That's what I started with. To every 1 mil of alk I added 1 mil of cal. Tested every 24 hours and adjusted. Did that manually at the same time of day for few months then set up a doser. I use aquaforest Reef salt so I keep my dKH at 7.8-8.0. I tried Red seas recommend 12 dkh and lost some Monti's. Since then I'm believer of choose the salt that has the levels you want to run!
Questions about Red Sea "recipes"
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Randy Holmes-Farley
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Water changes likely messed with your demand ratio. The Red Sea Foundation program is a balanced additive system, or close to it. It has tiny bit too much calcium relative to alk.
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Randy Holmes-Farley
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StevenS01
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Hey Randy. When I say I’ve been having issues keeping my cal/alk balanced, I have been having issues when using the Red Sea reef foundation. I’m considering switching back to two part.
I have been having a constant problem with keeping my alk up, and have been adding 120 mL of sodium bicarbonate a day to raise the alk 1.4. When I test the next day it’s usually back down around 6.8.
Do you think dosing alk/cal equal to 1.4 dKH and 10 PPM of CA is a balanced dose when it comes to Red Sea?
Randy Holmes-Farley
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Randy Holmes-Farley
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You're welcome.
Happy Reefing.
Happy Reefing.
Randy Holmes-Farley
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FWIW, I do not know if they recently changed the concentrations or have a typo, but the Red Sea site now says Foundation is not balanced for 1:1 dosing:
pasted from a different thread:
Red Sea Foundation elements does not appear to be intended for 1:1 dosing (if you accept the data they give on their web site):
https://www.redseafish.com/reef-care-program/reef_foundation_program/reef-foundation-b/
Liquid supplement: 1ml will raise the Alk level of 100 liters (25 gal) by 0.036 meq/l (0.1dKH)
https://www.redseafish.com/reef-care-program/reef_foundation_program/reef-foundation-a/
Liquid supplement: 1ml will raise the Ca level of 100 liters (25 gal) by 2ppm.
So if we add 27.8 ml of each part to 25 gallons, we will have added:
27.8 x 0.036 meq/l = 1.00 meq/L (2.8 dKH)
27.8 x 2 ppm = 55.6 ppm
That is not the ratio for 1:1 dosing. The calcium part is way more potent and that is probably why you are using so much less. For 1:1 that same 27.8 mL per 25 gallons ought to be delivering about 18-20 ppm.
pasted from a different thread:
Red Sea Foundation elements does not appear to be intended for 1:1 dosing (if you accept the data they give on their web site):
https://www.redseafish.com/reef-care-program/reef_foundation_program/reef-foundation-b/
Liquid supplement: 1ml will raise the Alk level of 100 liters (25 gal) by 0.036 meq/l (0.1dKH)
https://www.redseafish.com/reef-care-program/reef_foundation_program/reef-foundation-a/
Liquid supplement: 1ml will raise the Ca level of 100 liters (25 gal) by 2ppm.
So if we add 27.8 ml of each part to 25 gallons, we will have added:
27.8 x 0.036 meq/l = 1.00 meq/L (2.8 dKH)
27.8 x 2 ppm = 55.6 ppm
That is not the ratio for 1:1 dosing. The calcium part is way more potent and that is probably why you are using so much less. For 1:1 that same 27.8 mL per 25 gallons ought to be delivering about 18-20 ppm.
Randy Holmes-Farley
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FWIW, I do not know if they recently changed the concentrations or have a typo, but the Red Sea site now says Foundation is not balanced for 1:1 dosing:
pasted from a different thread:
Red Sea Foundation elements does not appear to be intended for 1:1 dosing (if you accept the data they give on their web site):
https://www.redseafish.com/reef-care-program/reef_foundation_program/reef-foundation-b/
Liquid supplement: 1ml will raise the Alk level of 100 liters (25 gal) by 0.036 meq/l (0.1dKH)
https://www.redseafish.com/reef-care-program/reef_foundation_program/reef-foundation-a/
Liquid supplement: 1ml will raise the Ca level of 100 liters (25 gal) by 2ppm.
So if we add 27.8 ml of each part to 25 gallons, we will have added:
27.8 x 0.036 meq/l = 1.00 meq/L (2.8 dKH)
27.8 x 2 ppm = 55.6 ppm
That is not the ratio for 1:1 dosing. The calcium part is way more potent and that is probably why you are using so much less. For 1:1 that same 27.8 mL per 25 gallons ought to be delivering about 18-20 ppm.
pasted from a different thread:
Red Sea Foundation elements does not appear to be intended for 1:1 dosing (if you accept the data they give on their web site):
https://www.redseafish.com/reef-care-program/reef_foundation_program/reef-foundation-b/
Liquid supplement: 1ml will raise the Alk level of 100 liters (25 gal) by 0.036 meq/l (0.1dKH)
https://www.redseafish.com/reef-care-program/reef_foundation_program/reef-foundation-a/
Liquid supplement: 1ml will raise the Ca level of 100 liters (25 gal) by 2ppm.
So if we add 27.8 ml of each part to 25 gallons, we will have added:
27.8 x 0.036 meq/l = 1.00 meq/L (2.8 dKH)
27.8 x 2 ppm = 55.6 ppm
That is not the ratio for 1:1 dosing. The calcium part is way more potent and that is probably why you are using so much less. For 1:1 that same 27.8 mL per 25 gallons ought to be delivering about 18-20 ppm.
Damien Buckley
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You also have to take into account that Foundation B (alk) mixed from powder is 1/3 strength of Foundation B bought as liquid whereas Foundation A (calcium) is the same strength either powder mix or liquid. I currently dose 68ml of Foundation B and 10ml of Foundation A per day. They are nowhere near a 1:1 dosing regime whether you’re using the liquid product or powder stock and I don’t think they are meat to be.
