Math please

[BestMomEver]

I don’t have my math brain on today. I need help figuring out Red Sea Colors dosing based on calcium consumption. Here are the numbers

I dose 32ml per day
1ml/25g (100l) Red Sea Calcium = 2ppm
I have a 90 gallon tank.

Bioactive elements says add 1ml for every 20 ppm calcium/25 g (100l)
Potassium, iron, iodine say the same.

Just tell me how much to put in. My calcium consumption increases as corals grow so I have to adjust dosing of everything else.

 

[BestMomEver]

Bumpity-bump- bump.

 

[sbash]

lol, did you just bump your post after 23 minutes!?

If you are dosing 32ml of calcium solution, which is 64ppm (32 x 2) of calcium total for your 90 gallon. You have 3.6 25 gallon units (90/25) in your tank, so that means you are dosing 17.8ppm (64/3.6) of calcium for every 25 gallons. So I guess, you want to add 0.89ml (1/20 x 17.8) of supplement.

Weird stuff...

However, these numbers are only relevant to 90 gallons of water, not your tank's volume, so make sure you total system water volume is 90 gallons...

Let someone verify that math before proceeding...

 

[JimWelsh]

Bumpity-bump- bump.

Your 32 mL per 90 gallons is the same as 8.89 mL per 25 gallons. The calcium is that times 2 = 17.78 PPM. You should then add 17.78 / 20.0 = 0.889 mL of Bioactive elements. So, your ratio of Bioactive elements to the amount you dose as your dosing changes is 0.889 / 32 = 0.0278. Take the amount you dose, and multiply it by 0.0278 for the mL of Bioactive elements you should dose. This is entirely based on the information you gave in the original post.

 

[Dkeller_nc]

I don’t have my math brain on today. I need help figuring out Red Sea Colors dosing based on calcium consumption.
My calcium consumption increases as corals grow so I have to adjust dosing of everything else.

One thing to keep in mind is that consumption of trace elements being the same as calcium consumption (or more accurately, a ratio of calcium consumption) is not exactly a slam-dunk. It's a reasonable place to start, and for iron, which is not very soluble in reef tank water and will rapidly precipitate out, there's little danger. Potassium and iodine, however, can be toxic to your corals if the concentration goes too high.

The most expensive way to assess this would be ICP tests. If you're doing something akin to Dutch Synthetic Reefing, which means no water changes, occasional ICP assays might make a lot of sense. OTOH, if you're doing a set schedule of water changes, it may be hard to figure consumption based on those results.

A possibly less expensive, though perhaps a bit less certain, at least for potassium, would be wet tests like the ones sold by Salifert for potassium and iodine.

 

[BestMomEver]

One thing to keep in mind is that consumption of trace elements being the same as calcium consumption (or more accurately, a ratio of calcium consumption) is not exactly a slam-dunk. It's a reasonable place to start, and for iron, which is not very soluble in reef tank water and will rapidly precipitate out, there's little danger. Potassium and iodine, however, can be toxic to your corals if the concentration goes too high.

The most expensive way to assess this would be ICP tests. If you're doing something akin to Dutch Synthetic Reefing, which means no water changes, occasional ICP assays might make a lot of sense. OTOH, if you're doing a set schedule of water changes, it may be hard to figure consumption based on those results.

A possibly less expensive, though perhaps a bit less certain, at least for potassium, would be wet tests like the ones sold by Salifert for potassium and iodine.

Thanks so much! I only dose weekly or every other week. I typically test iron, iodine, and potassium using Red Sea’s test kit every quarter or so. I have used ICP tests in the past. I’m usually low on potassium. I do water changes every other week.... 10%

 

[Js.Aqua.Project]

Red Sea instructions ratio the Trace Colors supplement at 1:10 with their Car supplement.

So of you are dosing 32ml Ca, dose 3.2ml of each Trace Colors supplement.

I know that's not what you're currently using, but it makes life really simple.