2 Part Dosing Questions

[jerrcarlson]

I inherited a couple of nearly full 8 pound buckets of 2 part. Calcium Chloride, Soda Ash, Magnesium Sulfate and Magnesium Chloride. They are about 3-4 years old but have been nicely stored in their original buckets with tight lids on. The company that made them is "Two Part Solutions". The instructions to mix the 2 part are supposed to be on their website at Twopartsolution.com! Unfortunately, I went to their website and it is gone along with the instructions and calculator to mix and dose the stuff. I have 2 questions. First, is it still good or does this stuff go bad after time? Second, If it is still good does anyone know where I can find the instructions to mix and dose this particular brand or is it basically the same stuff that BRS has? Thanks for any suggestions !

 

[twotangs]

I use BRS Calcium Chloride and Soda ash. From my experance how they tell you to mix is just a starting point. Your reef will tell you how often to dose and what the concentration should be. For me it is 2.5 cups in a gallon of RO water. I would start there and keep a log of your system, ether adjusting the doseing time or the concetration of the solution till you dial it in. As long as it is not a hard as a rock and it still "pours" I think it is still good.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Read here:
https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/reef-chemistry-forum/39332-do-yourself-two-part-links.html

 

[redfishbluefish]

First off, as long as your great find of chemicals, they are extremely stable and will be just fine to use if they have been kept dry.


The only question about making up your solutions is that you don't know the type of calcium hyroxide you have....that is how "hydrated" the calcuim. Knowing could change the amount used for one gallon from 2 cups up to 2.5 cups. If this was mine, I'd assume the dihydrated form where 2.5 cups is needed per one gallon of RO/DI.

To make the "Randy" concentrations of the three solutions, HERE's a DIY video from BRS. To summarize:

Alkalinity (from soda ash) - 2 cups made up to one gallon of RO/DI water.

Calcium - 2.5 cups made up to one gallon of RO/DI water.

Magnesium - 5 cups magnesium chloride and 3 cups of magnesium sulfate, made up to one gallon with RO/DI water.

 

[mcarroll]

I would definitely read and understand the two-part links posted so far - especially the one linked in post #3 above.

Follow those formula for mixing and the Reef Chemistry Calculator for figuring out how much to dose based on your testing results.

Actually you can use the Reef Chemistry Calculator to figure out how to mix your chemicals too, but I'd follow the recipes noted earlier to get the hang of it and so you get more info on "why?" for all the questions you'll have.

Last, it's possible that during storage your calcium has absorbed some moisture and the soda ash could have adsorbed some CO2. To test this and makes sure your calculated doses are having their full, intended effect, do this for each chemical:

• Mix a very precise, small batch - use a cheap kitchen scale that measures to 0.1g accuracy. (ebay or amazon for <$10 if you don't already have one/can't find one local)
• Use it to make a small change in the calcium or alkalinity level of your tank water
• Use your test kit to measure the level BEFORE and AFTER the dose.
• Use the Reef Chemistry Calculator to calculate how much to add to produce your desired effect.
• If the AFTER test shows your two-part solution to be weaker than you mixed it, then you can calculate how much more product to mix and get a correct dosing solution every time in the future. (I.e. you should only have to go through this once, unless the chemicals sit a long time again)
• E.g. If you expected to get from 390 ppm up to 420 ppm (+30 ppm), calcium, but only got up to 410 ppm (+20 ppm).....then (20÷30) your solution needs to be 30% stronger. So in that case, weigh out 30% more product than the recipe calls for. Make sense?

As you'll learn from the first link in the thread (article titled "Improved Two-Part..."), the two main forms of calcium you're likely to encounter vary in strength about 20% from each other. The stronger form is usually in the form of little balls and the more dilute is flakes, but this doesn't have to be the case...either could be a powder when processed for commercial sale.