How do I dose 2 part properly?

corey904

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I currently use 3 kamoer x1 dosing pumps for my 2 part soda ash, calcium chloride and magnesium mix (all BRS) I’ve heard that most of your alk swings drop during the day so people dose this during the day but how much? How far apart does a dosage of calcium and soda ash need to be separated? This is what I think sounds like the best option to dose a schedule let me know your opinions (dropping the dosage during the night time)
12pm alk
2pm cal
4pm mag
6pm alk
8pm cal
10pm mag
12am alk
2am ca
4am mag
6 am alk
8am cal
10 am mag
 

robertpdx

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I have a small tank and manually dosing, so take this response with a grain of salt.

The best way to determine what your swings are is to test for those parameters in your system. What is your tank's daily or weekly demand for these parameters? Here's a poll I found on acceptable swings FWIW:

I have had success in allowing swings of 0.5 dKH per day, but I only have a few SPS corals. Some people like to keep it to 0.1-0.3. This is much easier to maintain with a dosing pump as you're doing.

Dosing alk in the early morning will both restore the target level and increase the pH a few tenths, which is usually lowest in the morning before the lights come on. Separating it from the calcium additions will help to ensure you don't lose any to precipitation. I typically dose alk in the morning and Ca in the evening but I've also added them separated by only a few minutes. Just make sure the addition is going to a high flow area.

If you're dosing 4x per day, and your alk change is < 0.5 dKH between dosing, I don't think it matters. More important is to make sure your levels are stable from day to day (test them daily for a while at the same time every day). Make sure that your dosing is just meeting demand.

Mg is usually very stable, so I don't regularly dose this, but only make corrections as needed - usually small ones monthly. It's pretty easy to maintain an acceptable Mg level.
 

blasterman

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Maybe just my experience, but 90% of my alk consumption in fast growing SPS tanks occurs when my lights go on and then go off. Between midnight and 6am alk don't move. So, I run my dosing accordingly.

Over the years I've become increasingly apathetic over trying to keep hyper consistent alk and calcium levels. This was started by the cult that brought us ULN and tanks that RTNd if alk deviated upwards .2 dKH. I think we've grown up since then.

My fastest growing SPS tank has a doser with a short in the power supply cord. So, I've been manually dosing alk once a day and it bounces from 8.5 to 10.5 every 24 hours. Nothing cares. Montipira, birdsnests, stylos, big colonies of palys etc all grow like weeds. As long as alk stays in a mean range ove a couple days its fine. Its phosphate getting low i need to watch.
We need to stop using a tank full of acropora as our reference for everything reefing.
 

Bepis

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once your tank has a consistent drop, you calculate how much It does each day and dose that amount threw out the day. The more times a day at lower volumes the steadier and more consistent your parameters will be.
 

AllAmericanReefs

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I currently use 3 kamoer x1 dosing pumps for my 2 part soda ash, calcium chloride and magnesium mix (all BRS) I’ve heard that most of your alk swings drop during the day so people dose this during the day but how much? How far apart does a dosage of calcium and soda ash need to be separated? This is what I think sounds like the best option to dose a schedule let me know your opinions (dropping the dosage during the night time)
12pm alk
2pm cal
4pm mag
6pm alk
8pm cal
10pm mag
12am alk
2am ca
4am mag
6 am alk
8am cal
10 am mag
Okay I have a dumb question and I cannot seem to find the answer anywhere lol but why does “2 part” involve 3 parts? I am so confused on this lol. Is it calcium in one, soda ash in one, and then magnesium in one? Or is the magnesium mixed in with equal parts calcium for one and then mixed in with equal parts soda ash for one? I’m just lost I’m sorry
 

Beau_B

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The magnesium generally doesn’t need to be on a doser. It gets added only when levels drop. I think the BRS guide even suggests dumping it in after completing the entire gallon(s) of alk/cal.

With water changes I didn’t need to dose Mag for over a year, fwiw. I have shifted to balling method though and dose TM Part C (with alk & cal).
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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The magnesium generally doesn’t need to be on a doser. It gets added only when levels drop. I think the BRS guide even suggests dumping it in after completing the entire gallon(s) of alk/cal.

With water changes I didn’t need to dose Mag for over a year, fwiw. I have shifted to balling method though and dose TM Part C (with alk & cal).

Yes, that is my recipe and my directions, and magnesium changes very slowly.

I would advise dosing the magnesium part independent of magnesium measurement (unless it is already too high) because it is not just a magnesium supplement. Many products combine these ingredients into the other parts and you just never notice them.
 

ZombieEngineer

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Looks like that dosing pump can do dosing only every 2 hours. I would go one of two ways

1. Seperate the outlets so they are in high flow areas and not nearby each other. Dose everything evenly in 2 hour intervals.

2. If ca and Alk tubes can't be separated well, dose mg every 2 hours, alternate alk and Ca.


Alk consumption day vs night is not that drastic, so I would skew towards dosing evenly throughout the day and night rather than trying to dose alk in the day and ca at night. This only becomes an issue in systems that are jam packed with corals and go through alk like crazy (like 2dKH per day).
 
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