Ca and Alk using BRS 2 parts

mrtian97 · Aug 14, 2016

question on how much Ca and Alk. I have 93 gallon total water volume (Redsea Reefer), mixed reef with about 15 sps frags and 22 other corals like large monti plate, etc.
I am using Redsea coral pro salt, 10% water change weekly. my Ca level used to be abt 425 (using red sea test kit). Recently I added about 8 sps frags (that makes the total 15 sps frags) and my Ca plummet to 370. I increased the Ca dose from 80mL to 140mL daily using jebao pump. after 1-2 wks, increased to 390.
Question: is this normal of adding this much Ca? I also been using Kalk (8tsp/5gallon) as my ATO.

My alk is about 8.7 with daily dose of 140mL with BrS 2 parts.

Mag level 1,350 and pH range from 8.0 to 8.2

Thanks

nemo1017 · Aug 14, 2016

I've got a fifty gallon and I'm dosing brs 2 part at 15 ml cal and 15 ml alk daily. Cal sits at 425 and Alk sits at 9.0. I use instant ocean reef crystals. And do 5 gallon water changes weekly. I do not dose Kalk though. It's possible that it would fluctuate but if you're using Kalk then theoretically that should be helping to keep things steady. My tank is mostly lps and a few sps. With corralline growing all on the back glass. I guess what I should ask is How stable are parameters for you and does anything look unhappy?

mrtian97 · Aug 14, 2016

Thanks, all the corals look happy and growing. I seems use so much more than I should. Even brs website said abt 0.3mL per gallon, that makes mine should only abt 30mL.

Maybe where I dose make a difference? I dose in the sump in the skimmer area, doesn't seem a lot of water flow. I notice some sort of precipitation build up on the bottom of my glass sump, very hard to even remove. Suggestion where should I dose in the sump area?

Thanks

nemo1017 · Aug 14, 2016

That was my next question if you see any precipitation or not lol. Dose in a night flow area like the return and dose slow to prevent precip

nemo1017 · Aug 14, 2016

*higher flow

nemo1017 · Aug 14, 2016

Dose by hand or pump?

mrtian97 · Aug 14, 2016

using jebao dosing pump

nemo1017 · Aug 14, 2016

Ok try the return pump chamber and see if that's enough flow for it to not precip on you. I'm dosing by hand in the display where the return comes out. I usually do cal at day and alk at night. At a minimum 1 hour separate though. I have no precip issues.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Aug 14, 2016

FWIW, many pumps do not add as much as users think. Have you actually measured the amount dosed daily?

mrtian97 · Aug 14, 2016

yep, measured mine, pretty accurate, and I also noticed from my Ca reservoir, which is 1,000 mL container

Randy Holmes-Farley · Aug 14, 2016

Imbalanced calcium and alkalinity dosing is usually due to water changes messing with the ratio. There's no substantial mechanism where more calcium is needed than alkalinity (proportionally) unless you are dosing nitrate or similarly oxidized nitrogen compounds.

lwmnfrvr · Oct 15, 2016

Has anyone had issues with the BRS two part dosing specifically with thier soda ash. I started dosing the BRS two part in July of this year and was maintaining alk at 8.5. (Hand dosed 6 fluid ounces daily) After running out of my initial purchase of soda ash, I purchased another container and continued with the same daily dosing. I test alk everyday and found that my alk had dropped to 7 and could not get it to raise. I slowly increased my dosage and was still stuck at 7. I cross checked my alk using both Elose and API test kits and got the sam result. My increase went from 6 to 9 fluid ounces over a one week period. Then from 9 to 16 ounces and still no increase. Finally from 16 to 24 fluid ounces with the same result. (I followed the BRS mixing instructions for the soda ash) My Tank started to crash as a result, so I decided to go back to dosing Seachem Reef builder after doing a 25 gallon water change.
My tank has stabilized after switching back to Seachem and my alk is back to 8.5.
Is there a possibility that I purchased a weak batch of soda ash?

Napa Reefer · Oct 15, 2016

following...

rvlcf · Oct 15, 2016

I have had these same issues. I'm using Kalk at max strength of 2 teaspoons per gallon of water in my top off, and I am also dosing BRS ALK and CA. It seems that no matter how much I add, my levels never seem to rise much. I've certainly dosed way beyond what the calculator says I need, but gotten hardly any movement. I am also getting a hard crust on parts of my sump.
I turned off the doser about 5 days ago and I'm monitoring the alk. It dropped a bit initially, but has been steady at 6.75 dkh. If it stays there i'll leave it off.
I had the same issues on my previous tank also.

nemo1017 · Oct 15, 2016

Best guess:
- recalibrate the doser to check the actual ampunt dispensed.
- dosing too frequently causing it to precipitate out
- smaller doses spread out seem to work better. Just allow enough time for the calcium to disperse before dosing the alk.
-water changes messing with levels and dosing requirements
- when you mixed the solution up it wasn't mixed in the right ratio.
- if you try to maintain the alk to what your salt mixes to, then it'll help with the fluctuation in dosing tremendously.
^ ^^those are just my experiences when dealing with brs 2 part. All Trial and error.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 16, 2016

One reason that raising dosing amounts does not always raise level is that the higher the alk and pH (both come from dosing more), the higher is the demand in the tank. So this negative feedback loop tends to limit the rise one gets from increasing doses.

Some people also seem to require especially high doses, maybe because they are precipitating more than the ordinary amount of calcium carbonate. Once it starts, it keeps providing more surfaces for more precipitation.