 4dkh well I did but a big batch of it I figure these will help guide you along the way
1 drop in both
2nd drop in both as you can see the 2dkh is on the money and so was the 10 dkh so my test kit is bang on the money so far
4th drop and problems already starting to change colour on the left but not quite so not really a true 5dkh solution
5th drop turns it the colour we are after, but do to the premature colour starting to change I retested this to be sure and then did a 4dkh and seemed the 4dkh was bang on but for some reason the 5dkh was off just a little bit, so could be the kits fault a faulty kit but everything else tested find and testing 4 times and 3 out of 4 came back good I would say its human part on this for the premature colour change so I redid the 10dkh soloution and did it again and everything seemed perfect so must have been human error
When you are doing your test to just calibrate your test kit and notice you are off lets say 11 on the 10dkh just remember to add 1 to all the test part for the 2dkh will be 3 drops and the 4 will be five and the five will be 6 confusing but after you try it a few times it works perfect most the time, if you don't end up with the 10dkh solution when you test it one of 2 things happened
1. you didn't let it sit long enough, this will usually make a lower dkh solution but remember you test kit could be off to
2. You shaked it and not swirled it, this will cause sometimes really high dkh readings is why i stress do not shake
If you follow this with a little common sence it will be easy to calibrate your test kit for KH, and also make it easier for making your 4dkh solution in a smaller amount
I found a method simular on the net but didn't want to rely on weighing out my stuff did not want to have to rely on scales that might be off a little bit of researched and some long hours of testing and this is what I have come up with and seems to work every time for me. Also temp plays a huge part on making a 4dkh solution and I didn't find out till I noticed my drop checker lying to me and my fish telling me co2 was to high is why I came up with this method that works well for me. What works well for 1 person might not work well for another
Measurements (What my measuring cups say)
1/2 cup = 125ml
1/4 cup = 60ml
Just to clarify the measuring stuff I used
http
/www.stabb.com...ls/convert.html used this for conversion of temp
