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How is precipitation when mixing yourself? Does the gallon come out nice and clear order particles fall out to the bottom?
SPS Two Part Question
- Thread starter Brandon McHenry
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Comparing the performance of both, price aside, which do you feel worked better for your reef?
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That just involves calcium chloride and baking soda right? You mix it yourself and then use a dosing pump? How is the performance when you compare to commercial brands?
Jdmonealp
Community Member
completely clear. magnesium is a little more difficult to get completely disolved... you mix like 2-3 cups of stuff in 1 gal of water. a little heat fixes it. get hot water in your sink and put the gallon jug in it, then shake the jug up after 10 min or so. mixes right up
OP
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Cool I will definitely look in to it.
Big E
Valuable Member
Yes, baking soda is 50 cents a pound at Aldis , Save a Lot or other discount grocery stores.
I'm using Peladow right now........its under $20 for a 50 lb. bag.
You can dose Randy's Mg recipe also, but my Mg stays up with my water changes, so I don't dose Mg.
I've never used the commercial brands as I went right from a calcium reactor to Randys two part and never had any reason to change.
Here is my tank thread--
http://reef2reef.com/threads/big-e-rimless-80g-sps.206607/page-2
I have a ton of growth shots in this thread--
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2197142&page=12
OP
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Holy cow! You're corals trump mine in color! Im really pretty jealous LOL. Great job congrats!
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Also how did you manage to take such nice pictures? My tank shots never look that good. Everything always looks funny.
billwill
Well-Known Member
I'd highly recommend a calcium reactor simply for the fact that you can fill it and enjoy your tank for three or so months before having to deal with it again. I got tired of mixing my 2 part once a month. The bigger thing I noticed switching from 2 part to calcium reactor though was no more clogged up pumps and gfo from calcification. Can't explain why, but it's a real phenomenon.
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Thats a pretty big investment though if I'm not mistaken. Just wondering what the real trade off will be.
I've used baking soda and CaCl from brs for a long time and I have never had an issue. I've got many large sps colonies and also top off with 30 ltr of limewater a day
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What is the yield on say the 1 gallon jug of CaCl or Soda Ash?
Big E
Valuable Member
Thanks for the compliments in your other post..........as far as pictures I use a camera (not a phone) and shoot everything in RAW mode and a custom white balance. It doesn't matter what the light source is..........you can duplicate what the eye sees.......it's not that hard and you don't have to be an expert.
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I have tried a camera with custom white balance and all the blue disappears. It's either too blue or not enough. What is RAW mode? Can you set it on the camera or do you have to change the file on the computer? Also do you have to use a picture editor like photoshop?
Not sure what you mean? I use 297 grams of baking soda and 250g of CaCl to make each gallon of the two part. I dose about 500 ml a day of each. I store my 2 part in 2.5 gallon carboys that I have to refill them once a month or so
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Thats what I was getting at. Like how many liquid gallons do you get from the gallon of powder.
Big E
Valuable Member
Look at the link I posted for you on post #20............that will answer your questions......that's the two part link and Randy's recipe. If you have more technical questions you may want to ask Randy in the chemical section. I believe his recipes are similar in concentration to a gallon of the commercial brands.
Something I think you're not getting it's just chemicals, nothing special.........some of the commercial brands claim their product is more pure or they have other essential elements. Most of all that is just marketing........that's why I posted my tank thread to show that you can have acros thrive using Randy's two part.
Their claims are basically bogus imo, and water changes will keep other elements balanced, you don't need to dose them on top of that.
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On the camera-- yes RAW is a setting on the camera.........it makes it much easier to reproduce pictures. If you need more technical aspects just ask the experts in the photography section. I just do what they suggest and then trial and error pictures to fine tune to my camera. I take a ton of pictures and just learn that way.
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I was just trying to figure out yield so I can do a little cost analysis. I was mostly concerned with the BRS two part. They sell a 1 gallon jug of powder and I just wanted to relate that to gallons of properly prepared supplement for dosing. I am wary of Randy's recipe because it looks a little more technical than I am looking for. Im sure its great and relatively easy but Id rather go with something more mix and go like BRS if I'm going to switch.
Yes I understand they are just chemicals. That is essentially why I started this thread because I feel like I am spending too much money on the 2 part I am buying now and I am just looking for a well tested and solid replacement. Your tank clearly is thriving and is very impressive.
And I figured out the RAW setting and took some pictures. You can see them on my color thread if you are interested. Feel free to offer some suggestions if you have any in regards to my color situation. Here is the link:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/just-another-sps-color-thread.218506/page-2#post-2543730
Brs is Randy's recipe
For close to a decade I've used only Kalk in my topoff and arm an hammer baking soda purchased at Costco in large bags and CaCl purchased either locally or from brs in 5 gallon buckets, plus Epsom salt and MgCl bought from brs
This is my current setup, been up over five years.
For close to a decade I've used only Kalk in my topoff and arm an hammer baking soda purchased at Costco in large bags and CaCl purchased either locally or from brs in 5 gallon buckets, plus Epsom salt and MgCl bought from brs
This is my current setup, been up over five years.
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