2Part Dosing

[kiMxD]

Hello Guys,

I am trying to decide which 2(or 3 or 4)-Part Dosing is the best to use? What is your opinion?
Definition of best would be: simple to use (I do have a 4-head dosing pump ready for it); economic and stable.

Let me know what are your thoughts please. I am leaning towards ESV B-Ionic...

Thanks!

 

[rkpetersen]

I use B-Ionic and do recommend it. Many people buy the powders from BRS and mix up their own.

 

[kiMxD]

Thanks for your input. My alk drops from 8.0 to 7.6 in a week. I wonder if I should start getting ready to dose, hence why I made this thread... What are your thoughts?

 

[rkpetersen]

If it's dropping consistently and you have growing stony corals, you should start supplementing, either with 2 part and a doser or kalkwasser and a reactor or ATO.

Manual dosing is okay to start but one of the happiest days of my reefing life was when I got a doser.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Your alk drop 0.4 dKh in a week....

Sounds like a lightly stocked tank of hard corals. If it were me, the simplest would be to add calcium hydroxide (kalk) to you ATO water. Mix 1 teaspoon for each gallon of ATO water. Eventually this won't be able to keep up with demand, and you'll have to either supplement with 2-part or go fully to 2 part.

You can buy calcium hydroxide at a number of places, but the easiest for me is Mrs. Wages Pickling Lime....available at WalMart.

 

[dwest]

A

Your alk drop 0.4 dKh in a week....

Sounds like a lightly stocked tank of hard corals. If it were me, the simplest would be to add calcium hydroxide (kalk) to you ATO water. Mix 1 teaspoon for each gallon of ATO water. Eventually this won't be able to keep up with demand, and you'll have to either supplement with 2-part or go fully to 2 part.

You can buy calcium hydroxide at a number of places, but the easiest for me is Mrs. Wages Pickling Lime....available at WalMart.

Agree with recommendations so far. But, if you use kalk (and I would), start slow like about 1/4 tsp per gallon of ato water, then monitor alkalinity and adjust kalk from there.

 

[kiMxD]

Thank you guys. I ordered the ESV B-Ionic, will start dosing friday. Any recommended amount?

 

[Vahanyos]

I use ESV 2 part and I am very happy with the results. I would highly recommend it. It also helps keep mg stable, and also doses minor trace elements too.

How big is your tank? It doesn't look like you are using up a lot of alk. My tank drops that low in a single day if I don't dose. I would start with 1ml a day and test the same time every day and monitor it for at least a week. If you notice your alk dropping still, than up the dose to 2ml a day. Rinse and repeat until you reach your target area where your alk is staying constant at the desired number.

That's how I started doing it, and it worked out perfect. I have a 42g and I started dosing 3ml a day, and now I am at 12ml a day to keep my alk around 7.8 to 8

As long as you dose the 2 part in equal amounts your Ca and Mg should also stay stable. I don't test for Ca and Mg anymore, but every time I would they would always be the same. I also heard that if you do not dose this 2 part in equal amounts, your parameters may give you funky numbers. I have dosed a little more of the Ca solution some times with no adverse effects (about 2ml more than the Alk component) in an attempt to increase my Ca. But I stopped and just continued to do them in equal parts.

Only thing I would like to get more information on regarding this 2 part is what the actual numbers in ppm are that it increases it in case I decide to change it...

 

[kiMxD]

I use ESV 2 part and I am very happy with the results. I would highly recommend it. It also helps keep mg stable, and also doses minor trace elements too.

How big is your tank? It doesn't look like you are using up a lot of alk. My tank drops that low in a single day if I don't dose. I would start with 1ml a day and test the same time every day and monitor it for at least a week. If you notice your alk dropping still, than up the dose to 2ml a day. Rinse and repeat until you reach your target area where your alk is staying constant at the desired number.

That's how I started doing it, and it worked out perfect. I have a 42g and I started dosing 3ml a day, and now I am at 12ml a day to keep my alk around 7.8 to 8

As long as you dose the 2 part in equal amounts your Ca and Mg should also stay stable. I don't test for Ca and Mg anymore, but every time I would they would always be the same. I also heard that if you do not dose this 2 part in equal amounts, your parameters may give you funky numbers. I have dosed a little more of the Ca solution some times with no adverse effects (about 2ml more than the Alk component) in an attempt to increase my Ca. But I stopped and just continued to do them in equal parts.

Only thing I would like to get more information on regarding this 2 part is what the actual numbers in ppm are that it increases it in case I decide to change it...

My tank is 120g and 110g (2 tanks). 120g is 1.5 years old and 110g is only 6 mo old. I dont have a lot of corals in them because I lost some recently and decided to get the tank params stable before adding anything new...

 

[rkpetersen]

Thanks for your input. My alk drops from 8.0 to 7.6 in a week. I wonder if I should start getting ready to dose, hence why I made this thread... What are your thoughts?

This rate corresponds to 0.057 dKH per day. Let's assume that you have 100 gallons circulating.
Using this calculator, your dosage of ESV BI should be 2.7 ml of each component per day.
That's a very small amount, you can easily dose that by hand.
Keep testing and adjust up or down as needed.