2-Part dosing problems? We have the answer!

[wowkingjames]

Following

 

[Jeffrey Zornes]

I would first make sure there isn't any physical blockages in the tubing that doses the 2 part (build up of Calcium and alk in the tubing may be restricting flow). Then check to make sure the dosing pump is calibrated properly. Stop dosing kalk in your top off water (to determine your true alk/Cal demand )
Check your Mag. (Low mag causes major fluctuations in cal/alk demand. Check for white build up on your pumps (this will indicate if your alk/cal is precipitating )
Do a 30% water change with a quality salt mix (to stabilize mag/cal/alk levels
-start testing with fresh testing kits
-determine true demand of cal/alk
After all that..... you will have it under control.

Thanks for the pointers larry, I swapped over to RODI last night, and actually re calibrated my Dos (it was off 5ml on one pump and 3ml on the other) as well. My mag was a bit low (1240 ppm) on Sunday when I tested, but I dosed it back up to 1380 without any issue. I definitely have some precipitation, my heaters need a cleaning every few months to knock off the buildup. I just did my weekly 10 gallons, but this weekend I'll do a major one just for good measure.

 

[Tropical paradise]

@randyBRS, I am using ur 2 part solution with soda ash in addition to vinegar saturated kalk in my top off. I believe I saw in one of your other videos that after going through a jug of each of the calcium and alk supplements that you should have also gone through roughly 1 jug of the mag supplement as well, any truth to this? Also, my Kore 5th Doser has the ability to dose 144 equal times a day. Would this be beneficial to dose my soda ash like this as not to have such an alk swing from less frequent, larger doses being that your alk swings much more than your calcium. FYI, this is on a heavily stocked SPS tank. Thanks in advance!

 

[Tautog]

Well, I was going to call............
I've started 2-part dosing, and still haven't dosed the same amounts.
I thought I had it. I was dosing 7 ml of Calcium solution/day and 3.5 ml of Soda Ash solution/day. After 3 days my Tests were Ca - 425 ppm. KH - 9.8 My KH was holding at 8.4
To be on the safe side, my calculations are based on 160 gal, but should be 200 gal. I have had high KH in the past, and it seems it takes days for a reduction. I've added more Mag. solution than anything else
If I have small corals, with low demand, do I need to be doing this 2-part dosing, or will a Water Change be enough. I've been doing 30 gal. changes every 2 weeks.
180 gal. Tank. 40 gal. Sump

 

[RudyB]

Question, I switch from the BRS two part to the BRS Kalk using a stirrer. Since doing this I can't seem to keep my Mag levels high enough consistently. I am still using the Mag mix that came with the two part and following those directions. I read that you have to use a different mix or ratio of crystals but it was not clear. What would you suggest. Thank You.

 

[RudyB]

@randyBRS, I am using ur 2 part solution with soda ash in addition to vinegar saturated kalk in my top off. I believe I saw in one of your other videos that after going through a jug of each of the calcium and alk supplements that you should have also gone through roughly 1 jug of the mag supplement as well, any truth to this? Also, my Kore 5th Doser has the ability to dose 144 equal times a day. Would this be beneficial to dose my soda ash like this as not to have such an alk swing from less frequent, larger doses being that your alk swings much more than your calcium. FYI, this is on a heavily stocked SPS tank. Thanks in advance!

How much vinegar do you add to the kalk per gallon of RO/DI water? I was thinking of doing that route as well.

 

[Tropical paradise]

How much vinegar do you add to the kalk per gallon of RO/DI water? I was thinking of doing that route as well.

I am using 60 ml white distilled vinegar along with 6 tsp of kalk to 5 gallons. I go through the 5 gallons in around 2 days on a 180.

 

[Tautog]

Nice

 

[randyBRS]

@randyBRS, I am using ur 2 part solution with soda ash in addition to vinegar saturated kalk in my top off. I believe I saw in one of your other videos that after going through a jug of each of the calcium and alk supplements that you should have also gone through roughly 1 jug of the mag supplement as well, any truth to this? Also, my Kore 5th Doser has the ability to dose 144 equal times a day. Would this be beneficial to dose my soda ash like this as not to have such an alk swing from less frequent, larger doses being that your alk swings much more than your calcium. FYI, this is on a heavily stocked SPS tank. Thanks in advance!

In the pre-portioned packages of BRS 2-part, we provide enough Soda Ash and Calcium Chloride to make full gallon solutions. The Magnesium Mix in those same kits include enough to make 20oz. of mixed solution. So, the instructions on these pre-portioned packages tell you that after a full gallon of Alk/Ca, you then need to dose the full solution of Mag (which is only 20oz). If you are using the standard mix-your-own bulk packages, then you dose Mag as necessary.

I've always sparsely dosed my Alk throughout the longest period possible in a given day. 12hrs for Alk and 12hrs for Ca worked well even when I was at 100+mLs on my 125gal.

-Randy

Well, I was going to call............
I've started 2-part dosing, and still haven't dosed the same amounts.
I thought I had it. I was dosing 7 ml of Calcium solution/day and 3.5 ml of Soda Ash solution/day. After 3 days my Tests were Ca - 425 ppm. KH - 9.8 My KH was holding at 8.4
To be on the safe side, my calculations are based on 160 gal, but should be 200 gal. I have had high KH in the past, and it seems it takes days for a reduction. I've added more Mag. solution than anything else
If I have small corals, with low demand, do I need to be doing this 2-part dosing, or will a Water Change be enough. I've been doing 30 gal. changes every 2 weeks.
180 gal. Tank. 40 gal. Sump

Personally, I don't start dosing until it is absolutely necessary. With such a large water volume, I would consider doses lower than 10-20mL to be unnecessary. The dilution of 3.5mL Soda Ash in a 200gal tank wouldn't come close to raising your Alk by even 0.1 dKH. (Actually, it takes at least 14mL to raise dKH by 0.1 for that tank.)

If it were me, I'd stick to water changes and not worry yourself with dosing until you start seeing measurable consumption on a daily basis.

-Randy

Question, I switch from the BRS two part to the BRS Kalk using a stirrer. Since doing this I can't seem to keep my Mag levels high enough consistently. I am still using the Mag mix that came with the two part and following those directions. I read that you have to use a different mix or ratio of crystals but it was not clear. What would you suggest. Thank You.

Hey! The first thing I would check is the Magnesium mix you received in your 2part package. If it was the pre-portioned package, you would have only received enough Magnesium mix to make 20oz of solution. Sometimes people accidentally make this into a full gallon solution, which ends up diluting it. If your Mag solution is diluted, that could be a cause of your current issue.

If that is not the case, then I would try making a new Magnesium solution using Magnesium Chloride and Magnesium Sulfate in a 5:3 ratio. That is 5 cups Mag Chloride and 3 cups Mag Sulfate for a gallon of water.

-Randy

How much vinegar do you add to the kalk per gallon of RO/DI water? I was thinking of doing that route as well.

I used to do this in a 25 gallon trash can for one of my old tanks. I used 1cup of vinegar and 1-1/4cup kalk. That would work out to about 60tsp, which was "over-saturated" by about 10tsp. I will have to try and dig up the thread I was using for the ratios, but I vaguely remember them featuring Randy Holmes-Farley. This was several years ago...

-Randy

 

[Djbrandriff150]

I have to dose around 40 mls of alk everyday to keep it at 9. What are the best practices for times. I have been doing it by hand. So that was just 2 times when I got home sand after the eat...

 

[Jeffrey Zornes]

Well, I'm a bit at a lose for my results. I estimate that I have about 100 gallons, with tank sump and fuge, but when I dose the suggested amount from the calc I get lower results than expected. I've been tracking my daily usage and its ~1.3-1.5 dKh a day, which seems high for my stocking level, and the Ca usage is ~10-15 ppm. Per the BRS calc I'm supposed to be dosing ~110 ml of 2 part a day which puts me at 1.1ml/gal which again seems incredible high. My tank is using a lot more than I'm expecting for my stocking level any ideas why the extra usage? Thanks for the help guys.

 

[larryrick1]

@ Jeff
From the pic of your aquarium, it looks like you have massive amounts of alk/Cal precipitation on your sand bed, rocks, and on the back wall of your aquarium.
-Stop dosing
-soak your pumps in vinegar
-do a massive water change
-follow the instructions in the BRS video at the beginning of this thread!

 

[Jeffrey Zornes]

Larry,

Sorry the pic is a bit blown out, the camera on my phone doesn't like the lights, it's not precipitation, that I know of, it's coralline algea on the back wall and rocks. The sand is pretty clear of anything other than the usual detritus, here and there. I plan on doing a 30% change today also.

 

[larryrick1]

Jeff,
That's good to hear!

 

[Reef man 89]

So I am new to dosing I have the BRS 2 part and I mixed up the soda ash in the mr chill jug. My tank drop about .5 dkh a day so I have been dosing to keep it at a steady 9.5dkh now when I dose the soda ash it clumps up a little when it hit the tank water. I want to make sure this is normal I kno that it will cloud up alittle but there is clumps in my tank after dosing is this normal?

 

[Tautog]

Well, I'm a bit at a lose for my results. I estimate that I have about 100 gallons, with tank sump and fuge, but when I dose the suggested amount from the calc I get lower results than expected. I've been tracking my daily usage and its ~1.3-1.5 dKh a day, which seems high for my stocking level, and the Ca usage is ~10-15 ppm. Per the BRS calc I'm supposed to be dosing ~110 ml of 2 part a day which puts me at 1.1ml/gal which again seems incredible high. My tank is using a lot more than I'm expecting for my stocking level any ideas why the extra usage? Thanks for the help guys.

Hey Jeff, I got the best advice from Randy not to dose at all. WC every 2 weeks (30 gal.) would take care of all my coral needs. I've been fighting with this 2- part system for the last 2 months. I have a lot of frags, but with 200 gals., my KH after a WC is over 9, and after 2 weeks passes my Alkalinity is just under 7. I use more Ca solution than Soda ash, and I have never used equal amounts.

 

[Jeffrey Zornes]

Hey Jeff, I got the best advice from Randy not to dose at all. WC every 2 weeks (30 gal.) would take care of all my coral needs. I've been fighting with this 2- part system for the last 2 months. I have a lot of frags, but with 200 gals., my KH after a WC is over 9, and after 2 weeks passes my Alkalinity is just under 7. I use more Ca solution than Soda ash, and I have never used equal amounts.

Tautog, what was your daily consumption rate? For some reason my tank seems to eat a lot daily, 1.3 dKh and 15 ppm Ca, especially for my tank load . I do 10 gallon w/c's every week( HW Marine) just to keep the nutrients ultra low, and help supplement trace elements.
I did wise up and started using my DOS to actually dose the suggested amount to make sure it's more exact than my graduated cylinder measures.
I'm gonna monitor again for the next week testing daily and dosing daily. To really try and lock in the tank needs, but the tests have been pretty consistent over the past week. Heres the logs I've been noting in Apex Fusion.

 

[RudyB]

Well, I'm a bit at a lose for my results. I estimate that I have about 100 gallons, with tank sump and fuge, but when I dose the suggested amount from the calc I get lower results than expected. I've been tracking my daily usage and its ~1.3-1.5 dKh a day, which seems high for my stocking level, and the Ca usage is ~10-15 ppm. Per the BRS calc I'm supposed to be dosing ~110 ml of 2 part a day which puts me at 1.1ml/gal which again seems incredible high. My tank is using a lot more than I'm expecting for my stocking level any ideas why the extra usage? Thanks for the help guys.

Jeff, First you should check your magnesium levels. If they are below 1350 then you are probably precipitating Cal and Alk out of your tank and that is why it is dropping so fast. I had the same issue some years back. Once I got my Mag up my corals started growing really fast and they started to use up my Cal a lot faster again. But you will be able to see the growth and correct for it. Keep an eye on your Mag it is the one test I don't skip a week. It keeps the rest of my tank in check.

 

[Jeffrey Zornes]

Jeff, First you should check your magnesium levels. If they are below 1350 then you are probably precipitating Cal and Alk out of your tank and that is why it is dropping so fast. I had the same issue some years back. Once I got my Mag up my corals started growing really fast and they started to use up my Cal a lot faster again. But you will be able to see the growth and correct for it. Keep an eye on your Mag it is the one test I don't skip a week. It keeps the rest of my tank in check.

Hey Rudy,

I actually checked it last night, with that in mind, (Red Sea Reef Foundation Pro Test Kit) and it was 1360, I had tested it last week also and it was 1300 ( I did a large water change and did additional dosing in-between that brought it up) I dosed it up to 1380 last night.
I'm seeing pretty good growth from my frags, so that's good, but trying to get my dosing down to give them a stable environment and to make my life easier . I'm hoping that after this week I'll see a stable trend and that I can does a consistent amount, but the numbers I'm getting just don't seem to make sense to me when I compare my tank to others with much higher coral loading.

 

[RudyB]

Hey Rudy,

I actually checked it last night, with that in mind, (Red Sea Reef Foundation Pro Test Kit) and it was 1360, I had tested it last week also and it was 1300 ( I did a large water change and did additional dosing in-between that brought it up) I dosed it up to 1380 last night.
I'm seeing pretty good growth from my frags, so that's good, but trying to get my dosing down to give them a stable environment and to make my life easier . I'm hoping that after this week I'll see a stable trend and that I can does a consistent amount, but the numbers I'm getting just don't seem to make sense to me when I compare my tank to others with much higher coral loading.

Jeff,
Now that your Mag is up and hopefully stay up try lowering the does of the calcium a little at a time and see if your numbers stay up. If they do that would have meant that you where precipitating your Calc and Alk out of your system and it is now getting to a stable amount. Hopefully this would reduce your dosing. Good luck.