Do you dose your 2-parts twice a day?

I use the Sailfert Calcium test kit right now and I'll go ahead and pickup their Mg test kit as well. I like the ELOS Alk kit because its easy and fairly accurate. Yeah, with two little boys and a wife who constantly talk to me while I'm testing the less drops and mixtures the better..lol

I've been using Reef Crystals for a few years and have had good results with it. One of my buddies is using D&D's I believe and loves it, but I'm too lazy to have to mix my salts and gradually move over. I'm sticking with RC's for now:) One of my LFS's became a distributor for Seachem and want me to switch over to Salinity. Just not sure about changing salts after all of this time:)

I do weekly 10 gallon water changes and I'll start dosing 25 ml 2-parts daily to see how the water params go. Not sure what Mg I want to use because it doesn't seem like we need to dose a lot of it.

Are you guys dosing anything else? I dose 2ml of Potassium (Brightwells), 15 drops of Brightwells Coral Amino's, and of course feed phyto, oyster, and rotifeast daily. I'll do a drop of Lugols Iodide 2-3x per week.
 
I do 15 gallon weekly water changes, add vit-c daily, strontonium once a week and will do a drop of lugos daily. I will feed a combination of cyclopeeze, phyto, garlic and selcon daily. I try to keep it as simple as possible.
 
Thanks Steve,

How's the Vitamin C? I've heard and read that it could boost immune systems and improve soft tissue growth. I'm assuming it's working for you. I was actually looking at a bottle of it at my LFS during lunch today.

Oh yeah, I dose 5ml of Strontium, Coralvite, and Essential Trace once a week as well... My little fridge looks like a medicine cabinet of supplements. I'm wondering if I took that many multivitamins and vitamins that I may be healthier too.. My wife always tells me that I remember to dose my tanks, but always forget to take my own..lol
 
I had great success over 10 years when I dosed 2 part just adding equal parts of Kent Tech A/B and and Bionic A/B in the am. Not together, just used both products with more success for me with Kent.
 
I'll look into mixing the different brands, but I finally got some stable numbers this morning.

Looks like I have to dose 25ml of the 2-parts to keep my Alk at 9dkh and Ca at 425-440. Can't wait to get the BM doser in tomorrow and get it hooked up. Thanks again guys for all of the pointers and the corals are looking great. Even better polyp extension:)
 
newbie916 said:
Are you guys dosing anything else? I dose 2ml of Potassium (Brightwells), 15 drops of Brightwells Coral Amino's, and of course feed phyto, oyster, and rotifeast daily. I'll do a drop of Lugols Iodide 2-3x per week.
Click to expand...

Don't try this at home kids...
http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq67/jeffreylesser/Tank%20Build/IMG_0207.jpg

#1 Alk
#2 Mag
#3 Ca
#4 K
#5 Fe
#6 Sr
#7 Trace

#4 - #7 I dose pretty low levels. The equivalent of maybe 1 - 2 ml a day of Brightwell's for these 4. I use Kent Tech-M for magnesium as it has a by product effect of eliminating bryopsis. I travel for a week or two at a time and it is easier this way than having to ask my wife to be the mad scientist! Is what I am doing over the top? I am sure it is. I have stopped dosing iodine as the ESV seems to keep a constant level in my tank. It is not high, but always there(~.01 - .02). I do test everything I put in except trace.

I did ask ESV about the use of supplementals, this is the reply I got:

"While B-Ionic Calcium Buffer contains iodide, strontium, potassium, iron, magnesium, and trace elements....these constituents are only present in quantities required to ionically balance our formula so as to prevent a disproportionate accumulation of any ions over long term use such as would occur if one were using only calcium chloride and sodium bicarbonate to add calcium and alkalinity (sodium and chloride would accumulate in that situation). As such, the quantities of these ions may not be able to keep up with the demand so additional supplementation of strontium, magnesium, and iodide may be required. Given adequate water changes and food inputs, I doubt potassium and trace element supplementation would be required unless there was a deficiency in the salt mix."

Pretty solid advice from ESV. Your mileage may vary.
 
I recently switched to ESV and I have to say its one of the best things I've ever done for my tank. I realize its more expensive than other options for 2 part dosing but the difference I have noticed in PE and color is amazing. I tried the diy 2 part kits and I could never get my alk levels higher than the low ends of the ranges. My system is now and has been dialed in at 9.3 dkh and 420 ca since switching over. Dosing pumps and ESV are the way to go!

I have thought about automating some of the other items that dont get dosed on a daily basis like Jeffrey has because I will forget from time to time to do it when it should get done.
 
jeffreylesser said:
Don't try this at home kids...
http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq67/jeffreylesser/Tank%20Build/IMG_0207.jpg

#1 Alk
#2 Mag
#3 Ca
#4 K
#5 Fe
#6 Sr
#7 Trace

#4 - #7 I dose pretty low levels. The equivalent of maybe 1 - 2 ml a day of Brightwell's for these 4. I use Kent Tech-M for magnesium as it has a by product effect of eliminating bryopsis. I travel for a week or two at a time and it is easier this way than having to ask my wife to be the mad scientist! Is what I am doing over the top? I am sure it is. I have stopped dosing iodine as the ESV seems to keep a constant level in my tank. It is not high, but always there(~.01 - .02). I do test everything I put in except trace.

I did ask ESV about the use of supplementals, this is the reply I got:

"While B-Ionic Calcium Buffer contains iodide, strontium, potassium, iron, magnesium, and trace elements....these constituents are only present in quantities required to ionically balance our formula so as to prevent a disproportionate accumulation of any ions over long term use such as would occur if one were using only calcium chloride and sodium bicarbonate to add calcium and alkalinity (sodium and chloride would accumulate in that situation). As such, the quantities of these ions may not be able to keep up with the demand so additional supplementation of strontium, magnesium, and iodide may be required. Given adequate water changes and food inputs, I doubt potassium and trace element supplementation would be required unless there was a deficiency in the salt mix."

Pretty solid advice from ESV. Your mileage may vary.
Click to expand...

Nice, now that's what I call organization and maximizing your dosing pump..lol Just got mine in today, so I'll get around to setting it up tomorrow. I've already noticed a difference in growth and polyp extension over the last week after getting my Ca back up to 425-450:)
 
SPotter said:
I recently switched to ESV and I have to say its one of the best things I've ever done for my tank. I realize its more expensive than other options for 2 part dosing but the difference I have noticed in PE and color is amazing. I tried the diy 2 part kits and I could never get my alk levels higher than the low ends of the ranges. My system is now and has been dialed in at 9.3 dkh and 420 ca since switching over. Dosing pumps and ESV are the way to go!

I have thought about automating some of the other items that dont get dosed on a daily basis like Jeffrey has because I will forget from time to time to do it when it should get done.
Click to expand...

I'm just starting off with the Ca,Alk, and Mg, but will probably end up setting something up like Jeffrey too. I don't really forget to dose, but it'll be nice to only have to do water changes and check the equipment. Seems like I'm always tinkering with the tank every night and morning, but it'll be nice to have days that I don't have too.
 
newbie916 said:
I'm just starting off with the Ca,Alk, and Mg, but will probably end up setting something up like Jeffrey too. I don't really forget to dose, but it'll be nice to only have to do water changes and check the equipment. Seems like I'm always tinkering with the tank every night and morning, but it'll be nice to have days that I don't have too.
Click to expand...

A day without tinkering????? Unheard of!!!!! :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
SPotter said:
A day without tinkering????? Unheard of!!!!! :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I know, that's my wifes hopes at least..lol I find myself taking an extra 10 minutes everytime I go downstairs to get something to stop and look at the tanks. Ended up doing a Furan dip on the Sunny D colony after looking at the tank last night and seeing what looks to be zoa pox. My wife's gotten used to it over the last 3 years. She says its my mistress:)
 
Everything's going well. I've still been battling with my Alk going from 9dhk to 8 dhk from the morning to the time I get home from work to dose the second round. I've been dosing equal 2 parts 25ml broken up to 15ml in the morning and 10 ml in the afternoon.

I literally just finished setting up the BM dosing pump and it's awesome. Drilled 3 holes in the side of the mini fridge(Not plugged in.Just used to store my supplements) and put the unit on the top shelf with the lines going down into the 1 gallon jugs of ESV Bi-Ionic 2parts. I have it set to dose 12X per day at 25 ml. Hopefully that'll help stablize the Alk swings. Haven't hooked up the Mg because I'm not sure what dosing regiment I'm going to use or what brand.

Since I've been dosing and watching my Alk and got my Ca back up to 440. I've noticed the polyp extension is doing a lot better on most of my sps. I did lose my Purple Plasma mini-colony, but I think it was having issues since I got it in a trade a few months ago. I've noticed nice growth as well, so I can't complain. Guess it helps to have higher calcium..lol Appreciate all of the help and advice and I really hope this dosing pump does the trick..
 
I forgot to ask.

How often are you guys having to adjust your dosing regiment. I'm assuming that as the tank matures and the corals go through their growth spirts it'll consume more supplements. Should I test every few weeks after things are stable and adjust?
 
Woke up this morning and tested my Alk and Ca using the BM dosing pump for the first night. Very nice, the alk was at 9 and the Ca was at 425:) I'm sure the corals will benefit without the swings throughout the day. Great recommendation about the Bubble Magus. Thanks again guys and I'll keep you posted of how things go.

Chris
 
Once you are stable I would say its safe to test every 2 weeks or so. I would test every day and once after a week you see nothing is moving, then start to relax on it.
Thats just my opinion
 
I test the levels weekly and calibrate my pumps monthly. One of my pumps went from 1.1ml per minute to a little under 1ml per minute so I wasnt adding as much alk as I thought I was.
 
Probably a good idea to make sure everythings calibrated at least monthly. Now I have to add the second unit to dose everything else and maybe even do the feeding:)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

JChitmon
Anyone quit 2 part and started All For Reef?
Replies
2
Views
630
Reefing102
Reefing102
Z
New lps frags - 1 day not doing well
Replies
16
Views
835
Reefing102
Reefing102
cward
Calcium and Alkalinity dosing
Replies
2
Views
676
griss
griss
C
Dosing Issues
Replies
3
Views
746
BeanAnimal
B
TreyB381
200 gallon single 2” drain, how would you do it?
Replies
6
Views
700
Vinny Kreyling
Vinny Kreyling
Back
Top