Brs 2 part

[austin55]

I'm a little confused as to how to get my levels back to normal using brs 2 part my current levels are
180g display 210g total
Alk 6.8
Ca 320
Mg 1280

Ive been having problems wit my alk it's been lower than 6 last week. I have the brs 2 part which comes wit alk, ca, and mag(which makes no sense to me why it's called 2 part of there's 3 parts lol). But I've been dosing only alk(100ml a day). I've put my levels into the brs calculators but they seem to be way over. Need help thank you

 

[Downbeach]

Start with getting your SG right, I would suggest 1.026 if its a reef tank. What are you using to measure it with? If it's a swing arm type hydrometer, or a mis/non calibrated device, causing you may add too much/little salt mix and by extension too much/little of those elements as well. What salt mix are you using? It's not uncommon to have to add only the alk portion due to the fact, that your load may not be enough to need the Ca and Mg, because your WC's are adding enough of those elements to keep up. Your alk is used at a ratio of about 5 parts of alk to every 2 parts of Ca, i.e. 2.4 dKH (50ppm) to every 20 ppm of Ca, and there is less alk in reserve in your system to begin with. Here's another calculator I think will work fine. Just fill in the blanks for your system, and select Randy's recipe #1 from the drop down menu's for each of your solutions to get your dose.

 

[Lynn52]

Not sure what you mean by "I've put my levels into the brs calculators but they seem to be way over". Are you using the correct units.

 

[austin55]

Dosing over 2000ml seems insane

 

[kbourque]

That might be about right will take about 3/4 of one of the cups they give you

 

[Lynn52]

I get it. If you look to the side of the calculation it tells you how to calculate how much you can safely add each day. It seems like a lot but you also have a big tank. I think you can raise calcium by 50 ppm per day so split it in half and add over 2 days.

 

[austin55]

The cups they send you wit are 100ml ten of those just seems to be a lot lol.

 

[Lynn52]

I bought a set of measuring cups from Walmart that had metric markings that I use just for measuring 2 part.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I'm a little confused as to how to get my levels back to normal using brs 2 part my current levels are
180g display 210g total
Alk 6.8
Ca 320
Mg 1280

Ive been having problems wit my alk it's been lower than 6 last week. I have the brs 2 part which comes wit alk, ca, and mag(which makes no sense to me why it's called 2 part of there's 3 parts lol). But I've been dosing only alk(100ml a day). I've put my levels into the brs calculators but they seem to be way over. Need help thank you

Since I invented it, I'll take the blame for calling it a two part.

But one reason it is called that is because the magnesium part need not be added nearly as often as the other parts.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Dosing over 2000ml seems insane

I would not add it all at once over concern for impurities in the additive. I'd boost it be perhaps 25 ppm per day for several days.

Then when calcium is where you want it, use the two parts in equal amounts to maintain alkalinity.

Then make smaller tweaks to calcium up or down if it seems to be trending to get higher or lower.

 

[NanaReefer]

May I add that you need to consider the "actual water volume" NOT the tank size. Sand & rock displace a fair amount of water alone.
Example: my DT & Sump are a 40B/20L sump=60g. Actual water volume=47g after displacement. I dose accordingly.

 

[austin55]

I would not add it all at once over concern for impurities in the additive. I'd boost it be perhaps 25 ppm per day for several days.

Then when calcium is where you want it, use the two parts in equal amounts to maintain alkalinity.

Then make smaller tweaks to calcium up or down if it seems to be trending to get higher or lower.

Ok I did a 30g water change this morning let everything run for a while then tested again I got
Ca 340-350
Alk 8.1-8.4
Mg 1200
So I dosed only Ca tonight based on what you said by doing ca. Once my ca is where I want it I'll go from there. Right?

To get to 420 for Ca it says around 1400 ml so I split the in half for tonight and tomorrow night.

 

[austin55]

May I add that you need to consider the "actual water volume" NOT the tank size. Sand & rock displace a fair amount of water alone.
Example: my DT & Sump are a 40B/20L sump=60g. Actual water volume=47g after displacement. I dose accordingly.

My display is 180 sump is 55. No idea the amount of rock or sand and the sump has different chambers at different water leaves. My guess is 200 for the total water volume.

 

[marke]

A question. What type of test kit are you using for mag? Whats the date on the box? I ask because it sounds like your percipitating ca and Kh. Thats why you may be dosing much more than your corals are actually consuming. Mag helps reduce this percipitation. If you have an old test kit, and say your off 15% due to it. Then your 12oo might really be 1050 ppm or at least at some level below NSW 1280. My suggestion is get mag tested, or just raise mag from your 1200 to 1300. This may stop the percipitation.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Ok I did a 30g water change this morning let everything run for a while then tested again I got
Ca 340-350
Alk 8.1-8.4
Mg 1200
So I dosed only Ca tonight based on what you said by doing ca. Once my ca is where I want it I'll go from there. Right?

To get to 420 for Ca it says around 1400 ml so I split the in half for tonight and tomorrow night.

Sounds reasonable.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

A question. What type of test kit are you using for mag? Whats the date on the box? I ask because it sounds like your percipitating ca and Kh. Thats why you may be dosing much more than your corals are actually consuming. Mag helps reduce this percipitation. If you have an old test kit, and say your off 15% due to it. Then your 12oo might really be 1050 ppm or at least at some level below NSW 1280. My suggestion is get mag tested, or just raise mag from your 1200 to 1300. This may stop the percipitation.

Why does it sound like precipitation?

Low calcium at normal alkalinity is not a sign of precipitation.

 

[austin55]

I retested last night my levels after dosing 600ml ca two nights in a row were
Ca 410
Alk 8.7
Mg 1400
I dosed 200ml ca to raise to 420 and 180ml Alk to raise to 10dkh. I will retest tonight to see were I'm at

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Those values seem fine.

 

[austin55]

Those values seem fine.

Once I get my values the way I want them what is a good starting point to dose daily? If I dose 100ml of alk do I match that wit Ca?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Once I get my values the way I want them what is a good starting point to dose daily? If I dose 100ml of alk do I match that wit Ca?

Whatever you need to dose daily to maintain alk, do the same with calcium. Then over a longer period of time, watch to see if calcium is slowly rising or falling, and adjust it as needed.

As the the starting dose, it depends on what is in the tank. Do you have many hard corals or growing coralline algae?