Will B-Ionic cloud water for days?

Y

yogisfriend

New member
I dosed B-Ionic and Reef Solution yesterday, and my water is cloudy today. I was going to purchase Black Diamond carbon at the LFS yesterday, but the owner said that it would take all the B-Ionic and R.S. out--according to him, I may as well not dose anything if I am running carbon, including a kalk drip (I am not doing this yet).

My tank is only a week old. I used Cycle and a cocktail shrimp but never had an ammonia spike--my LR was well-cured. I'm currently running a phosban 150 reactor, a skimmer, and I have a mag drive pump rated at 2400 gph in my sump. SG is 1.025. I tested this morning for alk, but I couldn't get a reading; I am using salifert tests and used the entire syringe of regent without a change in color. I had just added a lot of strong salt solution to raise the SG, so figured I should wait until tomorrow to run my tests.

Is it normal for the tank to be cloudy at this point? Will carbon cancel out the B-Ionic and Reef Solution doses?
 
I used according to LFS direction--I have a 120g with about 130 lbs live rock and 116 lbs of aragonite/fine sand mix. I have a 50g sump. He told me to put a full dosing cap of each in the sump every day, along with three caps of Reef Solution daily to kick-start the coraline growth.
 
When I add the 2-part, it is cloudy directly in the stream where the additive is added but that only lasts about 5 to 10 seconds. It's never enough to make the whole tank cloudy. And I do run carbon all the time. I don't know what Reef Solution is though, can't speak for that. I've not had problems getting coralline going, that stuff grows like mad in my tanks without adding anything to boost it!
 
Carbon won't 'take out' alkalinity or calcium added by a 2-part supplement. I'd look for a different LFS that understands the hobby better.
 
I added the Ionic to the sump as per LFS direction--would that cloud the entire tank? They told me to never, ever put an additive directly into the tank. It was clear until this morning.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6937693#post6937693 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cw150
Carbon won't 'take out' alkalinity or calcium added by a 2-part supplement. I'd look for a different LFS that understands the hobby better.
Click to expand...
I agree...That's basic knowledge of the hobby, and if that LFS said that, I'd find a new one.
 
Thanks cw150. I have read many posts from those who run carbon constantly. That's why I was wondering. Other than this point, they have been right on with everything. They have (4) 500 gal reef tanks that are beautiful and give advice by what works for them. According to them, you can't get better filtration than that you get from rock, sand, coral, and good water movement.
 
catdoc, how much B-Ionic do you dose? As I said, I put in a full dosing cap of each. Was that too much? Your tank is slightly bigger than mine.
 
you need to check your levels using a good test kit immediately and keep checking them (at least weekly) so that you know if you are adding the correct amount of the 2 part or not.

Not trying to sound like a jerk but the instructions are right there on the bottle, follow them. I would find myself another store to deal with.

This website is invaluable. Get your answers here if there is no other store around and don't listen to another thing those people tell you. You can always order stuff from the internet and hopefully there are people near you to get frags from.

I started out adding less than 5 cc's per day and my tank is half the size of yours. The size of the tank really has no meaning here. IF you don't have corals absorbing the alk and calcium then it wouldn't go down. You add this stuff according to how much your corals are using not how big your tank is.

You could have easily killed everything in your tank with the advice they gave you.
 
"I had just added a lot of strong salt solution to raise the SG"

What specificly does this mean? I have a feeling it is the source of your problem.
 
I'm actually using the recipe from Randy for 3-part additive.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php
I'm not dosing kalk right now, but for B-ionic I'd probably be dosing at least 2 dosing cups per day. I am currently adding 3 dosing cups (are they 30cc each, I forget) of Randy's on the alk and calcium. I've got a pretty big sump, my total water volume is around 230 gal. I need to get a calcium or kalk reactor, just haven't gotten to it yet.
 
CeeGee, Thanks for the advice. I did read the instructions--the LFS gave me advice based on the fact that I have nothing in the tank yet and had asked about coraline growth. The water volume doesn't matter? I don't know anyone else with a reef tank and my town is very small--no sw clubs within 60 miles.

Craig, my SG was way low, so I mixed this morning to get it up to 1.025.

catdoc, yes, the dosing cups are 30 cc. If you are dosing 2/day, I don't understand why one would have clouded my tank--except that I have nothing to use it. I guess I need a calc reactor as well. I'll check out Randy's thread.

I had hoped to get nitrites to 0 before doing a water change, but guess I will do one today. Nitrites are just above 1 and nitrates are 50.
 
I think the salt may have clouded your tank. You should let salt and RODI water mix overnight at the very minimum before adding it to the tank. ( A couple of days is better). What type of salt mix are you using? And what are you using to measure SG? If you followed the salt mix directions, your SG may have been a bit low, but but not lower than 1.022-23. (A refractometer is a great investment).

When you raised SG this morning, how did you go about it?
 
I usually let my salt/ro water mix for at least 3 days before adding to my 80g during water changes. I was just trying to get the SG up in the 120. I have a refractometer.

This morning I just mixed a very strong solution in a bucket until dissolved and added it to my sump a little at a time. I mixed heavy to bring up what was in the tank (1.020) to 1.025.

So, if it is the salt mix, the cloudiness will go away? I just checked PH, which is 8.4.

Is there a gizmo like a refractometer for alk and calc? I hate the test kits.
 
The coraline will come on its own. No need to use any tricks. The only trick is to give it time to grow.
 
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