How much BRS 2 Part? Help!

Rick Gaas · Oct 31, 2016

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I'd go up another 10%.

10/30 - alk @ 9:30pm - 7.8dkh

Looks like it did move up some.. maybe a testing error.. but going to go ahead and move up the 10%

I will add 12 min (13.2ml) to the dosing timers for a total dose of 145.2ml every day.

I will test again tomorrow night to see if we get an increase.

Thanks again for all the help!

Rick Gaas · Oct 31, 2016

10/31 - alk @ 9:30pm - 7.8dkh

Going to add 16 minutes (17.6ml) to the dosing time. Totaling 162.8ml a day.

Let's see what the readings are tomorrow. I can't believe I need to dose this much without any coral!

Eggyoke · Nov 1, 2016

What do you have in your tank? Seems like a lot but I was using 63 ml daily for about 45 gallons of water. Hopefully you are buying in bulk. Have you checked out the Fauna Marin Trace 1 2 & 3 additives that you could add to the BRS 2 part?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 1, 2016

Coralline algae alone can take up 2 dKH per day, assuming it is growing well.

Rick Gaas · Nov 3, 2016

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Coralline algae alone can take up 2 dKH per day, assuming it is growing well.

11/3 - alk @ 9:30pm - 7.6dkh

First time I have tested in a few days. Looks like I need to add more. I am up to dosing a total of 162.8ml.

Thoughts? Again, shooting for a 9 dkh.

Thank you!

Rick Gaas · Nov 3, 2016

Eggyoke said:
What do you have in your tank? Seems like a lot but I was using 63 ml daily for about 45 gallons of water. Hopefully you are buying in bulk. Have you checked out the Fauna Marin Trace 1 2 & 3 additives that you could add to the BRS 2 part?

Looks like I will need to start buying bulk!

I have red seas coral colors, but have not started dosing them. Really want to find out what amount of 2-part I should be using first.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 4, 2016

My thought is that 7.6 dKH is fine. But if you really want more, then yes, dose more.

Rick Gaas · Nov 4, 2016

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
My thought is that 7.6 dKH is fine. But if you really want more, then yes, dose more.

Ok, thanks for all the help Randy!

I will go ahead and keep it at 7.6dkh.

Thanks again!

Rick Gaas · Nov 6, 2016

11/6 - alk @ 9:30pm (time change) - 7.0dkh

I was out of town this weekend, and just tested my water when I got back home. I know the test is about an hour late, but alk has dropped .6dkh in the last 3 days.

I am going to go ahead and add another 32 minutes (35.2ml) to my dosing pumps and test tomorrow at 9:30pm.

This will have me dosing a total of 198ml a day.

I am guessing coralline growth is using most of this alk!

Rick Gaas · Nov 6, 2016

Adjusted the above post to make it easier to set my dosing times. See below changes in dosing times/amounts.

11/6 - alk @ 9:30pm (time change) - 7.0dkh

I was out of town this weekend, and just tested my water when I got back home. I know the test is about an hour late, but alk has dropped .6dkh in the last 3 days.

I am going to go ahead and add another 36 minutes (39.6ml) to my dosing pumps and test tomorrow at 9:30pm.

This will have me dosing a total of 202.4ml a day.

I am guessing coralline growth is using most of this alk!

I will post my new dosing schedule in a few...

Rick Gaas · Nov 7, 2016

New Dosing Schedule:

Alk
1AM - 23 Minutes (25.3ml)
2AM - 23 Minutes (25.3ml)
3AM - 23 Minutes (25.3ml)
4AM - 23 Minutes (25.3ml)
5AM - 23 Minutes (25.3ml)
6AM - 23 Minutes (25.3ml)
7AM - 23 Minutes (25.3ml)
8AM - 23 Minutes (25.3ml)
Total = 202.4ml Alk
Cal
1PM - 23 Minutes (25.3ml)
2PM - 23 Minutes (25.3ml)
3PM - 23 Minutes (25.3ml)
4PM - 23 Minutes (25.3ml)
5PM - 23 Minutes (25.3ml)
6PM - 23 Minutes (25.3ml)
7PM - 23 Minutes (25.3ml)
8PM - 23 Minutes (25.3ml)
Total = 202.4ml Cal

Rick Gaas · Nov 7, 2016

Eggyoke said:
What do you have in your tank? Seems like a lot but I was using 63 ml daily for about 45 gallons of water. Hopefully you are buying in bulk. Have you checked out the Fauna Marin Trace 1 2 & 3 additives that you could add to the BRS 2 part?

How heavily stocked is your aquarium? If I dosed the same amount as you (ml per gallon), I would be around 300ml a day!

I only have sand and live rock.. At this point, I am only trying to get things stabilized before adding coral.

Sabellafella · Nov 7, 2016

Rick Gaas said:
10/27 - alk @ 9:30pm - 7.6dkh

Looks like my tank is stable at 7.6dkh dosing 118.8ml. I am going to increase my dose tonight by 4 minutes (4.4ml) totaling 123.2ml and see what happens in the next couple of days.

For some reason i havnt got the alerts for this thread. But looks great! If dosing 118 ml is keeping it stable. I would leave it at that, and hand dose slowely to your desired level first to get it where you want it. Or you can tinker with your dosing pump everyday =)

Sabellafella · Nov 7, 2016

Once you find your stable dose. Then test every 4-5 days. Over a 4-5 day period, you may see a small +/- .2 dkh. Then you can find your "exact" daily uptake and again adjust your dose. For instance, I kept my dose just shy of my daily uptake. My dosing pump alows me to drop from 9.6 to 9.2 from monday to saturday. Water changes sunday bring it back up to 9.6..... If i wind up getting lazy, ill add .05 -.08 dkh to my daily dose to keep it stable untill something changes

Rick Gaas · Nov 8, 2016

11/8 - alk @ 9:30pm - 7.7dkh

Rick Gaas · Nov 10, 2016

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
My thought is that 7.6 dKH is fine. But if you really want more, then yes, dose more.

Sabellafella said:
Once you find your stable dose. Then test every 4-5 days. Over a 4-5 day period, you may see a small +/- .2 dkh. Then you can find your "exact" daily uptake and again adjust your dose. For instance, I kept my dose just shy of my daily uptake. My dosing pump alows me to drop from 9.6 to 9.2 from monday to saturday. Water changes sunday bring it back up to 9.6..... If i wind up getting lazy, ill add .05 -.08 dkh to my daily dose to keep it stable untill something changes

11/9 - alk @ 10:30pm - 7.7dkh

Got home a little late and tested about an hour after I normally test. Looks like alk is holding at 7.7dkh dosing 202.4ml.

I am going to do a water change this weekend of about 35 gallons (16%) with brightwells neomarine. This is the only brand of salt that I have ever used for this aquarium. I am not sure if this will change my alk/cal levels in the aquarium, or throw off my dosing. I believe that brightwells salt mixes up to around 7.6dkh, so I am hoping that I will not see a change in parameters.

Hopefully my alk level will not change in the next few days if I keep dosing the 202.4ml.

Sabellafella · Nov 10, 2016

Rick Gaas said:
11/9 - alk @ 10:30pm - 7.7dkh

Got home a little late and tested about an hour after I normally test. Looks like alk is holding at 7.7dkh dosing 202.4ml.

I am going to do a water change this weekend of about 35 gallons (16%) with brightwells neomarine. This is the only brand of salt that I have ever used for this aquarium. I am not sure if this will change my alk/cal levels in the aquarium, or throw off my dosing. I believe that brightwells salt mixes up to around 7.6dkh, so I am hoping that I will not see a change in parameters.

Hopefully my alk level will not change in the next few days if I keep dosing the 202.4ml.

Sounds like everything turned out great bud good job! Anywho, test every bucket of salt you get just to double check. My salt mix is substantially higher then my alk, so i get about a .2 to .4 dkh swing every weekend i change my water.

Rick Gaas · Nov 10, 2016

11/10 - alk @ 9:30pm - 7.7dkh

Rick Gaas · Nov 10, 2016

Will adding Red Sea Coral Colors change the alk/cal demand on my system?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 11, 2016

Rick Gaas said:
Will adding Red Sea Coral Colors change the alk/cal demand on my system?

Only if the hard coral growth is being limited by something in those products. I've not heard of folks report any such changes, but it may be hard to distinguish unless the effect is quite large.