Help getting 2 part dosing straight

[Spdjnky]

I know I have not gone about this right I will try my best to explain where I am at. First of all my Aquarium is a 75 gal in the wall with sump and refugium I think 60 lbs of LR I'm using 75 total gallons for my dosing using BRS 2 part.
Without making this to long I am shooting for 9 dKH for Alk and 50 ml a day is not keeping up. Today for ex I tested Alk at 8.1 dKH around 7 am dosed 48ml that should have brought it up to 9 dKH and tested again about 9:30 pm and Alk was 8.2. I watched the first of 4 12 ml doses this morning and my dosing pump is calabrated.
The Calcium is another story because at first due to only having 6 corals it did not seem to be using that much now I have added 4 more and will be adding 10 more in the coming weeks. I am shooting for 440 ppm for Calcium

Tue May 22, 2018 21:30 410 ppm
Tue May 22, 2018 18:48 425 ppm
Mon May 21, 2018 08:57 430 ppm
Sat May 19, 2018 08:01 440 ppm
Fri May 18, 2018 15:49 450 ppm
Fri May 18, 2018 08:23 430 ppm
Thu May 17, 2018 10:00 435 ppm
Wed May 16, 2018 09:06 425 ppm
So here it is 10:15 pm and according to the BRS cal. I need to dose
Liquid Calcium Chloride 230ml
Liquid Soda Ash 42.8 ml
That should put me in the ball park I am pretty confident in what I will get for the Alk but Calcium I'm not really sure about, doesn't come out as close as the Alk but then again I am having trouble with how much it's using.
Hope this makes some kind of sense. How much should I dose at a time? I am using a Jebao dosing pump.
Everything I read says I should be able to dose both the same when I get it right I just need to get on the right path....
Thx Phil

 

[Reefer Deez]

For starters what I would do is if you using BRS two-part dosing I would go to their website use the calculator like you did I would add exactly what it says to add wait an hour and retest alkalinity if you're still low I would redo the calculator add what it says wait an hour test alkalinity until you get to the level of where you want to be at. Then monitor the alkalinity loss 24 hours from that period. Try the BRS calculator one more time Dosher tank retest alkalinity again in 24 hours. If you hit your mark then you're done if you're a little high go down a little bit on your dosing depending on how high you are if you're low add a little to your dosing recheck again in 24 hours. It should only take a couple of days for you to dial in where you need to be at. I hope this helps I've always use this method test frequently at least once a week and you can use this method for the calcium as well. But remember as you add corals you use more of both calcium and alkalinity.

 

[cracker]

Following,

 

[Jwheld]

Seems like high consumption. A couple thoughts...

• Is your pump calibrated? Double check.
• Is Alk precipitating? (Check pH, and mag)
• Is your test kit expired?
• Calcium depletes a lot slower on the scale of our test kits. Seems to be a lot a variability here too.

Good luck!

 

[manilaboy1vic]

Im having headaches with two part dosing as well.. BRS has a thread/video on here and im doing their experiment to get my dosing in order..

here ya go:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/2-part-dosing-problems-we-have-the-answer.291422/

you want to be careful.. a couple years ago i was dosing and things werent working as planned and i ended up overdosing.. white precipitation on my equipment.. my sump glass is still jacked up..

50ml a day with no real calcium demand? id take a step back and watch the BRS video ... basically, you dont dose for 24hrs.. then you pick a set time of day and test/dose/test for 7 days in a row..until you see the pattern, you will then get the right numbers.. (the key is to test at the same time everyday)

for ex. i have a 68g tank with a maxima clam (years old and growing), one scoly and two small frags (sps/lps) and i been dosing 35ml up until i watched their vid last week..

 

[Spdjnky]

I will keep at it. Fell asleep last night. I am dosing 40ml on the Alk and 150ml on Cal and should be able to test again at 9:30 this morning. I will get my #'s where I want them at 9dKH for Alk and 440ppm for my calcium. My main ? is when I get them right to start at least what's the best way to time when you dose. Say for instance like yesterday Alk 8.1 dKH in the morning I dosed 48 ml that should have brought it to 9 dKH and then at night it was down to 8.2 dKH. So it looks like I used .8 ml's for the 12 hours. So when you have things right you should dose small amounts all day or for the complete 24 hour time frame to keep everything stable right?
I will post again and show my results.

 

[manilaboy1vic]

i do 6 intervals per part per day. like a slow drip.. all day.

heres my schedule:

 

[RobZilla04]

IMO you're gonna end up driving yourself crazy trying to keep those numbers exact. Remember that the test kits have a margin of error. Thus Cal test results in the OP are all within the margin of error resulting in actual Cal consumption of nearly 0.

FWIW with new systems Alk generally gets consumed faster needing dosing first, then Cal. My best advise would be to do a water change, get the values where you want them via Alk & Cal supplementation/testing then stop dosing for several days. Test again several days later and divide the consumption by the number of days you skipped dosing. That will give you the daily consumption rate. Trying to dial in dosing when daily consumption rates are low (or within the margin of error of the test kits) is a never ending endeavor.

Likewise do not get into chasing numbers, instead let the health of the tank determine what you should be doing regarding dosing. If everything appears healthy and growing at 8.1ish dKH, don't go chasing 9 because that's what everyone says to do. You may effect Cal or Mg in doing so, thus everything gets outta whack.

 

[Spdjnky]

Thx Thats what I need to do once I get things right. I will be testing what I dosed this morning against my #'s from last night.

 

[Spdjnky]

IMO you're gonna end up driving yourself crazy trying to keep those numbers exact. Remember that the test kits have a margin of error. Thus Cal test results in the OP are all within the margin of error resulting in actual Cal consumption of nearly 0.

FWIW with new systems Alk generally gets consumed faster needing dosing first, then Cal. My best advise would be to do a water change, get the values where you want them via Alk & Cal supplementation/testing then stop dosing for several days. Test again several days later and divide the consumption by the number of days you skipped dosing. That will give you the daily consumption rate. Trying to dial in dosing when daily consumption rates are low (or within the margin of error of the test kits) is a never ending endeavor.

I hear u there I am going crazy....I just changed 25 gallons Monday.
Lets say this afternoon I have my #'s where I want them .......okay then I wait check again in 2 days. Everyone says once u do that u should be able to add the same amount of both alk and cal but it does not seem to work that way for me for ex look at yesterday 230 ml's for cal and 42 for alk?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I hear u there I am going crazy....I just changed 25 gallons Monday.
Lets say this afternoon I have my #'s where I want them .......okay then I wait check again in 2 days. Everyone says once u do that u should be able to add the same amount of both alk and cal but it does not seem to work that way for me for ex look at yesterday 230 ml's for cal and 42 for alk?

There’s no way that any tank needs massively more calcium than alkalinity EXCEPT if you are using a salt mix with high alk and/or low calcium (such as normal IO). You cannot expect the two part to know and correct for that sort of issue.

Using close to equal parts will usually work out unless you use a mix that does not match the tank, or there are unusual issues in play.

Correct the calcium by dosing it, and correct your salt mix if it is off, then use equal parts dosing, or close to it, to maintain alkalinity, and calcium will usually follow along OK ( assuming the two part was designed for equal parts dosing and you mixed it up correctly).

 

[RobZilla04]

I hear u there I am going crazy....I just changed 25 gallons Monday.
Lets say this afternoon I have my #'s where I want them .......okay then I wait check again in 2 days. Everyone says once u do that u should be able to add the same amount of both alk and cal but it does not seem to work that way for me for ex look at yesterday 230 ml's for cal and 42 for alk?

Do not dose equally two parts if consumption is not equal. Dose based on consumption of each independently. Over time adjustments will likely be needed and you will get closer and closer to equal two parts as long as the salt mixes very close to the parameters you are seeking to keep.

 

[Spdjnky]

Okay what way should I go? I am going to test again right now it's been about an hour sense I dosed then I will post #'s. I am using the red sea blue bucket and my Mag is staying at 1300 I have tested the Cal in a new mix of sw and it's 400 ppm the new sw mix also tests 8.1 dKH for Alk. so i make the alk match the tank water when I do a wc like I did Monday

 

[overclockwise]

I've experienced the same issue you are having about a year ago with the same equipment. The culprit was Jebao doser. Because it's a fast doser, it caused precipitation with soda ash alk solution. My fix was to only dose a max of ~10ml per interval under a power head and I never had precipitation again.

Note: I currently I dose 35ml split into three 10ml and one 5ml dosing.

Don't worry too much about shooting for a certain number. The key is to keep it stable.

 

[Spdjnky]

I have been looking and can't say I see any precipitation
Okay like I said first that my alk being 8.2 and cal 420 in order to bring them up to 9 and 440 the BRS cal tells me this (this was 930pm last night and I left it like that)
Liquid Calcium Chloride 230ml
Liquid Soda Ash 42.8 ml
This Morning still not sure of things I dosed 48 ml's for Alk which brought it up to 8.8 dKH I dosed 150ml for cal and it went no where in fact I forgot I checked at 410 this morning thought that was allot to drop from last night thats why I going slow
anyways I dosed 50 ml's more and will retest here in a hour but that will still be less than 230 ml's that it was last night. It will be a total of 200ml's this morning
check back in an hour

 

[RobZilla04]

Okay what way should I go? I am going to test again right now it's been about an hour sense I dosed then I will post #'s. I am using the red sea blue bucket and my Mag is staying at 1300 I have tested the Cal in a new mix of sw and it's 400 ppm the new sw mix also tests 8.1 dKH for Alk. so i make the alk match the tank water when I do a wc like I did Monday

The Cal value is right about what should be expected when mixed to 33-34ppt (1.0249-1.0256). If that is the salt you intend on continuing to use, whenever water changes are completed you'll be reducing the Cal value. That will result in dosing needed to compensate, or just leave it alone and let it balance to a stable level.

Calcium deposits or build up could be happening in places you cannot see. Inside pumps, overflow, baffles, return lines, etc.

Best to get Calcium level to desired level first, then adjust Alk.

 

[Spdjnky]

You're right I have to bring the Alk up if I want 9 and right the Calcium went down due to the water change but if want it to stay at 440ppm I will have to bring my new sw mix up.

 

[reeferfoxx]

Do not dose equally two parts if consumption is not equal. Dose based on consumption of each independently. Over time adjustments will likely be needed and you will get closer and closer to equal two parts as long as the salt mixes very close to the parameters you are seeking to keep.

I disagree with this. A proper 2 part will have Ca and Alk consumption at the same rate. The only time you have to dose one or the other is if the water change is significantly different in parameter compared to the tank or two different concentrations of 2 part.

 

[reeferfoxx]

You're right I have to bring the Alk up if I want 9 and right the Calcium went down due to the water change but if want it to stay at 440ppm I will have to bring my new sw mix up.

Is this the coralbox doser? Also, how did you calibrate it? If you have digital scales that can measure a 10th of a gram, I would weigh your calibrations rather than using a graduated cylinder. 1 gram = 1 mL.

 

[Spdjnky]

This the first time for everything for me. But I am confident in my readings
The Alk winds up being right according to what I dose and BRS calculator.
But the Calcium I know my tests are right but the calculator just seems high so I am carful this morning and documenting things so I don't have to do all the extra work