Red sea equal parts
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Randy Holmes-Farley
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Which product exactly?
Saw that this thread was a few months ago and I figured I would ask about it, since my last thread was about balancing alkalinity and calcium.
I read your article Randy, the article regarding the reasons behind low alkalinity in relation to calcium, and how both additives may need to be dosed more in order for both levels to stabilize.
I read that Red Sea foundation ABC is technically not a two part solution, so I thought, how can I add these in a balanced manner? I thought by adding enough alk to raise the dKH by 1.4 and calcium by 10 PPM per day would be a good place to start. I got these numbers from halving the 2.8 dKH that is consumed with 20 PPM of calcium.
You had told me that I should use sodium bicarbonate for a few days to keep my alk above 7. I am using about 120 mL a day to raise it from about 6.8 to about 8.2.
Do you think my solution is a good place to start in leveling out my numbers? Thanks a bundle.
Randy Holmes-Farley
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Red Sea Foundation alk and calcium parts are close to 1:1 dosing. Just a tiny bit too much calcium (they use a ratio for pure calcium carbonate, but magnesium gets into the calcium carbonate in place of some of the calcium, so a little less than 20 ppm calcium per 1 meq/L (2.8 dKH) is actually consumed.
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.
