How much BRS 2 Part? Help!

[Rick Gaas]

That plan sounds fine.

Randy, please let me know what you think is going on when you get a few.

Also, next steps...?

Thanks again for the help.

 

[Rick Gaas]

For now, I am going to go ahead and add 48 minutes (52.8ml) to both my alk and cal dose.

I will now be dosing a total of 281.6ml of each (alk & cal) every 24hrs.

This seems to be very high to me, but my total water is around 220 gallons.

Please read the complete thread and let me know your thoughts.

I will test again tomorrow at 9:30pm.

Thanks everyone for the help!

 

[Rick Gaas]

New Dosing Schedule:

Alk
1AM - 32 Minutes (35.2ml)
2AM - 32 Minutes (35.2ml)
3AM - 32 Minutes (35.2ml)
4AM - 32 Minutes (35.2ml)
5AM - 32 Minutes (35.2ml)
6AM - 32 Minutes (35.2ml)
7AM - 32 Minutes (35.2ml)
8AM - 32 Minutes (35.2ml)
Total = 281.6ml Alk
Cal
1PM - 32 Minutes (35.2ml)
2PM - 32 Minutes (35.2ml)
3PM - 32 Minutes (35.2ml)
4PM - 32 Minutes (35.2ml)
5PM - 32 Minutes (35.2ml)
6PM - 32 Minutes (35.2ml)
7PM - 32 Minutes (35.2ml)
8PM - 32 Minutes (35.2ml)
Total = 281.6ml Cal

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

You need to boost just calcium, not both, unless you want alk quite high.

 

[Rick Gaas]

You need to boost just calcium, not both, unless you want alk quite high.

Thanks Randy. Would this just be a one time hand dose of calcium and keep my pumps dosing equal daily amounts of both?

Thanks again!

 

[Rick Gaas]

12/3 - alk @ 9:30pm - 7.45dkh
Cal @ 9:45pm - 375ppm

Hand dosed 337.7ml of calcium @ 10:00pm tonight. This should raise my calcium level to around 390ppm.

I will test again tomorrow @ 9:30pm.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thanks Randy. Would this just be a one time hand dose of calcium and keep my pumps dosing equal daily amounts of both?

Thanks again!

Yes, that's what I meant.

 

[Rick Gaas]

12/4 @ 5:45pm

I changed out my dosing containers from 1/2 gallon to 1 gallon containers. As much as I am dosing, this will keep them full a little longer!

Also added 230ml of cal @ 5:50pm.

I will run my test again at 9:30pm.

Hoping my alk has not dropped after dosing the calcium last night and today.

 

[Rick Gaas]

12/4 - alk @ 9:30pm - 7.45dkh
Cal @ 9:45pm - 410ppm

 

[randyBRS]

What is your current live stock list? It sounds to me like you are dosing too much solution without the demand, and what you are seeing as demand is actually the calcium and alkalinity precipitating out of the water column due to high concentrations and ending up as calcium carbonate on the hot surfaces of your tank (pumps, heaters, etc.)

Here's what I would do in your situation:
1) Stop dosing today, both manually and via your dosers
2) Test all of your levels tomorrow morning
3) The following morning test again and use the reef calculator to raise the levels to your desired goal (sodium bicarbonate is best for larger alkalinity doses since it doesn't affect pH as much as Soda Ash).
4) Test 10 minutes later and confirm that the levels are indeed now at the desired level.
5) The following day test again . If the levels have dropped then use the calculator to identify how much you need to add. This should be your new starting daily dose.
6) Use the alkalinity dose as your reference and start dosing equal amounts of calcium and alkalinity daily. You will need to test daily until you get the rhythm of how this works and then weekly or monthly will work depending on whats in the tank and the growth you are getting.

As a reference point, in the BRS 160 we have 50 or so colonies of growing corals. Our daily dose on the tank is 150ml a day. If we added 20% more calcium and alkalinity to the tank, the levels would likely rise, but if we doubled it we would likely see calcium and alkalinity fall due to the effects of all the fresh calcium carbonate crystals and precipitation.

 

[Eric83]

What is your current live stock list? It sounds to me like you are dosing too much solution without the demand, and what you are seeing as demand is actually the calcium and alkalinity precipitating out of the water column due to high concentrations and ending up as calcium carbonate on the hot surfaces of your tank (pumps, heaters, etc.)

Here's what I would do in your situation:
1) Stop dosing today, both manually and via your dosers
2) Test all of your levels tomorrow morning
3) The following morning test again and use the reef calculator to raise the levels to your desired goal (sodium bicarbonate is best for larger alkalinity doses since it doesn't affect pH as much as Soda Ash).
4) Test 10 minutes later and confirm that the levels are indeed now at the desired level.
5) The following day test again . If the levels have dropped then use the calculator to identify how much you need to add. This should be your new starting daily dose.
6) Use the alkalinity dose as your reference and start dosing equal amounts of calcium and alkalinity daily. You will need to test daily until you get the rhythm of how this works and then weekly or monthly will work depending on whats in the tank and the growth you are getting.

As a reference point, in the BRS 160 we have 50 or so colonies of growing corals. Our daily dose on the tank is 150ml a day. If we added 20% more calcium and alkalinity to the tank, the levels would likely rise, but if we doubled it we would likely see calcium and alkalinity fall due to the effects of all the fresh calcium carbonate crystals and precipitation.

I am going through 2 part woes as well (I was dosing 426ml/day on 75gal ). However I am hitting the reset button and trying exactly what RT is suggesting.

Don't mean to hijack this thread, just thought I'd share what I'm going through as well. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/2-part-dosing-excessive-or-just-me.277188/

 

[Rick Gaas]

I am going through 2 part woes as well (I was dosing 426ml/day on 75gal ). However I am hitting the reset button and trying exactly what RT is suggesting.

Don't mean to hijack this thread, just thought I'd share what I'm going through as well. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/2-part-dosing-excessive-or-just-me.277188/

Hopefully we will get it figured out!

 

[Rick Gaas]

What is your current live stock list? It sounds to me like you are dosing too much solution without the demand, and what you are seeing as demand is actually the calcium and alkalinity precipitating out of the water column due to high concentrations and ending up as calcium carbonate on the hot surfaces of your tank (pumps, heaters, etc.)

Here's what I would do in your situation:
1) Stop dosing today, both manually and via your dosers
2) Test all of your levels tomorrow morning
3) The following morning test again and use the reef calculator to raise the levels to your desired goal (sodium bicarbonate is best for larger alkalinity doses since it doesn't affect pH as much as Soda Ash).
4) Test 10 minutes later and confirm that the levels are indeed now at the desired level.
5) The following day test again . If the levels have dropped then use the calculator to identify how much you need to add. This should be your new starting daily dose.
6) Use the alkalinity dose as your reference and start dosing equal amounts of calcium and alkalinity daily. You will need to test daily until you get the rhythm of how this works and then weekly or monthly will work depending on whats in the tank and the growth you are getting.

As a reference point, in the BRS 160 we have 50 or so colonies of growing corals. Our daily dose on the tank is 150ml a day. If we added 20% more calcium and alkalinity to the tank, the levels would likely rise, but if we doubled it we would likely see calcium and alkalinity fall due to the effects of all the fresh calcium carbonate crystals and precipitation.

Thank you so much for the reply @RT_BRS.

You are correct about not having much of a demand. I only have live rock, sand, a few mushrooms, zoas, and one small frag of SPS. Nothing really consuming other than Coralline Algae.

So I just turned off my dosing pumps (they did dose today -last dose finished at 8:32pm) and ran my alk and cal test.

12/5 -alk @ 10:00PM - 7.45dkh
Cal @ 10:15PM - 410ppm

As you advised, I will keep my dosing pumps off and take readings at the same time tomorrow.

Thanks again for the help, and please keep tagging along until I get this figured out!

 

[randyBRS]

Thank you so much for the reply @RT_BRS.

You are correct about not having much of a demand. I only have live rock, sand, a few mushrooms, zoas, and one small frag of SPS. Nothing really consuming other than Coralline Algae.

So I just turned off my dosing pumps (they did dose today -last dose finished at 8:32pm) and ran my alk and cal test.

12/5 -alk @ 10:00PM - 7.45dkh
Cal @ 10:15PM - 410ppm

As you advised, I will keep my dosing pumps off and take readings at the same time tomorrow.

Thanks again for the help, and please keep tagging along until I get this figured out!

Sounds good, keep us updated!

 

[Rick Gaas]

Sounds good, keep us updated!

12/6 - alk @ 10:00 - 6.4dkh
Cal @ 10:15 - 400ppm

Looks like my alk dropped 1.05dkh

BRS reef calculator wants me to add 165ml of Soda Ash to get back to 7.45dkh.

Added 165ml alk @ 10:55pm
Added 165ml cal @ 11:25pm

Tested again @
11:40pm alk - 7.6dkh
11:50pm cal - 405ppm

This is very close. I am going to leave my dosing pumps off for now to wait for a reply from BRS.

What are next steps? When should I start my dosing pumps? Should I hand dose tomorrow night? How much should I dose? I would like to help with ph swings if possible. Do I dose alk when lights are off and calcium during the day, or do I alternate?

Thanks again for all the help!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

One option is to switch to baking soda from sodium carbonate. Lower pH will reduce abiotic precipitation, if indeed that is an issue.

I'd target just 7 dKH for now, since higher alk leads to higher demand.

You can dose whenever you want, but to minimize the pH rise and fall, you might dose the alk in the night/early AM.

Separate the alk and calcium dosing by enough time for them to get mixed in and not mix together in super concentrated form. A few minutes should be enough in most cases.

 

[Eric83]

It's early, but it looks like I'm getting results. My dosing had been more out of whack than yours so I'm not sure if we are experiencing the exact same problem, but here's what I did:

1. Stop dosing
2. Clean (I had visible deposits, so I got rid of as much as possible)
3. 40% water change

I had been dosing about 5.7ml/gal/day. It would appear that I'm now down to about 0.35/ml/day. Although its still a little early to say for sure and I haven't started dosing again.

I stopped dosing the day before I cleaned the tank and did the WC. In that initial 23hrs or so before I cleaned the tank dropped from 7.9dkh to 6.0dkh. After cleaning and WC my alk was at 8.9, 14hrs later it's at 8.6.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The issue is that sometimes you can get into a cycle of excessive precipitation, and more fresh calcium carbonate surfaces allow for more precipitation. Backing off that cycle for a bit, allowing the new surfaces to become clogged with magnesium, phosphate, and organics, can slow it down.

 

[Rick Gaas]

12/7 - alk @ 10:15pm - 6.4dkh

Looks like my levels dropped the same as yesterday. I am going to go ahead and set my dosing pumps to dose 165ml on the below schedule and see how it goes:

Alk 4:00am - 6:30am (165ml)
Cal 8:00am - 10:30am (165ml)