2-Part Dosing Questions

[RedSea500MaxS]

I am using Fritz 2-Part Dosing with Apex DOS, about to connect to Trident. I manually dose Mg.

Questions:

My Red Sea Max S 500 (100 gal) mixed reef Alkalinity stays at 8.4 with 34ML per day spread over 24 hours. But my Ca stays at 440 with only 14ml per day. Is that ok, I always heard dose them the same???

Also, my Mg demand seems to be going up every month. I maintain 1350, but would like to increase to 1380??? Any novel ways to dose Mg without adding another pump? In top off water etc.

Thoughts from reef experts please.

 

[sde1500]

My alk and calcium dosing is not balanced either. I think in perfect theory,the two would be dosed in equal parts, but in real world cases it is generally not balanced dosing.

 

[homer1475]

Unequal additions of 2 part is fine. I add alkalinity daily, but my CAL doesn't drop enough to be of a concern until my weekly WC.

As far as your mag goes, either add another dosing head, or add it by hand. I suppose you could add it to your topoff, but evaporation rates change daily, and there would be no way to accuralty calculate how much to add to your ATO container.

 

[Brew12]

I am using Fritz 2-Part Dosing with Apex DOS, about to connect to Trident. I manually dose Mg.

Questions:

My Red Sea Max S 500 (100 gal) mixed reef Alkalinity stays at 8.4 with 34ML per day spread over 24 hours. But my Ca stays at 440 with only 14ml per day. Is that ok, I always heard dose them the same???

Also, my Mg demand seems to be going up every month. I maintain 1350, but would like to increase to 1380??? Any novel ways to dose Mg without adding another pump? In top off water etc.

Thoughts from reef experts please.

It's not unusual for Alk demand to be a little higher than Calc demand, especially in newer systems. I've never added Mg other than manually or with a dosing pump. Not sure why an ATO wouldn't work.

 

[RedSea500MaxS]

Unequal additions of 2 part is fine. I add alkalinity daily, but my CAL doesn't drop enough to be of a concern until my weekly WC.

As far as your mag goes, either add another dosing head, or add it by hand. I suppose you could add it to your topoff, but evaporation rates change daily, and there would be no way to accuralty calculate how much to add to your ATO container.

Thanks. My tank is in very controlled environment on my office building so it is like clockwork on Top Off...7gal a week, plus or minus 1/2 gal. I know my reservoir is 7.5 gal in my Reefer tank. I am adding up my Mg dose for the week, and will add that (less a little to be safe) to top off RODI next week to try. Will report results in a month.

 

[RedSea500MaxS]

I upgraded lights from LED Hydras adding T-5 dimmable Blue/Blue ATI bulbs plus Reef Brite XHO Actinic strip. Same combo I heard WWC, Budman Corals and BRS used in their recent AMAZING tanks. Hope to phase Hydras out as my past results with t-5s and Actinic LEDs were far more reliable.

BIG QUESTION....should I upgrade from 2-Part dosing to Calcium Reactor? That is last change to get back to my old tank that did so well for so long, over new technologies that have been ok but not as great???

My tank is small, so cost for 1-Part is near nothing. But I want "best" results for my corals. Two part is staying very steady, but am I missing other components that come from calc reactor? or not worth the $ and headaches of a reactor.

THANK YOU.

 

[AJsReef]

I upgraded lights from LED Hydras adding T-5 dimmable Blue/Blue ATI bulbs plus Reef Brite XHO Actinic strip. Same combo I heard WWC, Budman Corals and BRS used in their recent AMAZING tanks. Hope to phase Hydras out as my past results with t-5s and Actinic LEDs were far more reliable.

BIG QUESTION....should I upgrade from 2-Part dosing to Calcium Reactor? That is last change to get back to my old tank that did so well for so long, over new technologies that have been ok but not as great???

My tank is small, so cost for 1-Part is near nothing. But I want "best" results for my corals. Two part is staying very steady, but am I missing other components that come from calc reactor? or not worth the $ and headaches of a reactor.

THANK YOU.

Do a cost/benefit analysis for your usage case. How much are you spending daily on 2part vs upstart cost of the CaRx you want. It is purely a convenience thing if you aren’t being overwhelmed by 2part. No reason you can’t have equal stability especially if you’re auto dosing throughout the day with a DOS