New Dosing Pump Setup for 2 part

Brad Woolard · Mar 11, 2016

Hello.. I'm new to the forum and pretty new to the hobby. I've kept freshwater tanks for years and about a year ago set up my first saltwater tank. I have a 120 gallon mixed reef of mostly LPS and a few SPS and zoas. I have a Eshopps RS200 with a refugium holding I would guess 20 or 25 gallons. I recently purchased a dosing pump and I'm hoping I can get some help in getting it dialed in. I am using Fritz Pro supplements and salt. I asked for a recommendation for mixing strength from Fritz and they referred me here:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/

After reading up I mixed up 1 gallon containers with 200g of calcium chloride and 297g of sodium carbonate and dosed 120ml a day of each. 10ml of calcium an hour for 12 hours and then 10ml of carbonate per hour for 12 hours. I started at 9dkh, 440ppm calcium, and 1350 magnesium and hoped to maintain things there since that is what my LFS runs their tanks at and I thought that would make acclimation easier. I haven't started dosing magnesium yet. I thought I would get dialed in for calcium and alkalinity before I messed with mangesium.

After 3 days of running the dosing schedule I checked and everything had been maintained perfectly. I double tested everything and got duplicate results so I believe it to be an accurate test. I am using API test kits. Today is day 5 and now my parameters are 11dkh, 400ppm calcium. Again, double testing with same results. I didn't test magnesium but was around 1350 when began dosing. So I assume I am overdosing? What adjustments should I make to my dosing schedule to get things back to where they should be? Is my calcium lower because my alkalinity is high and causing more calcium to be used? Or do I need to adjust them independently? Did I make a mistake in mixing up my solutions? For now I just cut the dosing in half to 5ml instead of 10ml of each for 12 hours and thought I would keep an eye on things and see how it responds.

Anyway, I would appreciate any help or advice that anyone could offer.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 12, 2016

Yes, if alkalinity is rising, that is an indication that you are dosing too much. It can take a while to dial in a dose, and then it may require frequent revisiting as the tank changes.

I'd drop the alkalinity dose by half and see what that does over several days.

I'd stick with the calcium dose longer before adjusting. It is slow to change and your result may just be random testing variation.

Any particular reason why you made the dosing solutions the concentrations that you did? What type of calcium chloride did you use (hydrated or not)?

Brad Woolard · Mar 12, 2016

Thank you for your response. The Fritz Pro calcium is anhydrous calcium chloride I believe. I am at work right now so I Don't have the jug in front of me. Those are the concentrations that I came up with after reading the link I posted in my initial post. Did I miscalculate something in my mixing? I was mixing up for the weaker solution in the article above. So you think I did the correct thing by just cutting my dose in half? I did that for both calcium and alkalinity. I figured I'd check again in a few days and see how things were looking. I appreciate your help. Thank you.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 12, 2016

Well, you used my recipe #2, but used the wrong ingredients. It is for baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and hydrated calcium chloride. So it is not balanced the way the recipe is designed, but you can use those solutions, just not necessarily equal volumes to meet demand.

Cutting the dose in half is a fine plan, yes.

Brad Woolard · Mar 12, 2016

Ok. I did reduce my calcium by 20% as indicated since I was using anhydrous calcium. And if I remember right the instructions indicated to bake the baking soda? Which would basically convert it from sodium bicarbonate to sodium carbonate if I'm understanding correctly? Do you have a different recommendation as far as mixing concentrations? If it will keep me from screwing up my tank I'll dump what I made up already and remix at a difference concentration.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 12, 2016

Brad Woolard said:
Ok. I did reduce my calcium by 20% as indicated since I was using anhydrous calcium. And if I remember right the instructions indicated to bake the baking soda? Which would basically convert it from sodium bicarbonate to sodium carbonate if I'm understanding correctly? Do you have a different recommendation as far as mixing concentrations? If it will keep me from screwing up my tank I'll dump what I made up already and remix at a difference concentration.

The baking reduces the weight too. Also, when using carbonate you can use the more concentrated recipe if you want.

Anyway, 297 grams of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) is equivalent in alkalinity to 187 grams of sodium carbonate.

Brad Woolard · Mar 13, 2016

Ok. I guess I didn't take into consideration the weight change. So my ratio is way off then. I think I might just turn off the dosing pump and wait for my alkalinity to drop back down, then dose my calcium back up to where I want it and start over again with your recipe #1. And if I'm understanding things right I should mix up 374g of sodium carbonate and 400g of anhydrous calcium chloride? If the recipe calls for 594g of sodium bicarbonate and 297g of sodium bicarbonate is equal to 187g sodium carbonate, then I should use 187g x 2 = 374g sodium carbonate for that recipe?

Brad Woolard · Mar 14, 2016

Would those be the correct concentrations to mix at? Is the conversion you gave me before or after baking? I just want to make sure I get things right this time so I can keep it simple and dose equal parts. Thank you for your help.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 15, 2016

To use my recipe #1 with your ingredients, use 250 grams of sodium carbonate and 400 grams of "anhydrous" calcium chloride.

Remember to use and make the magnesium part as described, if you can get the ingredients, because it does more than just add magnesium. It maintains magnesium where it is and keeps chloride from rising relative to sulfate.

Brad Woolard · Mar 15, 2016

Yes.. I do have both of the magnesium ingredients. Ill be mixing it up soon. I just thought it would be best to get calcium and alkalinity dialed in first so I know what rate to dose the magnesium at. I mixed up calcium and alk tonight at the concentrations you provided so I'll start dosing that once I get things back to proper levels. Thank you for your help randy.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 16, 2016

Brad Woolard said:
Yes.. I do have both of the magnesium ingredients. Ill be mixing it up soon. I just thought it would be best to get calcium and alkalinity dialed in first so I know what rate to dose the magnesium at. I mixed up calcium and alk tonight at the concentrations you provided so I'll start dosing that once I get things back to proper levels. Thank you for your help randy.

Sounds perfect.

Happy Reefing.