is this bad?

[Beverly]

I use Kent Liquid Calcium and Kent Tech-M Magnesium. Like to dose them separately. Mg test kit is a Salifert, Ca test kit is a Hagen.

For raising alkalinity I use a combination of baking soda and homemade washing soda. To test alk I use an Aquarium Pharmaceutical KH kit.

How to Make Homemade Washing Soda:

Spread baking soda (594 grams or about 2 ¼ cups) on a baking tray and heat in an ordinary oven at 300 °F for 1 hour to drive off water and carbon dioxide. Dissolve the residual solid in enough water to make 1 gallon total. This dissolution may require a fair amount of mixing. Warming it speeds the dissolution process. This solution will contain about 1,900 meq/L of alkalinity (5,300 dKH). I prefer to use baked baking soda rather than washing soda in this recipe as baking soda from a grocery store is always food grade, while washing soda may not have the same purity requirements. Arm & Hammer brand is a good choice.

Here are some articles on reef chemistry (no groaning in the background, please ):

Aquarium System Volume Calculator:

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

The Reef Chemistry Calculator:

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

Reef Aquarium Water Parameters:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.htm

Magnesium in Reef Aquaria:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/oct2003/chem.htm

Solving Calcium and Alkalinity Problems:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm