Second New DIY Two Part Recipe with Higher pH Boost

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Hi Randy,
I have been using this recipe for over a year now, working perfectly. As the dosage increases, the ph value is now slipping over 8.7. I would like to use a recipe 1 liquid for the higher alk demand from now. My question is, can I mix the 2 solutions and dose it with one dosing pump head?

Yes, you can mix sodium carbonate and sodium hydroxide recipes together into one solution (with the same overall potency) in any ratio you find works well. :)

 

[MMI]

Hi @Randy Holmes-Farley I just did an icp and my sulfur came back as elevated. Should I skip the Na2SO4 with the next batch of alk that I make up? Thanks for your help.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Hi @Randy Holmes-Farley I just did an icp and my sulfur came back as elevated. Should I skip the Na2SO4 with the next batch of alk that I make up? Thanks for your help.

Yes, I’d stop it. Chloride is also high, indicating that elevated salinity is part of the issue.

 

[oldmonk]

Hello Randy
Is daily automatic water changes one of the prime reason for not having stable parameters with 3 part dosing?
I am at present using Aquaforest Pro 1,2,3 components. Needless to say it will get expensive going ahead once demand increases. So once i exhaust the existing stock of Aquaforest, i will shift to DIY supplements using your Recipe#1.
So will daily AWC( at present 1% of total volume= 6 litres) be an issue? Should i reduce the % , say 0.5% ?

What are your thoughts?

Thanks

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Hello Randy
Is daily automatic water changes one of the prime reason for not having stable parameters with 3 part dosing?
I am at present using Aquaforest Pro 1,2,3 components. Needless to say it will get expensive going ahead once demand increases. So once i exhaust the existing stock of Aquaforest, i will shift to DIY supplements using your Recipe#1.
So will daily AWC( at present 1% of total volume= 6 litres) be an issue? Should i reduce the % , say 0.5% ?

What are your thoughts?

Thanks

I don’t see a scenario where AWC leads to instability, whether the mix matches the tank or not.

 

[oldmonk]

Thanks a lot for responding.

One more question regarding the magnesium dosing as per your recipe #1. It says to add the magnesium solution(610ml) once a gallon of each Calcium and Alkalinity solution is dosed. But now for someone like me who is away from home for 3 months a stretch ( wife looks after the basics like feeding,testing), how does this work? is there any other alternative? At present all 3 supplements are being dosed in equal quantities as mentioned by Aquaforest.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

I've never done the math and i probably couldnt, but there's an equation in there some where x÷y=z

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thanks a lot for responding.

One more question regarding the magnesium dosing as per your recipe #1. It says to add the magnesium solution(610ml) once a gallon of each Calcium and Alkalinity solution is dosed. But now for someone like me who is away from home for 3 months a stretch ( wife looks after the basics like feeding,testing), how does this work? is there any other alternative? At present all 3 supplements are being dosed in equal quantities as mentioned by Aquaforest.

Yes, it is great to add the same amount spread out if you want to.

610 mL per gallon = 610 mL/3785 ml (1 gallon) = 1 mL per 6.2 mL of the calcium part.

 

[oldmonk]

Yes, it is great to add the same amount spread out if you want to.

610 mL per gallon = 610 mL/3785 ml (1 gallon) = 1 mL per 6.2 mL of the calcium part.

Thanks a lot for quick response.
I will again get in touch with you when selecting the chemicals. Reason, me being from India we do not have the brands that you have mentioned in the recipe article. So when i had inquired about these salts with a reputed Indian brand they asked me additional questions like whether i want Anhydrous or Monohydrate and how much % purity etc for which i did not have any answers.
But we will get back to this when i get to making my own solutions.

Thanks again .

 

[gbroadbridge]

Hello Randy
Is daily automatic water changes one of the prime reason for not having stable parameters with 3 part dosing?
I am at present using Aquaforest Pro 1,2,3 components. Needless to say it will get expensive going ahead once demand increases. So once i exhaust the existing stock of Aquaforest, i will shift to DIY supplements using your Recipe#1.
So will daily AWC( at present 1% of total volume= 6 litres) be an issue? Should i reduce the % , say 0.5% ?

What are your thoughts?

Thanks

It's worth keeping in mind that Randy's recipe #2 is similar to AF Components Pro in terms of the Alkalinity and Calcium components and are pretty much interchangeable, except of course the AF Pro has added Trace elements.

You can simply follow Randys recipe #2 for Alk and Calcium, and add AF Components Strong AB+C at the same strength and end up with something very close to components pro 1 & 2.

AF Components 3 is NaCl free salt (Mineral Salt) + Components Strong K, which you could continue to mix up and dose if you wished.

If you wished a higher concentration together with a pH boost you can use Randy #1 and double the amount of components strong.

That is exactly how I dose my tank.

 

[oldmonk]

It's worth keeping in mind that Randy's recipe #2 is similar to AF Components Pro in terms of the Alkalinity and Calcium components and are pretty much interchangeable, except of course the AF Pro has added Trace elements.

You can simply follow Randys recipe #2 for Alk and Calcium, and add AF Components Strong AB+C at the same strength and end up with something very close to components pro 1 & 2.

AF Components 3 is NaCl free salt (Mineral Salt) + Components Strong K, which you could continue to mix up and dose if you wished.

If you wished a higher concentration together with a pH boost you can use Randy #1 and double the amount of components strong.

That is exactly how I dose my tank.

@gbroadbridge

That was indeed a very helpful insight. For sure this will help me when i make the shift.

Thanks

 

[Jasonak]

Hi
So I never dosed ,My ph and Alk was low and I just started dosing Kalk. Im dosing 6L a day Ph is alright now. But Alk Is still low came across this thread. My question is the recipe on page one is only for a gallon. Do you dose way less using this style as oppsed to Kalk ? I have 300 gallon 90 sump.

Kept reading and figured it out,,,this stuff is potent , someone asked a similar question.

Still have couple questions dosing with this will cause my tank to be cloudy ? every time my DOS adds it to the water ?
Also anything out there I could make up in spray bottle to neutralize it if I spill it ? Sounds kinda caustic.

So amazon wont ship

Sodium Hydroxide​

to me here in alaska , any ideas where else to get it ?
thanks

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Hi
So I never dosed ,My ph and Alk was low and I just started dosing Kalk. Im dosing 6L a day Ph is alright now. But Alk Is still low came across this thread. My question is the recipe on page one is only for a gallon. Do you dose way less using this style as oppsed to Kalk ? I have 300 gallon 90 sump.

Kept reading and figured it out,,,this stuff is potent , someone asked a similar question.

Still have couple questions dosing with this will cause my tank to be cloudy ? every time my DOS adds it to the water ?
Also anything out there I could make up in spray bottle to neutralize it if I spill it ? Sounds kinda caustic.

So amazon wont ship

Sodium Hydroxide​

to me here in alaska , any ideas where else to get it ?
thanks

You can make the potency as high or low as you want. The recipe here is about 46 times as potent as kalkwasser.

When dosed appropriately, the tank won’t be cloudy. There is some cloudiness before each addition disperses, just like all high pH additives.

You can neutralize it with vinegar or to a lesser degree, baking soda.

 

[homer1475]

Hi
So I never dosed ,My ph and Alk was low and I just started dosing Kalk. Im dosing 6L a day Ph is alright now. But Alk Is still low came across this thread. My question is the recipe on page one is only for a gallon. Do you dose way less using this style as oppsed to Kalk ? I have 300 gallon 90 sump.

Kept reading and figured it out,,,this stuff is potent , someone asked a similar question.

Still have couple questions dosing with this will cause my tank to be cloudy ? every time my DOS adds it to the water ?
Also anything out there I could make up in spray bottle to neutralize it if I spill it ? Sounds kinda caustic.

So amazon wont ship

Sodium Hydroxide​

to me here in alaska , any ideas where else to get it ?
thanks

Coming from someone who doses baking soda, and ice melter, Sodium hydoxide is just lye. I'm sure you can get that, but have no idea on purity.

 

[Jasonak]

Since I cant find sodium hydroxide locally and they wont ship it here. Is this ok for sodium carbonate.
Amazon product ASIN B01GD1ZXSS

 

[ZoWhat]

Would you play around with blending hormones into your family's 2% milk that your kids drink to make them stronger? Healthier? Taller?

Well corals don't like to be f 'ed with either with this micro tinkering with minor elements

K.I.S S.

Water changes... the original gangster of dosing


.

 

[Jasonak]

I do water changes. I was doing 60 gallons every two weeks to a month. Then a 90 gallon change every other month or so. I was getting what I thought was decent growth. But after selling off a ton of coral and starting off with tiny frags again and getting re-excited about my tank again. I got on here and started doing some reading. I prob hadn't checked my parameters in 5 years. Just did water changes and like I said thought I was getting good growth. I see now after I started monitoring my tank and checking levels that it was amazing that I was getting any growth.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Would you play around with blending hormones into your family's 2% milk that your kids drink to make them stronger? Healthier? Taller?

Well corals don't like to be f 'ed with either with this micro tinkering with minor elements

K.I.S S.

Water changes... the original gangster of dosing


.

What microtinkering are you talking about? Certainly you are not suggesting that using Balling Part C is like adding hormones to milk? ???

 

[bozo]

Can we add dow flakes and the mag supplements directly to a 50 gallon new salt water barrel and mix?

I have a few buckets of Fritz RPM I need to burn through and the Ca And Mg are always low. 380 / 1200.

thanks

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Can we add dow flakes and the mag supplements directly to a 50 gallon new salt water barrel and mix?

I have a few buckets of Fritz RPM I need to burn through and the Ca And Mg are always low. 380 / 1200.

thanks

You can boost calcium and magnesium in salt mixes to typical target levels, yes.

I would not boost alk in salt mixes using sodium hydroxide, however, as the pH will get too high and likely precipitate calcium carbonate.