??? Randy's 2 part recipe ???

[fishhaven]

After making each of the 2 parts. Would 100 mls of each part in 2 gallons of RO+DI make up water per day be sufficient for a 125 gal tank plus 25 gal for sump and refugium?

Can both parts be added to the makeup water or do I have to add them to my tank seperately?

Also do I need to store each part seperatley?
My calcium is now at 450
Alk 3.5
PH 7.9

My PH runs low because I have 6 people in my home. Can't get rid of any for a few more years, unless the wife would be willing to leave sooner.

Thanks for any help.

 

[PatMayo]

I don't know how to answer that. This is what I did.

First off you need to store them separately. You can't mix the 2 components together, but you can in ro/di water if you want before you add it to the tank. (I don't think it will precipitate at your amounts but Randy could answer that.)

Second, I have a 90 gallon with a 30 gallon sump. I figure that my total gallonage is 105 gallons less rock and sand displacement etc.

I was dosing 120 ml each day of both parts of the number 1 formula as you are going to do. My ph runs low as well. I dosed 1/2 in the am and the other 1/2 in the pm.

I didn't mix it with ro/di, I just added it to my sump and then topped off manually with ro/di once per day. Now I dose limewater with a pump 24/7 so the amount I dose has gone down a lot.

You really need to play it by ear. You need to determine how much alkalinity and calcium your tank is using. The only way to do this is the test once per week or so. I actually tested the alkalinity every other day until I figured out the tank usage. If you don't had a lot of coralline yet or corals your usage may not be that great. If you have a lot of both you may have to dose more.

To give you a benchmark take a look at my tank. This tank has been up for 109 days now and as you can see the coralline is growing like mad but I don't have any corals yet.

I hope this helps just a little bit.

Here is the link.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=780206&perpage=25&pagenumber=6

Look at the difference between page 6 coralline and page 7 coralline, big difference.

Regards,

Pat

 

[mg426]

As pat has suggested Its really a case by case situation. You can start with a given volume of the two part. Test every day untill you get a feel for how your levels are responding. Helps to keep a log untill you get it figured out. Adjust your levels as needed. Use the calculator to get a idea of how much to add. You need to keep the two parts in seperate containers untill you add it to your system. I am adding 90ml per day in my 125. My alk runs around 10.4 and my ca around 435. What are you using to measure PH. A monitor is the way to go for sure. Is the 7.9 reading lights on or off? How much of a drop are you getting overnight?? It takes a bit of trial and error, but you will figure it out. You can run the airline to you skimmer outside to pull in O/S air. That can help with the PH. what were you using prior to Randys recipe ??

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Can both parts be added to the makeup water or do I have to add them to my tank seperately?

The two parts must be kept separate until highly diluted in tank water, not fresh water. Otherwise, calcium carbonate will precipitate. That is why they are two part systems.

As to dosing amounts, trial and error based on maintaining alkalinity is the way to figure the dose, IMO.

 

[fishhaven]

Thanks, Randy.
BTW if I overdose, your article says to sit back and wait. Would increasing the evaporation rate help? how much would be too much, thus requiring a large water change? and what would happen if there was no water change?

 

[jdieck]

As a good staring point, to know your alkalinity and calcium consumption you can stop adding any supplements for three days, test at the begining of the test and then test at the same time of day after three days, divide the drop by three and that will be your daily consumption.
Use the calculator to determine how much of the receipe you need to add of each Ca and Alkalinity for a daily consumption.

Very large overdose may create a "snow effect" of precipitation acompanied by a sudden drop in alkalinity. Slight overdose will just slowly precipitate dropping the levels to normal.

 

[fishhaven]

How would a large overdose affect fish and other livestock? Like, say your Alk reached 20 ?

 

[jdieck]

20 is way high, IMO it will depend on the potential sudden change of PH due to sudden precipitation. If it is accompanied with a drastic drop in PH it may kill the critters.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Is it 20 dKH, or is this a theoretical question?

Evaporation rate is unrelated to the dosing of the two part.