ESV B-Ionic

[Mrsadat]

Hello fellow reefers I have a question I know on the bottle of ESV Alk & Cal it says that you should always dose equal part. I’ve ran into reefers that told me you don’t have to dose equal part, stating that if you cal for instance is too low you should just raise the cal and leave the Alk alone. What’s your take on that?

 

[Snoopy 67]

Get it right 1st then = doses.

 

[malacoda]

The are designed to be dosed in equal parts and only allow for a very small leeway in dosing unevenly without disrupting the ionic balance and trace element replenishment in your tank.

This was Bob Stark's (the founder of ESV and creator of B-ionic) response to the same question on another forum:

"Due to the proprietary nature of some of the formulation, I can't divulge where certain ions are located with regards to the liquid components, but can tell you the Comp A supplies all the calcium and the portion of magnesium not supplied by the dry magnesium sulfate, and the Comp B liquid provides the alkalinity plus some other ions. If one alters the amount of these liquid components then yes, these other ions will also deviate. My guess is a 10% lowering of either component will still result in an acceptable mix because these other ions will only drop by 10%. I can not make any guarantee's the mix will be suitable for all uses if altered however and leave that decision to the individual aquarist. If you're testing for calcium, magnesium, alkalinity, potassium, and using individual additives to tweak any of those deficiencies, you'll probably be fine if you don't reduce the liquid components by more than 10%. I hope this info helps and thanks again for using our products!"

If you ever have a question about an ESV product, don't hesitate to email them directly. I have a few times and Bob usually responds within a day or two.

 

[X-37B]

I have always dosed esv 2 part equally daily and
Esv Strontium weekly.
I dose DSR trace daily.
I test for the big 3 +
Strontium
Iodine
Potassium
Been working well.

 

[C. Eymann]

I havent used Bionic 2 part in many years, but it is an excellent product. It was the first two part available to me at least in the US in the early 2000s and I have had excellent results with it.

When I used it I found that I typically burned through more alk component than I did cal, I saw the same when working retail, many reporting they needed only the alk component as other levels were steady.


Eitherway, maybe I wasn't shaking it enough? who knows? All I know is that it's an excellent product that I wont hesitate to recommend to people who want simple off the shelf two part.

 

[Mrsadat]

I havent used Bionic 2 part in many years, but it is an excellent product. It was the first two part available to me at least in the US in the early 2000s and I have had excellent results with it.

When I used it I found that I typically burned through more alk component than I did cal, I saw the same when working retail, many reporting they needed only the alk component as other levels were steady.


Eitherway, maybe I wasn't shaking it enough? who knows? All I know is that it's an excellent product that I wont hesitate to recommend to people who want simple off the shelf two part.

So do you dose it in equal parts?

 

[C. Eymann]

So do you dose it in equal parts?

Test and adjust accordingly

 

[HotRocks]

So do you dose it in equal parts?

I use ESV 2 part and I dose equal parts. If your calcium is low and you want to adjust it you can do so using only calcium to adjust it then dose equally after that and the numbers should hold true as long as the amount you are dosing matches your consumption.

 

[Mrsadat]

The are designed to be dosed in equal parts and only allow for a very small leeway in dosing unevenly without disrupting the ionic balance and trace element replenishment in your tank.

This was Bob Stark's (the founder of ESV and creator of B-ionic) response to the same question on another forum:

"Due to the proprietary nature of some of the formulation, I can't divulge where certain ions are located with regards to the liquid components, but can tell you the Comp A supplies all the calcium and the portion of magnesium not supplied by the dry magnesium sulfate, and the Comp B liquid provides the alkalinity plus some other ions. If one alters the amount of these liquid components then yes, these other ions will also deviate. My guess is a 10% lowering of either component will still result in an acceptable mix because these other ions will only drop by 10%. I can not make any guarantee's the mix will be suitable for all uses if altered however and leave that decision to the individual aquarist. If you're testing for calcium, magnesium, alkalinity, potassium, and using individual additives to tweak any of those deficiencies, you'll probably be fine if you don't reduce the liquid components by more than 10%. I hope this info helps and thanks again for using our products!"

If you ever have a question about an ESV product, don't hesitate to email them directly. I have a few times and Bob usually responds within a day or two.

Thank you very much for the clarification of your product.

 

[Mrsadat]

I use ESV 2 part and I dose equal parts. If your calcium is low and you want to adjust it you can do so using only calcium to adjust it then dose equally after that and the numbers should hold true as long as the amount you are dosing matches your consumption.

Got it thank you. Well appreciated

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

So do you dose it in equal parts?

for corrections to poor starting values, you often cannot use equal parts. Long term, roughly equal parts will meet your needs and it is fine to deviate slightly. Some things may make substantial uneven dosing needed, such as water changes with a mix that does not match the calcium and alk in the tank, sulfur denitrators, rising or falling or dosing of nitrate, etc.

 

[Dj City]

Some things may make substantial uneven dosing needed, such as...
Sulfur denitrators

Why would this affect B ionic dose?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Why would this affect B ionic dose?

A sulfur denitrator depletes alkalinity. So some sort of dosing is needed to offset the alkalinity depletion.

 

[Dj City]

Thank you.

I ran an aquamaxx sulfur denitrator on my 110 gallon reef.
It worked extremely well to control nitrates. I had not run into the problem of lower Alk at least not in the time I had that tank running with it.

I asked because I hope to start my 180 gallon soon and I plan on using B ionic.
I'm striving to have no need for the sulfur denitrator but is I should need it down the line it's good to know this info.

 

[ScottB]

I dose ESV 2 part in equal measures, but will say that ALK depletes much faster in my system. I have to play catch once a week or so if it is not a WC week. I do a catch up dose when ALK gets down around 7.5 (from 8ish). My Ca is always over 450 with Salifert or Red Sea kit.

Also note that at high daily dosing levels your salinity will rise. I dose 145ml of each daily on a 525 liter system. Randy explained that in a thread here a month or so ago.

I really like ESV for two part, but doing some due diligence on CaRx systems as my basement is full of empty ESV buckets!