SPS'ers that use Randy's 2 part

[Wiskey]

To all the SPS tank owners that use Randy's 2 part, could you please post how much you use dailey to maintain your ALK and CA? Could you also post your tank size, and at what levels you keep your ALK and CA?

I just fixed a problem with my tank and found I now have to dose 35 ML CA, and 20 ML alk per day to maintain 9.0 DKH and 425 CA in my 50G sps tank full of frags. This sounds quite high, and I am trying to get a feel for how it compairs to others.

Thanks,
Whiskey

 

[Wiskey]

Oh, and please also post if you use resipe one or two.

Thanks,
Whiskey

 

[Raska23]

Whiskey, I have been dosing Randy's 2 part (recipe 1) in my 55 gallon reef (55 AGA, 6g sump, 6 gal fuge). I have 4 sps colonies and two clams. SPS are as follows: 1 1.5 in frag, 2 small fist size colonies, and one partially grown out frag ~3in w/branches. The clams are 3 and 2 inches. Obviously I have a pretty small load on the system.

I dose 15ml of each per day. Recently a little more of the Alk to get the levels back to 3.5 meq/L.

I am maintaining ca at 420 ppm and alk at 3.5 meq/L. I test cal and alk 1/week. It is not going up so I would assume I am not overdoing it.

All of my reef inhabitants are growing. Hope this helps you, doesn't sound to me like you are dosing too much....

good luck

 

[Wiskey]

[welcome]

Thanks for the reply, so maybe 35 ML is not so rediculus after all.

Whiskey

 

[kirstenk]

Hey James,

I don't think you are out of line. I used the calculator with your numbers and your usage seems in line to me.

I use Randy's suggested products (dow and baked soda) but I don't make a brew. I put the baking soda in my top off and dose appx. 6 TSP dow. With my 170g total volumn, it raises CA appx. 12ppm.. I put 20TSP of the soda into the topoff that last appx. 4 days, so appx. 5 TSP daily. Guess I'm balanced. Great how that works!

 

[fragaholic]

Does Randy's 2 part compare to bionic in how much is dosed? I ask because I am using 60ml of both 1 and 2 part bionic and I thought that was a lot for a 55. I will be making Randys 2 part recipe soon (group buy of mag and dow flake). Good question Wiskey,this will take care of a little guesswork when adding Randys to my 55.

Sorry, hope im not hijacking.

 

[kevensquint]

My 2-part is (second recipe) dosed automaticaly with a aqua-medic reefdoser twin. So daily I don't know how much it doses, but I use about 1 gallon/10 days of the Alk mix and about half of that for the Ca mix. My params are rock-steady at Alk 9 DKH and Ca 420ppm.

 

[Mike O'Brien]

Wiskey I use 90 ml of calcium and 120 ml of alkalinity. Plus 24/7 limewater. 58 gallon tank. Same param's as you. Calcium reactor goes in next wednesday. My lfs uses 60 gallon frag tank's. Before they had reactor's they were using 200 ml of b-ionic a day, so for a 50 full of frag's 35 ml isn't much at all.

Seriously my demand's went up after BB not down, I don't know why some are using less, but for me the chore is almost over.

 

[CaptainDave]

I'm using 45 mL of B-Ionic daily in my 55, and that is in addition to kalk as topoff water!

My alk is ~8 dKH, and Ca is ~350 ppm.

Do you guys think I should try to up those, especially the Ca? I have mostly SPS, and they're all growing.

Thanks.

 

[Mike O'Brien]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7122998#post7122998 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fragaholic
Does Randy's 2 part compare to bionic in how much is dosed? I ask because I am using 60ml of both 1 and 2 part bionic and I thought that was a lot for a 55. I will be making Randys 2 part recipe soon (group buy of mag and dow flake). Good question Wiskey,this will take care of a little guesswork when adding Randys to my 55.

Sorry, hope im not hijacking.

You can use randy's reef chemistry calculator to compare doses. It will be more with the home made version.

 

[CaptainDave]

ah ok, Mike is making me think I might just need to up my dosage. I'm probably going to try Randy's two-part when I run out of B-Ionic.

 

[gizmo7718]

I dose Randy's recipe #1, about 120 ml of each per day (60 in the morning, 60 at night). I have a 46 gallon mixed reef. SPS on top half (many large colonies and some frags), LPS and softies on the bottom. I also have 3 clams (2 croceas and 1 derasa). I used to dose about half this amount when using B-ionic, until I found out that Randy's recipe #1 is almost half as concentrated as B-ionic. No wonder my calc and alk levels dropped to 380 and 8dKH, respectively. Now my levels are stable again at 430ppm and 11dKH.
One note to the OP, I don't think you should be dosing different amounts of each. This is a balanced formula that should be dosed in equal amounts.

 

[jay24k]

I used to use Randy's recipe before I got a calcium reactor. I dosed 2/3 cup up to a cup of calcium and 2 tablespoons of baking soda a day. If I didn't dose that much it would drop very quickly. I have several clams and my corals grow very quickly.

 

[Froggy]

On my 75 gallon mixed reef with a few SPS colonies, many frags, and a HUGE frogspawn ( about 2 feet accross ) I dose about 140 ml of Randys 2 part recipe #1 daily. 70 ML in the morning and 70 ml in the evening. I also drip 1 gallon of Kalk overnight. I was dumping a lot of $$ when I was using B-ionic. Much better cost wise with the DIY recipe now.

My parameters stay stable at...

Alkalinity 8.3 DKH

Calcium 460 PPM

Magnesium 1365 PPM.

 

[Wiskey]

Thanks for the replys all, it looks like I am fine. I forgot to add I also EVAP 3 gallons per day, and dose all topoff water through a Kalk Reactor/autotopoff.

My demand keeps going up too, I wonder how far it will go? Now that I see people dosing 100+ ML I am really thinking I need to get a bigger seringe for dosing. My little 20ML seringe just won't cut it at those levels :lol: .

I will keep checking back for further posts.

Thanks,
Whiskey

 

[Im SpSing]

hey guys,

ive heard a lot about this stuff but i dont really know what it is except it's similar to bionic. how much should i dose for my tank with a total water volume of 45g? i have 10 2-3" size frags.

Ryan

 

[pangea]

125gl-mostly SPS frags and some larger hard LPS

half baking soda and half washing soda
Peladow
118ml=4oz per day each all in the am 30 min apart

alk 3-3.5 meq/L
Ca 435-450
Mg 1350

Wages pickling lime for limewater topoff, aprox 1gl/day

 

[Redfish]

225 gallon heavy sps tank.

Randys Part 1 at slightly less than full strength.

Dosing somewhere between 500-600ml of each per day and steadily rising. Dosed with twin doser. I make 3 gallons at a time.

Alk 9.5
Calcium 430

 

[jackson6745]

Redfish do you have a sandbed?

 

[marilynrn711]

On my 90 w a large clam and numerous sps colonies, I am dosing 120 each part daily. I sometimes need to dose more ca recently and have had to dose more alk in the past.
I try to keep my parameters around 410 ca and 3 alk. I dose part 1.
I need to start making up more than 1 gal each at a time as always running out.
I found the best way to mix the baking soda is with one of those hand held food blenders. They are used to puree stuff. It really chops up the clumps of baking soda.