How much Alkalinity and Calcium 2 Part are you dosing?

[ImGood]

Redfish I haven't been able to get my head around it, honestly don't know if it was or could be a coincidence, I get the whole evaporation thing, but the same day I sealed the tank (and that was the only change)the parameters went through the roof.& the dosing had to be changed.has anyone else experienced this?

 

[redfishbluefish]

There is a need to include the brand/type of products you're using as well......it's not simply volumes!

In another post I answered a question about Seachem's Fusion two part. I wasn't intimately familiar with their products, so I looked them up. I was surprised to find their Alkalinity solution claims 4400 meq/liter. To compare, BRS's alkalinity (soda ash recipe) is 1900 meq/liter. Another way to look at this tremendous difference is to look at the amount of each needed to raise alkalinity in a 100 gallon tank by 1 dKH. The Seachem product only requires 31.5 mls, while the BRS solution would require 71.4 mls.

 

[ImGood]

There is a need to include the brand/type of products you're using as well......it's not simply volumes!

In another post I answered a question about Seachem's Fusion two part. I wasn't intimately familiar with their products, so I looked them up. I was surprised to find their Alkalinity solution claims 4400 meq/liter. To compare, BRS's alkalinity (soda ash recipe) is 1900 meq/liter. Another way to look at this tremendous difference is to look at the amount of each needed to raise alkalinity in a 100 gallon tank by 1 dKH. The Seachem product only requires 31.5 mls, while the BRS solution would require 71.4 mls.

For the past 10 months I've been using a diy of each Kh. ( soda ash.) Mg chlorid in a flake form,&Epsom salt ( dissolve the Epsom salt first then add the Mg Chloride or you'll waste it all & have a regrettable mess) and Ca. Chloride (road salt). These are mixed 2 gallons at a time , anyways that's what I was dosing & what I currently am.

 

[redfishbluefish]

There is a need to include the brand/type of products you're using as well......it's not simply volumes!

In another post I answered a question about Seachem's Fusion two part. I wasn't intimately familiar with their products, so I looked them up. I was surprised to find their Alkalinity solution claims 4400 meq/liter. To compare, BRS's alkalinity (soda ash recipe) is 1900 meq/liter. Another way to look at this tremendous difference is to look at the amount of each needed to raise alkalinity in a 100 gallon tank by 1 dKH. The Seachem product only requires 31.5 mls, while the BRS solution would require 71.4 mls.

Out of curiosity of different alkalinity (and calcium) concentrations with different products, I went to THIS reef calculator and put in the various liquid products to determine how much alkalinity solution would be needed in a 100 gallon tank to raise it 1 dKH (0.357 meq/l, 17.887 ppm). Here's what I found (note the Fusion number came from the SeaChem site, and the BRS number for BRS's site, not the calculator)



PRODUCT...............................................mls

BRS (soda ash solution).........................71.4
Randy's DIY recipe 1..............................71.4
Two Little Fishes C Balance...................71.4
Oceans Blend..........................................71.4
Kents......................................................48.5
Warner Marine.......................................47.6
B-Ionic....................................................44.6
SeaChem Reef Carbonate (liq)...............35.7
SeaChem Fusion.....................................31.5

 

[biom]

Giving daily kH consumption could be even more informative IMO. My tank uses about 3.3 dKh daily

 

[BlueDevil]

My system consumes ~0.9 dKh daily.

 

[ReefingwithO]

I'm dosing 51ml of calcium and alkalinity. Medium stocked 75 gallon tank.

 

[GoVols]

I'm dosing 20 grams of Red Sea ABC+ powder daily with 1.5 ml of Red Sea Colors C & D.

The ABC+ already has RS colors A & B in it.

My alk slowly drops so I dose it up separately with Seachem "Reef Builder" every couple of weeks.

Holding 80 total gallons and the ABC+ powder has been balancing out the big-3 great since last fall.

 

[zachxlutz]

I'm dosing 20 grams of Red Sea ABC+ powder daily with 1.5 ml of Red Sea Colors C & D.

The ABC+ already has RS colors A & B in it.

My alk slowly drops so I dose it up separately with Seachem "Reef Builder" every couple of weeks.

Holding 80 total gallons and the ABC+ powder has been balancing out the big-3 great since last fall.

I just looked into this to see if I could switch over to ABC+ and free up 2 of my dosing pumps but it appears that ABC+ can't be mixed into a stock solution... Do you dose manually?

 

[GoVols]

I just looked into this to see if I could switch over to ABC+ and free up 2 of my dosing pumps but it appears that ABC+ can't be mixed into a stock solution... Do you dose manually?

Yes, I dose manually. If you mix it to a liquid it will precipt. out.
lol, My Apex-DOS pumps have been collecting dust since last fall. But I'm keeping the pumps in case the ABC+ goes wacky on me down the road.
Then I'd be using their a, b, and c with my dosing tanks.

I don't know if it will balance out for really large water volumes.

But for now, counting the Red Sea colors I'm using 3 products instead of 7.

Half the guys at Red Sea USA are using this method too.

Also RedSeaKev in England took the time to guide me.

 

[Reduck]

Dosing 15ml daily of TLF C balance A+B in my 75g.
hangs in within desired specs pretty solidly.
Lots of softies, montipora monster with lots of growth, three brains and big hammer.
2 clams. Growing like weeds.

 

[revhtree]

Keep up the good input!

 

[Ocelaris]

I checked and my magnesium was down to 1200! I use instant ocean, and have been doing a lot of water changes lately with quarantining fish. Explains why I couldn't get my alkalinity up with way over dosing! Correcting that over a few days and will be adjusting alk and CA additions accordingly! When in doubt, test!

 

[Ocelaris]

Brought my magnesium up to around 1400, and cut my brs two part following Randy's recipe in half, down to 100ml of each. The only impact over two days is that my alkalinity dropped by almost 1dkh, so I added enough to get the alk back up to around 10 by adding 50ml each of the last two nights. Todat I cut the 2 part down to 60ml, and we'll see if calcium drops.

My thinking is that if only one is dropping then I must be precipitating by having too much of one. So I'm going to see in the few days what it takes to get calcium to drop and then inch it back up. But I can't figure out why just alk is dropping.

 

[N4sty T4te]

I've read things saying you should always dose two part equally. If I did that, my calcium would be in the 700's. Anybody know why it doesn't seem to work in my tank? I use Instant Ocean Reef Crystals and skim wet. I add water to compensate for the constant small amount I'm pulling out that way. I keep my salinity at 1.025. Magnesium about 1300. Alk at 180ppm Calcium at 425. I use a Hanna Alk checker and Hanna Calcium checker. I've calibrated my alk checker and compared different batches of reagent. The readings are good.

+1 to above

200 Gallon (Water Volume)
2 Acro Colonies, 15 or so frags (lightly stocked)
9 Fish + Lots of Pukani Dry Rock

BRS two part (still tweaking)
120 ML per day ALK
85 ML per Day CAL

I've attributed higher dosing needs on such a lightly stocked system to using biopellets. Just a hunch though.

 

[N4sty T4te]

I'm confused??? Are you saying by covering your tank, your alk and calc consumption went from 396 mls and 435 mls, to 12 mls and 14 mls, respectively. Alk and calc don't evaporate. The only thing you lose with evaporation is pure water. I'm scratching my head on this one.

No my friend the cover keeps the Calcium in the tank. lol

What about decreased light? Could mean less photosynthesis, and therefore less consumption? Just a gut reaction, definitely the only explanation I can think of.

 

[Daltrey]

I was dosing 435 ml of Ca and 396 ml Kh, and 35 ml Mg daily. Then I covered the tank, & sump. That has Stopped 3+gallons evaporation/day. And I now dose 14 ml CA, 12ml Kh, and 9 mlMg /day. Been like that for 5 months now. It's a 400g mixed reef tank. I've been using reef crystals for the past year.i check parameters regularly, sometimes more often. Hope this helps

#ImGood What did you use to cover the tank and sump? Do you have a picture of it? Thanks

 

[ImGood]

B

#ImGood What did you use to cover the tank and sump? Do you have a picture of it? Thanks

I used glass to cover the tank & 1 1/2 “styrofoam on the sump which is getting a rollermat so will be reconfigured shortly. I’ve added many corals since I posted that, & am currently adding 18 ml Mg 28 ml Ca and 7 ml Kh/ day. Hope this helps...cheers

 

[reefndude]

My former tank was a 125g display and 55g sump. Estimated 140g water volume.
Heavily stocked sps colonies and frags.
Using brs 2 part I was dosing 78 ml calcium and alkalinity each
Kept mag around 1500 ppm

 

[IKD]

Wow, I think I'm doing something wrong reading these responses

Tank: 265 gallon with primarily SPS corals (40+ corals including several small plate-sized monti's) and a few Euphyllia's.

I'm using BRS two-part
Alkalinity: 691 ml/day to maintain 9-9.5 dKH
Calcium: 331 ml/day to maintain 420 ppm
Magnesium: ~1450

Not sure why I need so much more Alk over Calcium, but it took a while to get things dialed in. I get no precipitation with this and probably lose about 1 gallon/day to evaporation.