What are the limits of 2 part?

Randy Holmes-Farley

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3250dkh / 1500ml = 2.16 dkh per ml? * 144 ml = 312 dkh dosed per day? I can't math. I thought the recipe I'm following is your recipe.


2 1/4 cups baked baking soda dissolved in one gallon = 5300dkh

there's 3.78 liters per gallon. So, first decide what ratio is my storage container 1.5 liter to a gallon of water = 1.5 liters * 2.52 = 1 gallon. 2.25 cups per gallon / 2.52 liters per gallon = .89 cups per 1.5 liters. Ooops. Over the last three years, I may have gradually just gotten lax and reduced the amount of carbonate per 1.5 liter from .9 cups to .5 cups. . .

Which may reveal why I'm dosing more. . . Consumption may have gone up, but, the amount of product may have changed over time. . .

This could be my problem. ;)

I'll gradually increase amount of product dissolved to liquid ratio.

dKH is not a per volume unit. The solution has the same dKH regardless of the volume. dKH is already alkalinity per unit volume.

My recipe is cups before baking, not after. :)
 
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Treefer32

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This is why I failed advanced chem in high school!

I think my only remaining question now is, given that my magnesium has stayed the same over 3 years. Do I need to dose magnesium in the same ratios as calcium and alkalinity to increase stability? Or will that just raise the magnesium levels?
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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This is why I failed advanced chem in high school!

I think my only remaining question now is, given that my magnesium has stayed the same over 3 years. Do I need to dose magnesium in the same ratios as calcium and alkalinity to increase stability? Or will that just raise the magnesium levels?

I would dose it at the recommended rate for the recipe since it should just keep it where it is, and it does more than maintain magnesium. it also maintains the sulfate to chloride balance. :)
 
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Treefer32

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I'm going to start dosing today. I did the recipe of 5 cups MGCL to 3 cups Magnesium Sulfate to 1 gallon of RODI. Shoo it up and mixed it and will start dosing today. I think I'm going to start a very low dose. Say 2 ml / hour or 48 ml per day.

I'm dosing 144 ml of Alkalinity and 144 ml of CACL per day right now. So, 1/3rd of what the other two are being dosed at. I'll measure magnesium in a week to see if it's rising at all. If it's still the same, then increase it to 96 ml per day and test after a week. If it's still the same then raise to 144 ml per day. to keep everything in allignment.

If magnesium starts increasing then i'll decrease the dosing regimen. Anything I should look for in corals as signs of increasing or decreasing health due to the new dosing regimen?
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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If magnesium starts increasing then i'll decrease the dosing regimen. Anything I should look for in corals as signs of increasing or decreasing health due to the new dosing regimen?

Not really. If they close up, that's not good, but that would be unusual.
 

attiland

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Not really. If they close up, that's not good, but that would be unusual.
Did you mean would not be unusual? Asking because I have started to set the magnesium levels to the recommended. I go slow like 20 ppm a day increase but my Duncan tells me to slow down. Looks like bit a lemon after for 2 days.
my magnesium levels were really low.
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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It would be unusual to see any effect form dosing a reasonable amount of magnesium solution.

IMO, effects are most likely from impurities, and not from the magnesium itself.

What product did you dose to see closing?
 

attiland

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It would be unusual to see any effect form dosing a reasonable amount of magnesium solution.

IMO, effects are most likely from impurities, and not from the magnesium itself.

What product did you dose to see closing?
Aqua forest- reputable brand I would thought

I have found while the hammers and Zoas in my tank doesn’t show any negative effect the Duncan is moody every time there is a change. I always see it as an indicator of changes.
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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Aqua forest- reputable brand I would thought

I have found while the hammers and Zoas in my tank doesn’t show any negative effect the Duncan is moody every time there is a change. I always see it as an indicator of changes.

I do not know what they put in that part. It may be more than magnesium.
 

homer1475

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Randy, are you saying even though MAG levels are normal, or high, when dosing 2 part, the recommended amount of MAG should be added(1G of mixed magensium sulfate, and magnesium chloride after 1G of ALk and CAL are used)?

I have never dosed MAG, but do dose 120ml of ALK and CAL(your DIY recipe) daily.

Regular IO has high mag levels. With weekly WC's my mag is always above 1500.
 

attiland

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I do not know what they put in that part. It may be more than magnesium.
I woul think it is magnesium sulphate. You don’t need to add anything that to be stable. The Duncan has done the same when added a bit too much alkalinity in one go or done bigger than usual water changes. It is just a moody bugger but so beautiful I wouldn’t go without it.
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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I woul think it is magnesium sulphate. You don’t need to add anything that to be stable. The Duncan has done the same when added a bit too much alkalinity in one go or done bigger than usual water changes. It is just a moody bugger but so beautiful I wouldn’t go without it.

I'm not sure what you mean by that. Even my 3 part DIY is more than magnesium sulfate in part 3..
 

attiland

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I'm not sure what you mean by that. Even my 3 part DIY is more than magnesium sulfate in part 3..
I will be honest don’t know the answer to your question. It is magnesium by label and doesn’t disclose any further details than that apart from dosage instructions.
Please forgive my ignorance but as per your receipt what else do you add to magnesium and why? If I want to increase magnesium than I just add that. I could be completely wrong here.
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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I will be honest don’t know the answer to your question. It is magnesium by label and doesn’t disclose any further details than that apart from dosage instructions.
Please forgive my ignorance but as per your receipt what else do you add to magnesium and why? If I want to increase magnesium than I just add that. I could be completely wrong here.

On labels, ESV B-ionic two part has a calcium part and an alkalinity part.

But those names alone do not reveal that many other added ingredients (magnesium, potassium, bromide, borate, etc.) that are spread across the two solutions. It's just a handy name.

As to my DIY three part, the part 3 is optimally a mixture of magnesium sulfate and magnesium chloride. The ratio of those two ingredient sis intended to help maintann the chloride to sulfate ratio in the aquarium.

We may be getting into details that do not interest you, but the ratio in that product is not the same as the ratio in my DIY magnesium supplement. Optimally, you'd pick a recipe based on what you intended to use it for.

These have more info:

An Improved Do-it-Yourself Two-Part Calcium and Alkalinity Supplement System by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

Do-It-Yourself Magnesium Supplements for the Reef Aquarium by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

from the second one:

Note also that this recipe (#3) is different from that given in my DIY two-part recipe, because in that case more magnesium sulfate is necessary to offset the rise in chloride that is provided by both the calcium chloride and the magnesium chloride.
 

attiland

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On labels, ESV B-ionic two part has a calcium part and an alkalinity part.

But those names alone do not reveal that many other added ingredients (magnesium, potassium, bromide, borate, etc.) that are spread across the two solutions. It's just a handy name.

As to my DIY three part, the part 3 is optimally a mixture of magnesium sulfate and magnesium chloride. The ratio of those two ingredient sis intended to help maintann the chloride to sulfate ratio in the aquarium.

We may be getting into details that do not interest you, but the ratio in that product is not the same as the ratio in my DIY magnesium supplement. Optimally, you'd pick a recipe based on what you intended to use it for.

These have more info:

An Improved Do-it-Yourself Two-Part Calcium and Alkalinity Supplement System by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

Do-It-Yourself Magnesium Supplements for the Reef Aquarium by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

from the second one:

Note also that this recipe (#3) is different from that given in my DIY two-part recipe, because in that case more magnesium sulfate is necessary to offset the rise in chloride that is provided by both the calcium chloride and the magnesium chloride.
I am interested in every detail but I have little experience of dosing. I just have looked up the 3 ingredients of the 2 part dosing and bought a bag of each. Before I want to set up auto dosing I wanted to put every component to the right level. Alk one calcium is now within range but magnesium is lower than optimal so I have started to add just that.
the label say don’t do more than 50ppm a day so I went 10 than increased to 20 and the Duncan said no way I am having this. After 2-3 days it is happy again and I can do the next lot of dose. The why is an interesting question but I probably never have the ingredient list for the supplement to be sure if this is the supplement.
as per diy it is not relevant for me yet as only have a few corals.
 

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Randy, are you saying even though MAG levels are normal, or high, when dosing 2 part, the recommended amount of MAG should be added(1G of mixed magnesium sulfate, and magnesium chloride after 1G of ALk and CAL are used)?

I have never dosed MAG, but do dose 120ml of ALK and CAL(your DIY recipe) daily.

Regular IO has high mag levels. With weekly WC's my mag is always above 1500.


@Randy Holmes-Farley I was just curious what your thoughts were on this, as I did not see a response to it?

If weekly WC's keep MAG in line, should MAG still be added when dosing 2 part(the third part of 2 part. No idea why no one calls it three part lol)?
 

attiland

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@Randy Holmes-Farley I was just curious what your thoughts were on this, as I did not see a response to it?

If weekly WC's keep MAG in line, should MAG still be added when dosing 2 part(the third part of 2 part. No idea why no one calls it three part lol)?
From now on we will call it 3 part ;) enough of mystifying reef keeping;)

By the way water change don’t keep it in line. Mine was about 200ppm below after a year with only a handful of corals. I have a right time to pull it back up without shocking my Duncan
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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@Randy Holmes-Farley I was just curious what your thoughts were on this, as I did not see a response to it?

If weekly WC's keep MAG in line, should MAG still be added when dosing 2 part(the third part of 2 part. No idea why no one calls it three part lol)?

I'd still use it. It should keep magnesium where it is.
Folks using true two parts or Balling or CaCO3/CO2 reactors all add it without knowing it. They don't stress over adding or not adding. :)

I also think a lot of folks measuring 1500 ppm magnesium without overdosing it are getting false high readings, and it is not really that high.
 
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Treefer32

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Well, I've dosed 33% the Part 3 mixture (ratio of mgcl to mg sulfate in 1 gallon of water. I'm dosing 48 ml of part 3, and 144 ml of Alk and Calcium per day. I had my alk in my tank increasing before adding the mg into the mix.

Now with dosing mg, I've had to increase my alk and cacl dosing as my alk started falling. It was almost up to 9dkh and it fell to 8.1 dkh in 5 days.

I feel good about these changes, I feel like corals may be able to start consuming more available alk with the the sulfates being dosed now. I don't know if the science proves my feelings. But, for now, going with the flow. Happy corals Happy life. :)
 

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On labels, ESV B-ionic two part has a calcium part and an alkalinity part.

But those names alone do not reveal that many other added ingredients (magnesium, potassium, bromide, borate, etc.) that are spread across the two solutions. It's just a handy name.

As to my DIY three part, the part 3 is optimally a mixture of magnesium sulfate and magnesium chloride. The ratio of those two ingredient sis intended to help maintann the chloride to sulfate ratio in the aquarium.

We may be getting into details that do not interest you, but the ratio in that product is not the same as the ratio in my DIY magnesium supplement. Optimally, you'd pick a recipe based on what you intended to use it for.

These have more info:

An Improved Do-it-Yourself Two-Part Calcium and Alkalinity Supplement System by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

Do-It-Yourself Magnesium Supplements for the Reef Aquarium by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

from the second one:

Note also that this recipe (#3) is different from that given in my DIY two-part recipe, because in that case more magnesium sulfate is necessary to offset the rise in chloride that is provided by both the calcium chloride and the magnesium chloride.
Hello Randy. I am looking to start dosing recipe 1 and my calcium is low at only 320 ppm. Is there any risk in bringing that up to 420 ppm in a short time period? Should it be spaced out over a day or so?

My plan is to purchase SafeStep 7300 which is listed as 100% Calcium Chloride but only use 2 cups in one gallon of water and then add 1/4 gallon to my 200 gallon system. I calculate that would get me half way there and half a day later test and do the remaining.

Thanks,
 
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