Two Part, Kalkwasser, or All For Reef? Time for a Dosing Pump ?

Ober_Reef · Sep 16, 2022

Hey Everyone,

So I currently dose BRS Two Part and my tank is consuming roughly 1dKH of Alk weekly. Basically I dose around 75 ml of BRS Liquid Soda Ash once a week. My Ca consumption is much lower and a bit more random, every two to three weeks it drops by 30-40 and I dose accordingly. I’m thinking of getting a dosing pump and dosing two part at night to help with PH swings and before I made this next step I figured I would reassess my strategy and grab some insight from the community here.

Any input is appreciated !

Jonify · Sep 16, 2022

Hi! That sounds about right. ~20 ppm of Ca is usually consumed for each ~3 dKH of alkalinity consumed. So if your tank is using 2dKH of Alk over 2 weeks, you'd expect it to also be using about 30 ppm of Ca, which tracks with that you said. The Kalk and AFR options you're considering are both balanced supplements, but AFR will also Mg and some trace elements. AFR won't help with pH swings, but Kalk would if you dosed it at night ... so would the 2-part you're currently doing. All depends on what you have stocked, how often you do water changes, what your goal is for dosing stuff, what your goal is for pH, etc.

Ober_Reef · Sep 16, 2022

Jonify said:
Hi! That sounds about right. ~20 ppm of Ca is usually consumed for each ~3 dKH of alkalinity consumed. So if your tank is using 2dKH of Alk over 2 weeks, you'd expect it to also be using about 30 ppm of Ca, which tracks with that you said. The Kalk and AFR options you're considering are both balanced supplements, but AFR will also Mg and some trace elements. AFR won't help with pH swings, but Kalk would if you dosed it at night ... so would the 2-part you're currently doing. All depends on what you have stocked, how often you do water changes, what your goal is for dosing stuff, what your goal is for pH, etc.

Hey Jonify,

Thanks for your response, it’s currently mixed reef but pretty heavily stocked with SPS frags. Everything is doing well and I plan for a few more choice SPS pieces and nice Torch in the future. I was doing 5 gallon water changes weekly but have recently switched to 5 gallons every two weeks due to nitrates and phosphates running lower than I would like. My PH goal like most is 8.3 but has been ranging from 7.9-8.1.