Let's get a TWO PART discussion going! Question for today!

[Waters]

1. How much are you dosing daily?
I dose roughly 25ml of CA and ALK daily.

2. How much water volume do you have?
105G tank with 26G sump.

3. What is your target DKH and Calcium?
8.4 and 450.

4. How heavily is your tank stocked with SPS coral?
Tank is 90% SPS with a few LPS.

5. What are the biggest pros and cons you have found with two part dosing?
Pros are happy coral Cons is the cost of the 2Part and dosing equipment.

 

[Brew12]

I think my noob questions is how long after daily dosing do you start seeing results?

You don't dose to see results. You dose to maintain chemistry. There are many different factors that will determine when your sps will start taking off.

 

[Rick.45cal]

Haha I look at the amounts of what y’all are dosing daily compared to what my tank is consuming and it makes me think I am crazy for dosing for so long. I am currently starting the process of switching over to a CaRx.

So I dose Tropic Marin Balling salts 24/7
My tank 160gallons (600 liters) of actual water volume is consuming
525 ml of part A
525 ml of Part B
525 ml of Part C
1575 ml total daily

I keep my dKh 8.5- 9
Calcium 420-400 generally
1440ppm Mg

I’d say the biggest con at this point is the expense in money and time that it costs me in making solutions all the time. The other big downside is dosing 1575ml of salts every day makes my salinity go up pretty quickly. If I don’t keep track of my salinity my tank ends up at 41 ppt . I have to remember to take water out of the system to combat the rise.

My system is a lot of SPS and coralline algae, I’ve had great success with using balling salts and am a litte nervous about changing what’s been so successful, but I am also having trouble keeping up now, so the CaRx is definitely the solution to this.

 

[MnFish1]

1400ml saturated kalkwasser
64ml each, alk and calc


170ish gallons


9dkh, 450ppm


I'd say lightly

Pro's - Very easy to do, requires almost no interaction for weeks at a time.
Con's - Will be tough in a heavily stocked tank.

Nice tank! Do you dose your kalk in your ATO? That seems like a huge amount of kalk to add in addition to 64 or ca and alk - though you do have a fair bit of Coraline and SPS. Do you think you might have some precipitation?

 

[Brew12]

Nice tank! Do you dose your kalk in your ATO? That seems like a huge amount of kalk to add in addition to 64 or ca and alk - though you do have a fair bit of Coraline and SPS. Do you think you might have some precipitation?

Thanks!
I do not use my ATO for kalk anymore, it was too inconsistent. I use a doser head to add 20ml 70 times a day. 1400mL sounds like alot, but it really isn't. It would be the same as dosing 30ml of 2-part. If I stopped with the kalk I figure I would need to dose 94ml of two part instead of 64ml.

 

[MnFish1]

Haha I look at the amounts of what y’all are dosing daily compared to what my tank is consuming and it makes me think I am crazy for dosing for so long. I am currently starting the process of switching over to a CaRx.

So I dose Tropic Marin Balling salts 24/7
My tank 160gallons (600 liters) of actual water volume is consuming
525 ml of part A
525 ml of Part B
525 ml of Part C
1575 ml total daily

I keep my dKh 8.5- 9
Calcium 420-400 generally
1440ppm Mg

I’d say the biggest con at this point is the expense in money and time that it costs me in making solutions all the time. The other big downside is dosing 1575ml of salts every day makes my salinity go up pretty quickly. If I don’t keep track of my salinity my tank ends up at 41 ppt . I have to remember to take water out of the system to combat the rise.

My system is a lot of SPS and coralline algae, I’ve had great success with using balling salts and am a litte nervous about changing what’s been so successful, but I am also having trouble keeping up now, so the CaRx is definitely the solution to this.

Do you know the concentrations of the CA and whatever they use for alk as compared to the BRS Standard 2 part?

 

[Brew12]

Do you know the concentrations of the CA and whatever they use for alk as compared to the BRS Standard 2 part?

The Tropic Marin balling salts are about 1/2 the strength of Randy's original 2-part recipe. So, he would be adding roughtly 270ml of each 2-part to achieve the same level.

 

[Rick.45cal]

Do you know the concentrations of the CA and whatever they use for alk as compared to the BRS Standard 2 part?

It’s a lower concentration than using BRS soda ash, the box says 2800 dKH/liter

 

[Brew12]

It’s a lower concentration than using BRS soda ash, the box says 2800 dKH/liter

Doesn't matter how you mix it, that is crazy consumption! If my math is right, your corals consume 2.4dKH per day! ;Drool

 

[Rick.45cal]

Doesn't matter how you mix it, that is crazy consumption! If my math is right, your corals consume 2.4dKH per day! ;Drool

That’s almost exactly what I’ve figured for the daily consumption so I think we must be pretty close to right. This tank has really blown me away, it’s far exceeded my expectations at this point.

 

[MnFish1]

Doesn't matter how you mix it, that is crazy consumption! If my math is right, your corals consume 2.4dKH per day! ;Drool

Thats what I thought as well - maybe its the coralline? or some PPT? Or are you breaking off fist sized pieces of coral each day

 

[Brew12]

That’s almost exactly what I’ve figured for the daily consumption so I think we must be pretty close to right. This tank has really blown me away, it’s far exceeded my expectations at this point.

I'm shocked you have put off getting a calcium reactor up to this point. Do you even need an ATO with all the volume you dose?

 

[MnFish1]

Doesn't matter how you mix it, that is crazy consumption! If my math is right, your corals consume 2.4dKH per day! ;Drool

Can you go through your math @Brew12? If its 2800 dkh/l and he is adding .525 leters/day - how do you get 2.4 dkh/day? Thanks

 

[Rick.45cal]

Thats what I thought as well - maybe its the coralline? or some PPT? Or are you breaking off fist sized pieces of coral each day

I’ve pulled about 2/3rds of a 5 gallonbucket of ORA German blue digi out before, pulled an enormous red monti cap (which is almost completely grown back). Almost every coral in the tank is already encrusted next to it’s neighbor and is warring with each other. The WWC slimeball anacropora is bigger than a basketball now. Everything in this tank was a frag, just FYI, no colonies were put in here.

To top it all off, the consumption rate is still steadily increasing and every few weeks I have to up the dosage! Lol

 

[Brew12]

Can you go through your math @Brew12? If its 2800 dkh/l and he is adding .525 leters/day - how do you get 2.4 dkh/day? Thanks

Of course!
I guessed Actually, this is how I did it. 2800dkh/L *0.525L = 1470dkh added per day. 160g total volume = 605.6L + the 1/2L he adds for roughly 606L. 1470dkh/606L = 2.42dkh

 

[MnFish1]

Of course!
I guessed Actually, this is how I did it. 2800dkh/L *0.525L = 1470dkh added per day. 160g total volume = 605.6L + the 1/2L he adds for roughly 606L. 1470dkh/606L = 2.42dkh

SO then the real units (which is what confused me) = 1470 dkh/606 l = 2.42 dkh/liter/day.

 

[Rick.45cal]

Of course!
I guessed Actually, this is how I did it. 2800dkh/L *0.525L = 1470dkh added per day. 160g total volume = 605.6L + the 1/2L he adds for roughly 606L. 1470dkh/606L = 2.42dkh

That’s how I figured it too!

 

[Brew12]

SO then the real units (which is what confused me) = 1470 dkh/606 l = 2.42 dkh/liter/day.

Exactly. This messes lots of people up. Of course, since consumption draws from every unit of measure equally it doesn't matter which unit of volume you use to express it in. You could state 2.42dkh per ml or per gallon or per tank.

 

[PDR]

1. How much are you dosing daily? - 20ml

2. How much water volume do you have? - 80 gallons

3. What is your target DKH and Calcium? - 9.0 and 450~

4. How heavily is your tank stocked with SPS coral? - Zero SPS

5. What are the biggest pros and cons you have found with two part dosing? - Pros: simple, cheap and easy. Cons: I forget to dose sometimes as I manually dose.

 

[MnFish1]

Exactly. This messes lots of people up. Of course, since consumption draws from every unit of measure equally it doesn't matter which unit of volume you use to express it in. You could state 2.42dkh per ml or per gallon or per tank.

Yep - I see your point. unless the person expressing it is not doing the calculation correctly. For example - if you had just done the original calculation 2800 dkh per liter *.525 liters - you would also get dKH. But it woudlnt be 2.4 dkh. I.e. you could say my tank uses 1720 dKH/day - but its really 2.4 dKH/liter/day. I think this is important to this thread - because Im also surprised at the varying amounts of 'alk' used/day - it only makes sense if you divide by the volume - to compare each tank to one another