BRS 2-part vs. ESV B-ionic

[rkpetersen]

The B-Ionic ships in incompletely filled jugs, presumably to save weight and shipping costs. You fill each jug to a line with RO water, and mix. The calcium component mixes easily. The alk component may have a large mass of crunchy calcium hydroxide precipitate on the bottom, and it can take quite a bit of shaking and/or waiting and/or heating under a faucet to get it all properly dissolved.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Was surprise at first to discover the B-Ionic ships in liquid form that is already mixed. Guess it saves a little time, but will take up a little more space on the fish storage to keep gallons of liquids instead of smaller dry mix in a corner. I know I know.. really? lol. I would be interested in a dry mix that I would add water myself, but I understand the key to the potency is that the manufacture is able to super saturate it so to speak where you can't achieve if you were to mix yourself. Pros Cons.

It’s harder to make a dry mix uniform than to make a solution uniform. I do not know how much of an issue that is relative to the added difficulty of making highly concentrated solutions at home, but I expect that when the folks at places like ESV decide whether to provide a dry mix vs a concentrate, the concentrate won out for reasons like this.

 

[drawman]

Thanks for the thread guys. I’m switching to ESV as well and the conversion will be helpful!

 

[roberthu526]

OK, I just used BRS' reef calculator, and their alk concentration is 1.89 meq/ml. So you would need 0.675 times as much B-Ionic as what you're currently using in BRS. 14.85 ml. More or less.

I just did a calculation the other day and I got every 1ml of ESV =1.44ml of BRS Solution.
ESV tells you the concentration on the bottle so it’s easy to calculate.

 

[Saltyanimals]

Older thread Resurrected .

I never made the switch, but went AF 123 instead about a month back. It’s still stabilizing but using about the same dose as I was with BRS at 192ml/daily alk on a 75g. Reason I consider BI was for the high concentration vs BRS. Went AF thinking the same and discovered it’s about the same potency as BRS. Since I’m already on it will give balling it a chance.

 

[pecan2phat]

The ESV gallon jugs only last about 40 days for me, I'm tempted to try their 4g buckets but am terrified on mixing the alkalinity part. The gallon jug is already such a PITA to get fully dissolved, can't imagine trying to shake a 4g bucket for any prolonged length of time.
Wonder if you can drop a small powerhead in there?

 

[rc1626]

The ESV gallon jugs only last about 40 days for me, I'm tempted to try their 4g buckets but am terrified on mixing the alkalinity part. The gallon jug is already such a PITA to get fully dissolved, can't imagine trying to shake a 4g bucket for any prolonged length of time.
Wonder if you can drop a small powerhead in there?

I'm sure you can along with a small heater as well. With the gallon jugs in the past I'd sit the jug next to my halide ballast in the cabinet. Once it warmed up it dissolved pretty easily.

 

[Hitman]

The ESV gallon jugs only last about 40 days for me, I'm tempted to try their 4g buckets but am terrified on mixing the alkalinity part. The gallon jug is already such a PITA to get fully dissolved, can't imagine trying to shake a 4g bucket for any prolonged length of time.
Wonder if you can drop a small powerhead in there?

I’m in the same boat as you. I’ll fill you in on a trick this old fart does lol. I fill the bucket with my rodi water and take it to the local hardware store and ask them to put it in their paint can mixer for a few minutes! Lol

 

[Saltyanimals]

The powerhead idea is a good one. Throw a trusty MJ in there and let it run for an hour. I've tried a paint stir drill bit head, but I think that's overkill considering water is nowhere as thick as paint. Besides I wouldn't want to stand there and burn out a drill doing this continuously for 30 mins.

 

[pecan2phat]

Do you guys know if the 4g bucket has a lid like a salt bucket that can be opened or is it just a spout on top?
If removable, what are your thoughts on corrosive results on using a powerhead?

 

[Sea MunnKey]

For the ESV 4 gallon concentrated bucket ... it's stated with some heat it'll slowly melt the harden calcium hydroxide on the bottom. My lazy method is to grab a clean (the bigger the better) PVC pipe and smash the crunchy calcium hydroxide in up and down movement until they're all dissolved. I've done this numerous times ...

 

[Hitman]

They are removable, a pain but yes. I personally wouldn’t put anything in there because the ph is so high. I’ll let someone with more experience say for sure on that.

 

[Sea MunnKey]

Do you guys know if the 4g bucket has a lid like a salt bucket that can be opened or is it just a spout on top?
If removable, what are your thoughts on corrosive results on using a powerhead?

It has a removable top and a additional spout opening (I think ...).

 

[Sea MunnKey]

Or place it on top of your floor vent inside your home (if you have a heated furnace unit). Works that way too.

 

[User1]

The 4 gallon sounds rather, well, interesting to mix. What does the manufacture say to do - I'm just wondering and is this a one time deal or does it settle down again over time. The way I see it is you are buying a larger supply to last longer and ease up on your maintenance. If it in turn requires you to bi-weekly or something similar mix it then larger supply or not I'd have to pass.

 

[don_chuwish]

I use the 1 gallon jugs and just by adding the RO water and letting it sit somewhere warm (heater vent in winter) it eventually dissolves. Give it a few days, occasionally shaking a little cuz I can’t resist.

 

[Hitman]

The 4 gallon sounds rather, well, interesting to mix. What does the manufacture say to do - I'm just wondering and is this a one time deal or does it settle down again over time. The way I see it is you are buying a larger supply to last longer and ease up on your maintenance. If it in turn requires you to bi-weekly or something similar mix it then larger supply or not I'd have to pass.

They just say to mix it. Once you get it all mixed that’s it, you don’t have to mix it again. The ALK is the only one when you first get it you have to worry about having clumps in it you need to break up, the CA you just add rodi water to it and mix/shake for a few minutes once and that’s it as well.

 

[User1]

They just say to mix it. Once you get it all mixed that’s it, you don’t have to mix it again. The ALK is the only one when you first get it you have to worry about having clumps in it you need to break up, the CA you just add rodi water to it and mix/shake for a few minutes once and that’s it as well.

Ok - thanks. I've never used it but it is one of the products that I wanted to use after my tank matures more and there is a steady cycle of the elements being used. Right now water changes are managing everything but I'd wager once things start growing and I add more I'll see signs of use and want to add.

Thanks again.

 

[drawman]

For the one gallon jug of alk I placed it in a 5 gallon bucket with some warm/hot water and shook it up every 15 mins or so until it dissolved. Worked well but obviously wouldn't work for the bigger containers.

 

[rkpetersen]

As mentioned, the best way to dissolve the B-Ionic alk is to mix it up and then just give it time. I buy enough at a time that there's always a couple jugs that have been mixed for several weeks at least. They're all dissolved. When I first started using it, I put the contained in a sink filled with hot water, and shook it up every once in awhile. That method took a couple hours for everything to fully dissolve.