doseing 2 part?

youngtimothy · May 27, 2009

how much do you dose (ml) a day for your system (gal)? I'm just trying to get an Idea how much people are useing. I'm going to start doseing 2 part with doseing pumps soon and want to know if I'm on the right track. If you are useing doseing pumps what is your timers schedule? I now dose seachem cal and alk by hand around 2 tbl spoons a day and that converts to somewhere around 100 ml's of each 2 parts per day, my doesing pumps dose at 1.5 per min so thats running them each 65 mins a day. I was wondering if this sounded right?
I have a 100 gal 35 gal sump/fuge mostly SPS.

AD87 · May 29, 2009

Is this liquid form you said you dose 2 tbls that doesn’t equally 100ml, or do you dilute the rest?

youngtimothy · May 29, 2009

AD87 said:
Is this liquid form you said you dose 2 tbls that doesn’t equally 100ml, or do you dilute the rest?

useing alk as an example
the 2 tbls is seachem powder (alk), that I think converts to 97. mls of 2 part liquid liquid,(alk) I guess I should have been more clear (im not typing what im thinking)

stunreefer · May 29, 2009

FWIW, I used to dose 80mL of Alk/Ca per day in a heavily stocked 50 gal SPS aquarium.

beaslbob · May 29, 2009

I use the diy two part. The key to that is to 1) get everything in balance, and 2) then monitor alk and dose equal amounts of calcium and alk when alk drops below the desired level.

KingRicky · May 29, 2009

beaslbob,

Where do you get your diy two part ingredients?

beaslbob · May 29, 2009

KingRicky said:
beaslbob,

Where do you get your diy two part ingredients?

Epson salts and baking soda are just grocery store items.

Calcium Chloride is ice melter for winter driveways. It also is used to speed the hardening of concrete in winter. Redimix concrete places sell bags of it. Be sure to ask for calcium chloride not the brand name. One company here even had the anhydrous (compare to kent turbo calcium) form which is 94-97%. Brand name was cal-chlor (i think). A 25 pound bag was $8 or so. They asked me what I was using it for and then just gave me a bag at no charge.

Magnesium chloride is also an ice melter but much less common as it costs more. It is also used for dust control in roads and landscaping. But most landscaping firms here have a liquid form.

I found an industrial chemical supplier here that has both calcium chloride and magnesium chloride in 50 pound bags. They have to ship in the magnesium chloride but do not charge for that shipping. To them it is just another bag tossed on the truck as opposed to USP shipping. My first order for 1 50 pound bag of calcium chloride and 1 50 pound bag of magnesium chloride was like $35 total for both including tax. But that has since increased to about $45-50 or so.

A 50 pound bag will last literally decades on my 55g. So I give this stuff away at local frag swaps.

I am also experimenting with mixing the magnesium part with the calcium part. Seems to be working but haven't done that very long at this time anyway.

One of the real shocks with this method was the huge amount of magnesium required to do the initial adjustment. After years of running my 55g was down to 800ppm magnesium. Raising that to 1300ppm required 2-3 pounds of epsom salts. After the initial dose, much smaller amounts are required to maintain that level. The initial calcium/alk adjustments are much smaller. I was a little nervious pouring pounds of epsom salts in the tank, but everything did just fine with no ill effects notices to either fish or corals.

my .02

I-K@ndY · May 29, 2009

Im dosing 2 part on my 180g .. 180ml Calcium and 160ml Alk ..

Yellowtang · May 29, 2009

I am also experimenting with mixing the magnesium part with the calcium part. Seems to be working but haven't done that very long at this time anyway.

How are you doing this just a 3 to 1 mix or are you custom tailering for your calcium mag load???

JR,

beaslbob · May 29, 2009

Yellowtang said:
How are you doing this just a 3 to 1 mix or are you custom tailering for your calcium mag load???

JR,

For those not familiar with the diy two part, what you do is mix up a gallon of calcium, 2) another of alk (baking soda) and a third gallon of magnesium. Then dose equally calcium and alk when the alk drops down. After using up the gallons of calcium and alk you add 300ml of the magnesium.

So what I did was that when I mixed up my last calcium I added 300ml less water shook that up then added 300ml of the magnesium solution. Seemed to work ok with no precipitate. Fish and corals seem fine and the alk seems to be dropping at the same rate. After a gallon of dosing I'll measure calcium, and magnesium to see what has happened.

I also add a pinch of picking lime (kalk) alk to my top off.

KingRicky · May 29, 2009

beaslbob said:
Epson salts and baking soda are just grocery store items.

Calcium Chloride is ice melter for winter driveways. It also is used to speed the hardening of concrete in winter. Redimix concrete places sell bags of it. Be sure to ask for calcium chloride not the brand name. One company here even had the anhydrous (compare to kent turbo calcium) form which is 94-97%. Brand name was cal-chlor (i think). A 25 pound bag was $8 or so. They asked me what I was using it for and then just gave me a bag at no charge.

Magnesium chloride is also an ice melter but much less common as it costs more. It is also used for dust control in roads and landscaping. But most landscaping firms here have a liquid form.

I found an industrial chemical supplier here that has both calcium chloride and magnesium chloride in 50 pound bags. They have to ship in the magnesium chloride but do not charge for that shipping. To them it is just another bag tossed on the truck as opposed to USP shipping. My first order for 1 50 pound bag of calcium chloride and 1 50 pound bag of magnesium chloride was like $35 total for both including tax. But that has since increased to about $45-50 or so.

A 50 pound bag will last literally decades on my 55g. So I give this stuff away at local frag swaps.

I am also experimenting with mixing the magnesium part with the calcium part. Seems to be working but haven't done that very long at this time anyway.

One of the real shocks with this method was the huge amount of magnesium required to do the initial adjustment. After years of running my 55g was down to 800ppm magnesium. Raising that to 1300ppm required 2-3 pounds of epsom salts. After the ninitial dose much smaller amounts are required to maintain that level. The initial calcium/alk adjustments are much smaller. I was a little nervious pouring pounds of epsom salts in the tank, but everything did just fine with no ill effects notices to either fish or corals.

my .02

Are you going to be at the CARC swap next weekend?

Yellowtang · May 29, 2009

AH I see beaslbob I read it as you were making single doseing as in Reef complete type stuff.

JR,

roshi719 · May 29, 2009

I have about 250 gallons in my system and right now I dose 90 ML of each. I am currently using the DT's pure reef elements, but I am going to be switching over to bulk reef supply two part.

beaslbob · May 29, 2009

KingRicky said:
Are you going to be at the CARC swap next weekend?

Wasn't planning on it anyway. When? Where?

beaslbob · May 29, 2009

Yellowtang said:
AH I see beaslbob I read it as you were making single doseing as in Reef complete type stuff.

JR,

From what I understand that doesn't work. The chlorides combined with the carbonates will preciptate calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate.

From what I understand the single dose schemes rely on carbon dioxide to provide the carbon with calcium hydroxide (kalk) being the most common example. Some also add vinegar. But at that point bumps into a wall of my ignorance. :neutral: