Dosing BRS 2-part

[drcole]

I am new to reefing for the most part, and dosing especially. For those that dose the BRS 2-part, do you run pumps for the alkalinity and calcium and then dose magnesium by hand? Also, is this enough to be successful with SPS? Thanks in advance. I watched the BRS videos on this and think its very practical, and they have the whole setup, pumps included, for $240.

 

[aznreef99]

before going with ATI Essential, i was also doing 2 parts dosing. i did not dos magnesium. it will replenish itself with regular water change

 

[drcole]

before going with ATI Essential, i was also doing 2 parts dosing. i did not dos magnesium. it will replenish itself with regular water change

Why the change and what are the advantages to ATI essential?

 

[Oshengems]

I rarely dose Mg it gets depleted at an extreme slow pace compare to Kh and Ca, my inital numbers with Red Sea pro were 1475 and took months to get to my desire numbers of 1390

 

[aznreef99]

reason being was bcuz ATI Essential has many trace elements that the 2 parts did not have and it works well with Zeovit dosing. Amazing combos.

 

[Crabs McJones]

before going with ATI Essential, i was also doing 2 parts dosing. i did not dos magnesium. it will replenish itself with regular water change

Agreed with this. Most salt mixes have high magnesium already, so its replenished through regular water changes. I haven't had to dose any yet

 

[drcole]

Agreed with this. Most salt mixes have high magnesium already, so its replenished through regular water changes. I haven't had to dose any yet

What dosing do you use?? I have seen a lot of your stuff scavenging the forum and would love to see what successful reefers use, especially SPS

 

[Crabs McJones]

What dosing do you use?? I have seen a lot of your stuff scavenging the forum and would love to see what successful reefers use, especially SPS

BRS 2 part, but doing weekly 10% water changes with Fritz Reef Pro mix. The fritz keeps my mag up so I've never had to dose it

 

[Crabs McJones]

What dosing do you use?? I have seen a lot of your stuff scavenging the forum and would love to see what successful reefers use, especially SPS

Oh ya, I'm everywhere

 

[MnFish1]

I am new to reefing for the most part, and dosing especially. For those that dose the BRS 2-part, do you run pumps for the alkalinity and calcium and then dose magnesium by hand? Also, is this enough to be successful with SPS? Thanks in advance. I watched the BRS videos on this and think its very practical, and they have the whole setup, pumps included, for $240.

I do it this way. Have not had problems

 

[Reefahholic]

Once the tank gets growing you’ll find that CAL and ALK will get consumed at a much faster rate. You really don’t need MAG dosing on a pump, but I did that way I just dose from my phone when it was needed.

For some reason, my MAG is always low initially and it takes A LOT to get it up. Once it’s there, it’s in cruise control for the most part.

Keeping those 3 in check will yield you great results with nice colors considering your NO3 and PO4 are inline.

Best of luck!

I am new to reefing for the most part, and dosing especially. For those that dose the BRS 2-part, do you run pumps for the alkalinity and calcium and then dose magnesium by hand? Also, is this enough to be successful with SPS? Thanks in advance. I watched the BRS videos on this and think its very practical, and they have the whole setup, pumps included, for $240.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

before going with ATI Essential, i was also doing 2 parts dosing. i did not dos magnesium. it will replenish itself with regular water change

It's worth pointing out that most two-part systems rely on the magnesium part being dosed to maintain proper water chemistry. The magnesium part often contains chloride, sulfate or both, and not dosing it will cause an imbalance in those three compounds. For more information, check out Randy's article on his DIY two-part. The chart shows that your sulfate will drop by almost thirty percent over the course of the year without dosing the Mg part. While water changes might help to make up for this, if you have high calcium and carbonate consumption, it's possible this deficit could become substantial over time.

Unless you do frequent water changes or use a two-part system that is a true two-part and doesn't have a third magnesium part (which is rare), I would not advise skipping the Mg part.

 

[Crabs McJones]

It's worth pointing out that most two-part systems rely on the magnesium part being dosed to maintain proper water chemistry. The magnesium part often contains chloride, sulfate or both, and not dosing it will cause an imbalance in those three compounds.

Unless you do frequent water changes or use a two-part system that is a true two-part and doesn't have a third magnesium part (which is rare), I would not advise skipping the Mg part.

Question for you then. I'm dosing BRS 2 part, and my mag is over 1500 per my salifert test kit. I haven't been dosing mag due to this...should I be even though its already high?

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Question for you then. I'm dosing BRS 2 part, and my mag is over 1500 per my salifert test kit. I haven't been dosing mag due to this...should I be even though its already high?

1,500 ppm is pretty high for Mg. I probably wouldn't dose magnesium in that case. I would probably try to get some additional sulfate into the mix though. When you dose sodium carboante/bicarbonate and calcium chloride, you're increasing the overall salinity of the tank without increasing the sulfate levels. Sulfate is actually present in relatively high quantities in seawater.

In such a case where magnesium can't be dosed, I might maybe consider adding some sodium sulfate to your alkalinity part, as described here by Randy:

Part 2 - The Alkalinity and Sulfate Part
Dissolve 374.7 g of sodium carbonate (594 g of baking soda that has been baked; = 3.535 moles of sodium carbonate) plus 68.7 g of sodium sulfate in enough water to make a total volume of one gallon.

This is, however, not something that most reefers attempt. Maybe Randy can speak to whether this is a good idea in cases where almost no magnesium is needed, but calcium and carbonate are needed.

 

[Crabs McJones]

1,500 ppm is pretty high for Mg. I probably wouldn't dose magnesium in that case. I would probably try to get some additional sulfate into the mix though. When you dose sodium carboante/bicarbonate and calcium chloride, you're increasing the overall salinity of the tank without increasing the sulfate levels. Sulfate is actually present in relatively high quantities in seawater.

In such a case where magnesium can't be dosed, I might maybe consider adding some sodium sulfate to your alkalinity part, as described here by Randy:


This is, however, not something that most reefers attempt. Maybe Randy can speak to whether this is a good idea in cases where almost no magnesium is needed, but calcium and carbonate are needed.

Awesome, thanks

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

No problem as I mentioned, we may want to get Randy to weigh in on this, as I don't know how many people are doing what I'm proposing. But, I think the principle is sound. If you're adding sodium and chloride, sulfate should be added as well to maintain the ratio between those three since they're present in such relatively high quantities in seawater.

To add to my previous post, Randy's new two-part includes magnesium and calcium in the first part, and carbonate and sulfate in the second part. If you exclude the MgCl2 from the calcium solution, you're reducing the chloride being added to the tank. So, for the alkalinity part, you would want to reduce the amount of sulfate added to maintain proper balance. Adding up the molecular weights of these compounds and doing some quick division, I think you'll want to add somewhere around 50g of sodium sulfate instead of the 68g that the recipe calls for.

 

[User1]

Odd question if you will with regards to off the shelf magnesium supplements. I thought it takes a lot larger dose, or volume, to raise magnesium. At least that is what I thought I read while also looking at ESV products. I do not know about Randy's two part since I'm not dosing at the moment while my tank matures more.

I was looking at it from those who are running lower water change routines and supplements instead.

 

[User1]

Oh ya, I'm everywhere

Lol.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I dose 4 part- Alk, Mag, CA and Aminos
I do Mag and Amino at low levels as it is less consumed than Alk and CA

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Odd question if you will with regards to off the shelf magnesium supplements. I thought it takes a lot larger dose, or volume, to raise magnesium. At least that is what I thought I read while also looking at ESV products. I do not know about Randy's two part since I'm not dosing at the moment while my tank matures more.

I was looking at it from those who are running lower water change routines and supplements instead.

It's hard to say with certainty. Most manufacturers don't tell you how much magnesium their additive contains in ppm or mg/L. If it's a dilute additive, you may need to add it quite frequently. If your salt mix has lower magnesium than your tank, then every water change will likely drop magnesium and you'll need to add a lot to make up the difference. If the additive has relatively high concentrations of magnesium and your salt mix contains elevated magnesium, it's possible you may never need to dose magnesium.