Dosing help

chrisj83 · May 3, 2018

I'm getting ready to start dosing my tank but have no clue how to start. I bought B-Ionic 2 part and have gone through a few calculators to determine how much I need to get my parameters where I think I need them. The label on the bottle says to do 1ml per 4 gallons daily till desired parameters are achieved. My parameters now are CA-385, ALK-7.3, MG-1230. So if I'm right I should continue to dose daily till I get where I need to be then keep testing to see how much my levels drop in a certain amount of time so that I can figure out what my weekly or daily dose should be? Sorry for the long post just want to make sure I get this right. Thanks in advance guys.

Randy Holmes-Farley · May 3, 2018

chrisj83 said:
I'm getting ready to start dosing my tank but have no clue how to start. I bought B-Ionic 2 part and have gone through a few calculators to determine how much I need to get my parameters where I think I need them. The label on the bottle says to do 1ml per 4 gallons daily till desired parameters are achieved. My parameters now are CA-385, ALK-7.3, MG-1230. So if I'm right I should continue to dose daily till I get where I need to be then keep testing to see how much my levels drop in a certain amount of time so that I can figure out what my weekly or daily dose should be? Sorry for the long post just want to make sure I get this right. Thanks in advance guys.

Let's back up a bit.

What levels do you want to target in your tank?

chrisj83 · May 3, 2018

From everything I've been reading I'm assuming I need to be CA-420-440, ALK-9, MG-1350.

chrisj83 · May 3, 2018

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Let's back up a bit.

What levels do you want to target in your tank?

From everything I've been reading I'm assuming I need to be CA-420-440, ALK-9, MG-1350.

Randy Holmes-Farley · May 3, 2018

Any alk in the range of 7-11 dKH can be fine. Your current 7.3 dKH is fine, and 9 dKH is not necessarily better.

Any calcium value int eh range of 400-550 ppm is also fine. I'd raise the 385 a bit. Whatever value you elect, dose JUST the calcium part to get to your target.

This calculator shows how much:

http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chem_calc3.html

Then, if you still want alkalinity higher (or it drops more and you want to maintain it at 7.3 dKH), use the calculator above to figure the alk part dose, and dose BOTH parts equally.

Then, going forward, as the alk drops, dose both parts equally to maintain the alk where you want it. Longer term, if calcium deviates significantly from where you want it, you can adjust the calcium half of the dosing up or down slightly.

chrisj83 · May 3, 2018

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Any alk in the range of 7-11 dKH can be fine. Your current 7.3 dKH is fine, and 9 dKH is not necessarily better.

Any calcium value int eh range of 400-550 ppm is also fine. I'd raise the 385 a bit. Whatever value you elect, dose JUST the calcium part to get to your target.

This calculator shows how much:

http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chem_calc3.html

Then, if you still want alkalinity higher (or it drops more and you want to maintain it at 7.3 dKH), use the calculator above to figure the alk part dose, and dose BOTH parts equally.

Then, going forward, as the alk drops, dose both parts equally to maintain the alk where you want it. Longer term, if calcium deviates significantly from where you want it, you can adjust the calcium half of the dosing up or down slightly.

The calculator is telling me 223.4ml. Should that be broken up in a few days or all at once? What should I do about the magnesium? Sorry to ask so many questions just don't want to make any mistakes.

Randy Holmes-Farley · May 3, 2018

chrisj83 said:
The calculator is telling me 223.4ml. Should that be broken up in a few days or all at once? What should I do about the magnesium? Sorry to ask so many questions just don't want to make any mistakes.

If you are using B-ionic, it has magnesium in it, so just ignore magnesium. It depletes very, very slowly.

If that is the calcium additive dose value, you can add that over a couple of days in a couple of doses each day. You could probably add it all at once just fine, but there's no hurry.

chrisj83 · May 3, 2018

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
If you are using B-ionic, it has magnesium in it, so just ignore magnesium. It depletes very, very slowly.

If that is the calcium additive dose value, you can add that over a couple of days in a couple of doses each day. You could probably add it all at once just fine, but there's no hurry.

Ok great. Thank you very much for your help.

Randy Holmes-Farley · May 3, 2018

You're welcome.

Happy Reefing.

Dystinction · May 3, 2018

Good info guys. I'll be crossing this bridge soon myself, so I valued this information.

Thanks.

IslandLifeReef · May 3, 2018

If you don't have a reason for your target, you might want to consider targeting the numbers in your salt mix. When I do water changes, my new water has an Alk range of 7.8-8.2 dKH and a calcium level of around 425. So for ease of water changes, my dosing targets are Alk 7.8 and calcium of 425.

chrisj83 · May 3, 2018

I dosed just the calcium earlier today and my calcium is now 410 but my Alk dropped to 6.7. Should I now try and dose the first part and try and raise it?