Dosing Part C or other trace elements

[jtichenor]

I am currently dosing Ca, Alk, and Mg as well as supplementing with a fixed amount of Kalk in place of my topoff water (about a .75 gal of kalk per day). I adjust my Ca & Alk dose as the demand for Alk changes in my tank. I do not adjust kalk as I'm trying to maximize the PH increase benefits of kalk.

I would like to do less water changes so I'm thinking about dosing Part C from Tropic Marin or A&K trace elements. My question is: how do I know how much Part C to dose? The BRS balling instructions say to dose 2x the amount of Part C as Alk - but I'm supplementing with Kalk. Can anyone help me convert .75 gal of kalk to ml equivalent of BRS soda ash? Or is there a better way? Should I just test for a commonly depleted trace element and adjust my Part C accordingly? Which element should I be testing for?

 

[spsick]

Part C is just to maintain the ionic balance as using 2 part over time gets it out of balance with the chlorides. It’s not a trace element supplement and if your primary is Kalk I would say part C is not necessary.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Agreed. Part C is a good balance to calcium chloride and sodium carbonate, but not to kalkwasser and it’s not a trace element supplement, despite having them in it.