Two part dosing amounts

[azcatsfan]

Okay. I was having some trouble with a second hand reef purchase and I finally have it getting dialed in.
I have a 130 gallon tank with 30-40 gallons in the sump. I will not get in to all of what is in there. I just would like to know what other two part dose users are up to. I am using Bulk Reefs recipe #1.
How much of each are ,you guys that have been doing it for a while, using each day? I would just like to get a mental picture of what you all are using. Is there a formula for day to day use when all is good.
I do know that my ALK goes from 209ppm to 176ppm in a 24 hour time period if I do not dose. The later being where I like it. (9.8dKH)
I also know that the reef calculator is proving to be a very rough guide.
I have a pretty good idea what I am going to need daily now because of many test and trail and error. Really the error part mostly.
I am sitting pretty it seems with 200-300 ml of each supplement each day. Closer to 200 on alk and closer to 300 on Ca. I think the exact is close to 220ml alk and 280 Ca. After 4 days of this my numbers are testing about the same as day one. So just curious about you other two parters. Thanks. Also , I am putting Alk in at night from 10pm till 8am. And ca from 12 noon to 7pm. Dosing it as spread out as possible. Any of you guys just put it in as fast as possible. Never mind. lol.

 

[disc1]

I will not get in to all of what is in there.

But that's the important part. Dosing requirements will be dependent only on what and how much you have living in there.


So it sounds like you know you're consumption rate on alkalinity. Use that to set the dose so that alk stays where you want it and then set the calcium from there.

I would advise you to dose calcium in equal amounts to alk. It's often hard to notice any movement in calcium numbers. But it's easy to figure alk consumption and calcium consumption has to be balanced with that. Often, just looking at the numbers makes it look out of balance, but after dosing the unbalanced amounts for a while you really will have a buildup or lack of calcium.

 

[sneaton]

http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

 

[azcatsfan]

Thanks for the input. When I got the tank the Ca was way to high and stayed way to high for a while. Then all of a sudden it crept down and finally also required dosing. So for a while a was dosing alk only. Realized my mag was a tad low. Got the mag where its good and then the Ca fell down faster and I have to dose way less Alk now and also the need to dose Ca. Right now all my numbers seem good but the ca is just a little low yet and that is why I am dosing a little extra Ca. I was hoping that would be temporary. And I will for sure try your suggestion about equal parts . I am a test hound right now (OCD) so if it messing up at least I will catch it and adjust. So far since Dec 26 till now this tank has made some major strides. All the info I can get is awesome. I would like to avoid the major crash syndrome.

 

[disc1]

In that case, just do an extra single dose or two of calcium to put the number right where you want it. Then dose it based on the alk dose. Over time, it won't drift far. Once you have dosing balanced like that, it gets a lot easier to adjust as you add more stuff to the tank and consumption goes up because you can do it all based on the alk numbers and expect the calcium to be where it's supposed to.

 

[azcatsfan]

David,
So if I were to go adjust my Ca doser to match my Alk doser and just give the Ca some time. That seems like sound advise for me to follow. Because I do have the Alk pretty under control. So I will match my dosing and give it a good couple weeks and see where the Ca is at then.

 

[disc1]

What is the calcium number now? If it needs to come up, then set the dosers the same and hand dose enough to bump it up that one time.

 

[azcatsfan]

Got it. The Ca 370 now. It was 300 3 days ago. Funny because it was 600 on the hanna checker every time for a while. And you would get some goofy looks when I took the water to lfs for testing. O ya, 370 was before I dosed today. So I think I am going to balance my doses as you suggested based of my Alk number and check Ca later. I am sure I most likely bumped ca another 50 ppm today( unless it is slow to react) and now you have me a little worried I may have over dosed slightly. So I am going to wait. Hang tight for a bit and re test ca later . . And everything is looking happy in the tank.