How many people out there dosig B Ionics rather than reactor with success?

I take it the ebay listing normally sells for close to $200?? right now its only about $55 + shipping. I think I would rather have the single doser than two. Its easier to maintain one pump than two... and yes Im lazy
 
The whole Ph issue is really what sold me on this idea, plus I didn't know Kalk doesn't contain Magnesium. I was using Kalk exclusively to keep up my Ca levels only to find out that my Mg levels had dropped all the way down to 850 PPM!!! B-Ionic, already has Mg, and the 3rd part of the 3 part is Mg. :)

If my Ca levels get low I just up the dosing (push of a button) no bubble counting or drip counting involved, it's darn near full proof. Sure B-Ionic can cost a bit, especially if you are running a full SPS reef of any size, but with the 3 part recipe dropping to cost to just a few bucks, I don't see any reason to mess with a Ca reactor.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6910593#post6910593 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Horace
I take it the ebay listing normally sells for close to $200?? right now its only about $55 + shipping. I think I would rather have the single doser than two. Its easier to maintain one pump than two... and yes Im lazy

Totally agree with you, not sure why he's selling two single channel pumps instead of just one 2 channel... Maybe no one wants to buy the pink ones and he's over stocked with them. :D
 
I did a lot of digging around 3 or 4 months ago looking for the right doser to automate this. Honestly, I think there are a number of good dosers out there. I finally chose the Aquamedic Dual reef doser. It's easy to use, very quiet, each pump can be controlled independently and the on/off times can be set in seconds, minutes, hours, so lots of flexibility:

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merc...OD&Product_Code=AM-70105&Category_Code=Dosers

Others will recommend the litermeter. Probably a very good pump, but expensive. And you still need to buy a second pump module to do what we want here.

The Sentry systems dosers are also recommended a lot. This one can do both solutions with a single pump. In the off-chance you want to dose different amounts of the 2 parts (you shouldnt really do this anyways), this would lead to less flexibility. The only legitimate reason I can think of for doing this are if you make up your own 2 part solutions, you may find that one of them is slightly off in concentration in one way or another.

I had 2 issues with the Aquamedic. First, I got one sent to me with the wrong pump installed:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=739362

I got that tyaken care of. Second, I would suggest to everyone using them that they do a couple simple tests up front to check the dosing rates on each pump. Mine dose slightly differently from one another - one doses 25ml/minute, the other 30-32 ml/minute. If you know the rates, you can adjust the on/off times to correct for that.

Finally, if you decide to use Randys 2-part, keep in mind it is approx half the conc as normal B-Ionic, so doubling your dosing volume is a good starting point. I have a very high Ca demand in my 75G, and I was adding 60+ mls of B-Ionic daily and still not maintaining levels when I finally decided to do something. Now I am doing about 150ml/day of Randy's and I'm almost where I need to be. Maybe 160-175 should do it, I hope. Plus, I get to add it continually throughout the day - I set my pump to come on every hour and add 6-7 mls. Way better than dosing by hand.

Better than a Ca Reactor? - who knows. I'm sure there are pros and cons. But I am going to give this a good chance to work before making the change.
 
I've been using the B-Ionic 2 part system for quite some time now but it is getting pretty monotonous having to dose every single day.
Right now I dose 45ml of each in the morning and at night just to keep up with my decently stock 90g sps system.
I've debated and tried to justify the whole calcium reactor solution but the boss just isn't going for it.

I also have some kalkwasser but haven't started dosing it yet.
Anybody else have opinion on a good dual channel dosing pump for dosing B-Ionic?
How do you guys set it so it only does around 60ml at a time? Or do you do 60ml throught the whole day.
 
I got mine on ebay from a guy called tanksalot, I think he also owns innovativeaquatics.com.

Those are basically the same as the sentry pumps I was referring to, and being sold my the same guy too. I'm sure they will work pretty well for this. I already mentioned the only issue I can think of that you MIGHT have with it. I guess you can always do a little tweaking my hand if you find you need to.

I'm not 100% sure but I THINK that these Sentrys are designed to stay ON all the time, you adjust the dosing rate (that may not be true of every model he has). The Aquamedic is sort of the opposite - the dosing rate is fixed, you adjust the NUMBER of times and the AMOUNT of time you want the pumps to come on. You can set both pumps to be the same or different (I had to set mine slightly different just due to the slightly differing dosing rates). I was also suspecting for a while, after discussing some issues with Randy, that one of my solutions is slightly lower in conc, so the 2 solutions aren't 'in balance'. I have yet to figure out if this is really true yet. I'm working on finding the right dosing amount and getting the levels stable first, then I'll figure that out.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6910710#post6910710 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by johns
I got mine on ebay from a guy called tanksalot, I think he also owns innovativeaquatics.com.

Those are basically the same as the sentry pumps I was referring to, and being sold my the same guy too. I'm sure they will work pretty well for this. I already mentioned the only issue I can think of that you MIGHT have with it. I guess you can always do a little tweaking my hand if you find you need to.

I'm not 100% sure but I THINK that these Sentrys are designed to stay ON all the time, you adjust the dosing rate (that may not be true of every model he has). The Aquamedic is sort of the opposite - the dosing rate is fixed, you adjust the NUMBER of times and the AMOUNT of time you want the pumps to come on. You can set both pumps to be the same or different (I had to set mine slightly different just due to the slightly differing dosing rates). I was also suspecting for a while, after discussing some issues with Randy, that one of my solutions is slightly lower in conc, so the 2 solutions aren't 'in balance'. I have yet to figure out if this is really true yet. I'm working on finding the right dosing amount and getting the levels stable first, then I'll figure that out.

Yep, if I need to tweak either part I just take the tube that's higher than the other part and have it dose into a cup until I balance back out, pretty painless. It does dose 24/7 so I just set the hourly amount and that takes care of it. On my setup I set the pump to 3 or 4 units (.3ml per unit) per hour which is .9ml to 1.2ml per hour or 21.6 or 28.8 ml per day of each part. 1 gallon is 3,785 ml so a 2 gallon set should last me 4 to 6 months. :)


<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6910709#post6910709 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bsk997
I've been using the B-Ionic 2 part system for quite some time now but it is getting pretty monotonous having to dose every single day.
Right now I dose 45ml of each in the morning and at night just to keep up with my decently stock 90g sps system.
I've debated and tried to justify the whole calcium reactor solution but the boss just isn't going for it.

I also have some kalkwasser but haven't started dosing it yet.
Anybody else have opinion on a good dual channel dosing pump for dosing B-Ionic?
How do you guys set it so it only does around 60ml at a time? Or do you do 60ml throught the whole day.

I set it to unit's per hour and it dose the amount on a constant basis. I usually check my levels once a week or every other week, so far it's been rock solid!
 
bsk997, these thigns can deliver from 7oz up to a 2-300oz per day...THATS THE BEAUTY OF THEM!!!! If I knew this only a day ago I would have never bought my regulator. Thank God I saw this thread today and am not going to bother with building/maintaining a reactor!!!
 
With Bionic over time it will get expensive though. with like 90ml a day (somone above uses that much), you would have to buy the bottles like every 1.5- 2.0 months. That will get costly
 
Horace,

You doing the DIY 2 part ...or you sticking with Bionic ?

I bought a 50lb bag of dowflake from the pool supply store for 25 bucks. Let's say I'm going to be making the the Randy DIY for a long time to come ...hehehehehehe
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6911159#post6911159 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Horace
you would have to buy the bottles like every 1.5- 2.0 months. That will get costly
FWIW, B-ionic sells 4 gallon pails of their 2-part, and at least my LFS takes frags for credit :)
 
Finally, if you decide to use Randys 2-part, keep in mind it is approx half the conc as normal B-Ionic

That only applies to his 2nd receipe. The 1st receipe (using all "Baked" baking soda) is twice as concentrated as the 2nd, and is as concentrated as "store bought" 2 part additives. Raises ph just like them too.
 
Thanks to Crit21 for this...

Here's the cost:

- Excel pure (94% CaCl2) calcium carbonate ice melt: 50# - $16.50 (Sam's Club)
- Arm & Hammer baking soda (for alkalinity mixture): 12# bag - $4.88 (Sam's Club)
- Epsom Salts: 4# - $2.00 (anywhere)

Quantity of each mixture produced:

Mixtures for low (<8.3) pH:
CaCl2 - 54 gallons
Alk mixture - 11 gallons
Magnesium mixture - 1 gallon

High pH (>8.3) mixtures for CaCl2 and Alk are diluted to 50% of the concentrations above. Magnesium sulfate mixture does not change.

Total cost for the ingredients above: $23.38
CaCl2 mixture is $0.30 per gallon plus RO/DI water cost
Alkalinity mixture is $.44 per gallon plus RO/DI water cost
Mg mixture is $.50 per gallon plus RO/DI water cost
 
Yeah, using B-Ionic and dosing 90ml/day like I do will cost a bit but it's easier on the wallet and isn't a big hit like $5-600 for a full calcium reactor purchase.
This way, I can easily spread out my wasting of money. :)
Plus the boss would flip over a $5-600 purchase.

Only problem with B-Ionic is, the 2g containers are outta stock everywhere around here! :(

So I had to buy the 64ml bottles to last me a bit more unitl they get the 2g in stock.

Now, for those using a dosing pump to dose a 2/3 part solution. Do you guys dose Alk in first and then Calc in after that or how are you guys managing that aspect. Since I know ESV has you put in Alk first, let it dissolve, then add in calc.

I think I'll get one of those innovative aquatics pumps soon unless somebody has a better and cheapter alternative.
It's a pain to be dosing 90ml each and every day. lol
 
When you use a dosing pump it doses a drop every few minutes or even longer so it really doesn't matter... :)

-Plus with a two channel doser it's two seperate hoses, one for each part, just keep them seperated.
 
That only applies to his 2nd receipe. The 1st receipe (using all "Baked" baking soda) is twice as concentrated as the 2nd, and is as concentrated as "store bought" 2 part additives.

I dont believe this is true. I use Recipe 1 as well to raise pH. While I certainly didnt do any of the calcuations myself, I did ask Randy directly. He indicated that Recipe 1 was 1/2 as concentrated and Recipe 2 wa 1/4 as concentrated. Here is the thread:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=707177

bsk997-
I dose both parts at the same time. A little bit every hour or every half hour. I have each tube going to a different chamber of the sump

Here's another interesting thread:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=6911944#post6911944
 
I dont believe this is true. I use Recipe 1 as well to raise pH. While I certainly didnt do any of the calcuations myself, I did ask Randy directly. He indicated that Recipe 1 was 1/2 as concentrated and Recipe 2 wa 1/4 as concentrated. Here is the thread:
I did not realize that. I went from using Warner Marine's "Calxmax" 2 part to Randy's 2 part. Used exactly the same amount and all my levels stayed steady. Assumed Calxmax and B-Ionic were the same strength.

Using the Reef Chemistry Calculator, it shows on a 100 gal system with Alk of 8 dkh, it takes 142.8 ml of Randy's 2 part (receipe 1) to increase alk to 10 dkh, while it only takes 96.5 ml of the original B-Ionic to get to 10 dkh. This indicates Randy's formula is only 67.5% as "potent" as B-Ionic.

Calculator link if anyone needs it:
http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chem_calc3.html
 
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