What exactly is 2-part???

[Mordoff]

Alright so Im kind of a newbie especially when it comes to sps but I see everyone talking about dosing 2-part. What does this exactly mean? Is it a special brand of supplements or are you just getting two supplements of your choice and dosing them at the same time?

 

[dvanacker]

This isnt exactly an SPS related question but I will help you out. 2 part is 2 part alkalinity and calcium dosing (replenishment). You can purchase a product like bionic 2 part or you can DIY.

search: Randy's improved DIY 2 part . Also a good place for the chems needed is bulkreefsupply.

 

[Froggy]

2 part is one part alkalinity supplement and one part calcium supplement added seperately from each other to maintain levels. Usually there is an occasional 3rd part - magnesium that is also added occasionally.

You can use pre-made solutions like B-ionic or C-balance etc or save a lot of money and use one of the homemade solutions. You can find the recipe from Randy Holmes-Farley in the chemistry section of this site.

 

[Amphiprion]

It's actually an exceedingly simple, convenient system of dosing equivalent amounts of calcium and carbonate/bicarbonate ions--both of which are needed for calcification, which produces calcium carbonate. For the homemade version, each part only contains one ingredient--calcium chloride for the calcium part and sodium bicarbonate (or sodium carbonate, depending) for the alkalinity part. You'll also notice that in the homemade version there's a third part. This is a solution of magnesium, consisting of magnesium chloride or magnesium sulfate (or a combined solution of both, which is what I use). That's it. Adding these makes maintaining adequate levels of calcium and alkalinity easy and more convenient than some other methods, at least for me. Some proprietary versions will have more in them, though, or at least the chemicals used may be more impure to include "more" in them (like various trace metals, etc.). All of them work, though.