ESV 2 Part Dosing Question - Low ALK.

[blstravler]

So I recently moved away from using a Calcium Reactor to dosing ESV 2 part. Tank is heavily stocked with SPS. I slowly moved away from the Reactor to the 2 Part and after a few days my Alk is running low to 7.3 from the previous number of 8.3. My Calc has stayed pretty steady. I'm dosing 65ml a day of both ESV parts. From what I have read it says to always dose in both parts equally. So if I want to get my ALK up I increase both parts and not just the ALK. Not sure if I even need to really worry about Calc going up higher its currently at 460.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

It is fine to dose both parts (calcium will rise by less than 10 ppm for a 1 dKH alk rise), or to just dose the alk part for this correction, then continue equal parts for maintaining alk (and calcium).

 

[blstravler]

It is fine to dose both parts (calcium will rise by less than 10 ppm for a 1 dKH alk rise), or to just dose the alk part for this correction, then continue equal parts for maintaining alk (and calcium).

Okay so I can up my daily ALK dose (for a day) to get myself back into balance then continue my normal dose of both parts.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Okay so I can up my daily ALK dose (for a day) to get myself back into balance then continue my normal dose of both parts.

Yes

 

[fromjuan]

So I recently moved away from using a Calcium Reactor to dosing ESV 2 part. Tank is heavily stocked with SPS. I slowly moved away from the Reactor to the 2 Part and after a few days my Alk is running low to 7.3 from the previous number of 8.3. My Calc has stayed pretty steady. I'm dosing 65ml a day of both ESV parts. From what I have read it says to always dose in both parts equally. So if I want to get my ALK up I increase both parts and not just the ALK. Not sure if I even need to really worry about Calc going up higher its currently at 460.

I am curious on the reason you are switching from a Calcium Reactor to ESV 2 Part. I have been using ESV 2 Part with great success. However, I have been thinking about converting to a calcium reactor because of the continued cost of the 2 part.

 

[blasterman]

It's actually uncommon for alk and calcium consumption to be in a perfect 1:1 useage. It's either equal in really established and fast growing SPS tanks or slants to much more alk useage....and a million states in between.

You adjust your dosing to stabilize alk regardless of other considerations. You can also increase the solution density of part B if you want to use less water. Just throw more baking soda in it.

Going from a CA reactor to a two part is going to incur some metabolic changes in your tank. Notably pH is going to increase a bit causing a spike in alk useage.

 

[PeterC99]

I am curious on the reason you are switching from a Calcium Reactor to ESV 2 Part. I have been using ESV 2 Part with great success. However, I have been thinking about converting to a calcium reactor because of the continued cost of the 2 part.

I actually went the other way and stopped ESV 2 Part and went with the calcium reactor. I was using 110ml of both 2 Part and started to get precipitation.

Calcium reactor has been much easier to maintain (although high startup cost). Haven’t touched it in 2 months and hoping to get another 4 to 6 months out it before any maintenance or reloading.

 

[Spieg]

One thing you should check. When exposed to low temperatures (while shipping for example), the alk solution can partially solidify. When you mix in the RODI to make the final solution, you can end up with a very low alk solution that will not increase your alk levels as much as it should. This can be easily resolved by heating the alk component so the solid chunk will return to a liquid. I do this by placing very hot water in a sink and set the jug/bucket in the hot water to increase the temperature. You can see in this photo there is a solid chunk that was on the bottom of the bucket that looks like a piece of ice;