2 part dosing pros HELP
- Thread starter Marcsreef
- Start date
cmacld
New member
For what it's worth, I would try a balanced dosing supplement. If you use both cal and alk supplements from brs, you should be able to dose the same amount daily for each additive.
On another note... Is there the possibility that you are adding your calcium chloride to a straight 1 gallon of water? Because even though it says it mixes to a gallon of water, it is actually less than a gallon of water used to make a gallon of cal additive..
Maybe what you are dosing is lower concentration than what it should be (@ least to what the brs calc accounts for).. Therefor requiring a greater amount of dosing.
On another note... Is there the possibility that you are adding your calcium chloride to a straight 1 gallon of water? Because even though it says it mixes to a gallon of water, it is actually less than a gallon of water used to make a gallon of cal additive..
Maybe what you are dosing is lower concentration than what it should be (@ least to what the brs calc accounts for).. Therefor requiring a greater amount of dosing.
disc1
-RT * ln(k)
Are you using the baking soda recipe or the baked baking soda recipe? Bicarbonate or Carbonate?
When pH is high like that, the carbonate recipe can suffer a lot of abiotic precipitation. When that happens a lot of what you are dosing is turning to sand and not actually making it into the water. This can cause a runaway 2-part dose. But really you aren't dosing, you're just making sand at that point.
I am baking the baking soda prior to mixing, so the recipe with more baking soda. The conditions like ph, calcium and dkh are ideal but using a ton. I can tell you that when I watch it drip into the talk it forms precipitate immediately and then when it make it through to the mag drive on the other side of the sump it appears to dissolve. Do you suggest using the other recipe?
LobsterOfJustice
Recovering Detritophobe
Yes, temporary precipitate from the alkalinity portion is normal.
Just to put this thread to bed, I have switched recipes from Randy's part 1 to Part 2 and nothing positive happened as far as seeing a decrease in demand. I have now switched back to recipe 1 and have decided that my tank just uses a lot of 2 part. I guess this experiment was worth it in order to see if I was throwing 2 part mix away from abiotic precipitation.
BlueCursor
New member
see this thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1775072
I have the same problem and have posted my specs in the above thread. Based on my research some people just plain develop this problem for some reason. The op in the above thread came to the conclusion bacteria was consuming a ton of alk. I have the same conclusion for my tank but have to wait this out to see if it drops. I was running biopellets, apparently too much from what I have googled. I have no PO4 and no NO3. My bacteria was keeping the NO3 to 0. I am running GFO.
I also removed much of my substrated, from 2.5 inches down to 1 inch. I just can't handle the bare bottom look. Currently, I am down to 90 ml of CaCl2 and 115 ml of Na2CO3 per day. Ca @ 400 ppm and Alk at 120 ppm (125 ppm = 7 dkh).
I have the same problem and have posted my specs in the above thread. Based on my research some people just plain develop this problem for some reason. The op in the above thread came to the conclusion bacteria was consuming a ton of alk. I have the same conclusion for my tank but have to wait this out to see if it drops. I was running biopellets, apparently too much from what I have googled. I have no PO4 and no NO3. My bacteria was keeping the NO3 to 0. I am running GFO.
I also removed much of my substrated, from 2.5 inches down to 1 inch. I just can't handle the bare bottom look. Currently, I am down to 90 ml of CaCl2 and 115 ml of Na2CO3 per day. Ca @ 400 ppm and Alk at 120 ppm (125 ppm = 7 dkh).
BlueCursor
New member
I should add that at one point I was dosing 440 ml of Ca and 440 ml of Alk a day. This was in an effort to get my Alk up to 8.5 or higher. The Alk was staying about 7.5 - 8 and I had a lot of precipitation. Ca nevere was above 440 during that period.
So currently, my system just won't allow Alk to get high w/o precipitating. And no, Mg was not the issue. During that period I was keeping it at 1400 ppm. Currently I am back down to 1320-1350 range.
So currently, my system just won't allow Alk to get high w/o precipitating. And no, Mg was not the issue. During that period I was keeping it at 1400 ppm. Currently I am back down to 1320-1350 range.
FWIW, some people need what seem like excessive amounts for reasons that are often never fully understood.
BlueCursor
New member
I don't keep my Alk at 7.5 - 8. Right now I am happy with 7, and I'm usually 6.75 - 7.
Mg dosing is 80 ml / day of BRS 2-part Mg. My Ca dosing is 60 ml / day of BRS CaCl2 mixed to their directions (2.5 cups / 1 gal RO/DI). My Alk dosing is 115 ml / day of BRS soda ash mixed to their directions (2 cups / 1 gal RO/DI). I also have saturated Kalk in my ATO to keep down amount of Na and Cl I introduce into the tank.
My Ca seems to be holding stead @ 400 ppm, as well as my Alk @ 120 ppm. I am trying to tweak reducing Ca or Alk by 5 ml per day to see if this changes my steady state, but that is rather tedious and difficult to determine in one or two days due to fluctuations in ATO, testing variability, etc. So a single 5 ml change of Ca or Alk requires a week long experiment. Then I may have to put it back up and try reducing the other one 5 ml / day to see what impact that has.
I am shooting for NSW levels at this point. My visions of 9 dkh and 440 Ca are long gone. I seem to be making progress after getting rid of a big chunk of my aragonite substrate and turning off BRS bio pellets. NO3 is still 0 (bacteria and/or Chaeto keeping that down), PO4 is still 0 (GFO and Chaeto).
If NO3 becomes an issue, I will know anaerobic bacteria is no longer consuming it and I will consider introducing carbon back into system. But first I will take a long hard look at how reduced bacteria has altered my Alk dosing requirements.
I really am not too concerned that I have to dose these amounts, other than the fact that salinity keeps rising faster than I would like. Then I do partial water changes with low salinity, which means low trace elements, etc. So I am dosing extra Ca, Alk, potassium and a shot of trace minerals when I mix up new saltwater for changes. If my pH was better, hovering around 8.0 +/- 0.05, I would switch to NaHCO3 for Alk instead of the Na2CO3 to reduce sodium addition. But I don't know if that's a good idea right now due to my pH is a little too acidic really.
Mg dosing is 80 ml / day of BRS 2-part Mg. My Ca dosing is 60 ml / day of BRS CaCl2 mixed to their directions (2.5 cups / 1 gal RO/DI). My Alk dosing is 115 ml / day of BRS soda ash mixed to their directions (2 cups / 1 gal RO/DI). I also have saturated Kalk in my ATO to keep down amount of Na and Cl I introduce into the tank.
My Ca seems to be holding stead @ 400 ppm, as well as my Alk @ 120 ppm. I am trying to tweak reducing Ca or Alk by 5 ml per day to see if this changes my steady state, but that is rather tedious and difficult to determine in one or two days due to fluctuations in ATO, testing variability, etc. So a single 5 ml change of Ca or Alk requires a week long experiment. Then I may have to put it back up and try reducing the other one 5 ml / day to see what impact that has.
I am shooting for NSW levels at this point. My visions of 9 dkh and 440 Ca are long gone. I seem to be making progress after getting rid of a big chunk of my aragonite substrate and turning off BRS bio pellets. NO3 is still 0 (bacteria and/or Chaeto keeping that down), PO4 is still 0 (GFO and Chaeto).
If NO3 becomes an issue, I will know anaerobic bacteria is no longer consuming it and I will consider introducing carbon back into system. But first I will take a long hard look at how reduced bacteria has altered my Alk dosing requirements.
I really am not too concerned that I have to dose these amounts, other than the fact that salinity keeps rising faster than I would like. Then I do partial water changes with low salinity, which means low trace elements, etc. So I am dosing extra Ca, Alk, potassium and a shot of trace minerals when I mix up new saltwater for changes. If my pH was better, hovering around 8.0 +/- 0.05, I would switch to NaHCO3 for Alk instead of the Na2CO3 to reduce sodium addition. But I don't know if that's a good idea right now due to my pH is a little too acidic really.
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