Does anyone dose B-Ionic 2 part unequally?

Gho5t

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For the last year I've been dosing B-Ionic 2 part using a DOS and a Trident, however both part 1 and part 2 were set to trigger off the ALK reading so they dosed the same. Lately, my CA has been rising. It used to sit at a steady 460 and now it's creeped up to 532. My ALK is sitting at 9.7 so I could reduce the overall dosage, but I was wondering if I should just separate the dosage triggers and let part 2 get dosed from the CA reading.

In the past I've had bad results dosing B-Ionic with different amounts... I couldn't get the levels to stabilize until I put them in sync. However now that they're drifting, I'm wondering if I should change things up...

Thoughts?
 

neonreef3d

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just dose it equally, and reduce it, retest and see what needs adjustment; then adjust using brightwell aquatics cal, or alk 8.3

I had the same exact issue, except my corals were sucking up ALk. I have a sps tank..
 

X-37B

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For the last year I've been dosing B-Ionic 2 part using a DOS and a Trident, however both part 1 and part 2 were set to trigger off the ALK reading so they dosed the same. Lately, my CA has been rising. It used to sit at a steady 460 and now it's creeped up to 532. My ALK is sitting at 9.7 so I could reduce the overall dosage, but I was wondering if I should just separate the dosage triggers and let part 2 get dosed from the CA reading.

In the past I've had bad results dosing B-Ionic with different amounts... I couldn't get the levels to stabilize until I put them in sync. However now that they're drifting, I'm wondering if I should change things up...

Thoughts?
I have never had an issue in over 6 years of use. I have dosed it in uneaqual amounts to keep levels in the correct range. Then back to equal, just do it slow.
I run it on three systems currently.
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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It's certainly fine to slow or stop the calcium part until calcium drops to your target.

IMO, this scenario is most often is not due to actual uneven demand, but issues relating more to water changes or dosing with pumps not really matching even when it is intended to.

In any case, alk can be perturbed by other processes or additives (such as rising nitrate depleting alk), and to maintain alk, you might be overdosing calcium long term.
 
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Gho5t

Gho5t

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Thanks for all the feedback. I've stopped dosing CA for the moment and will take a look at the DOS as Randy might be on to something with the amounts being dosed being out of alignment.
 

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