Whats everyone dosing for alk cal mag?

[christianscorals]

Hello. I have a 25g mixed reef tank (softies, lps, sps, nps, nems) and I was wondering what everyone was using as far as dosing alk cal and mag. I’ve been using the redsea foundation A B C for a while now but it has never been accurate in what i want to raise each element by so it’s a hit or miss every time, even if the volume of water in my tank is consistent. Sometimes (X)ML will raise the proper amount of ppm and another day the same amount of ML will skyrocket the amount of ppm…

Side note: My calcium does not get consumed as quick as alk so I don’t think i can consider all for reef by tropic marin or 2 part solutions. Unless any expert reefer thinks otherwise, i’m open to any input.

Thanks for any help

 

[RichReef]

Seachem Reef Builder and Seachem Reef Advantage powders.

Reef Advantage takes care of MAG. It's never been below 1250.

8lb buckets lasts about 10-12 months.

 

[PatW]

I use Bulk Reef Supply 2 part. I think it just follows Randy’s 2 part. The Calcium is just Calcium Chloride and the ALK is just Soda Ash. So it is nothing fancy. It is “pharma grade”. It is easy to mix up. Just 2.5 cups of the Calcium Chloride or Soda Ash into 1 gallon of RODI. They have a magnesium component also. So why is it called “2 part”? Must be a history there. I have never needed to add magnesium. Water changes are enough to maintain it.

My tank is 300 gallon so I go through a gallon of mixed up stuff pretty regularly. In your case, even with a decent level of growth, a gallon of mixed up reagent would last you quite some time.

 

[christianscorals]

Seachem Reef Builder and Seachem Reef Advantage powders.

Reef Advantage takes care of MAG. It's never been below 1250.

8lb buckets lasts about 10-12 months.

Will look into it, thanks. Do powders clog dosing pumps?

 

[christianscorals]

I use Bulk Reef Supply 2 part. I think it just follows Randy’s 2 part. The Calcium is just Calcium Chloride and the ALK is just Soda Ash. So it is nothing fancy. It is “pharma grade”. It is easy to mix up. Just 2.5 cups of the Calcium Chloride or Soda Ash into 1 gallon of RODI. They have a magnesium component also. So why is it called “2 part”? Must be a history there. I have never needed to add magnesium. Water changes are enough to maintain it.

My tank is 300 gallon so I go through a gallon of mixed up stuff pretty regularly. In your case, even with a decent level of growth, a gallon of mixed up reagent would last you quite some time.

Nice. Thank you. I am considering going BRS because of the calculator for accuracy where as Redsea only has bottle instructions for 1 set volume.

 

[happyhourhero]

I use all for reef in my 25. Love it.

 

[scottj6]

BRS 2 part is really good. I'm currently using AFR and love it

 

[shakacuz]

i use the powdered version of brightwell aquatics. alkalin8.3-p, magnesion-p, and calcion-p. i made the switch from red sea ABC due to the same issue(as well as it adding trace elements into my tank, and throwing things off balance). i also made this switch since i began the reef moonshiners method. so far so good, but it has not been long enough to see any changes.

edit: i don't feel too confident in the alkaline8.3 product. my pH (as far as my hanna egg checker) reads over 8.6 mostly, which is probably not the case..

 

[PatW]

Will look into it, thanks. Do powders clog dosing pumps?

It dissolves completely. I have had no problems. If you want, you can double the dilution and run the pump longer.

 

[blaxsun]

Nyos alkalinity, calcium and magnesium powder.

 

[Ahuse23]

Esv two part and mag when needed.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Hello. I have a 25g mixed reef tank (softies, lps, sps, nps, nems) and I was wondering what everyone was using as far as dosing alk cal and mag. I’ve been using the redsea foundation A B C for a while now but it has never been accurate in what i want to raise each element by so it’s a hit or miss every time, even if the volume of water in my tank is consistent. Sometimes (X)ML will raise the proper amount of ppm and another day the same amount of ML will skyrocket the amount of ppm…

Side note: My calcium does not get consumed as quick as alk so I don’t think i can consider all for reef by tropic marin or 2 part solutions. Unless any expert reefer thinks otherwise, i’m open to any input.

Thanks for any help

What do you mean its not accurate?

You do know that the Red Sea products are not designed for 1:1 dosing, and it should never be 1:1 with that product.

 

[christianscorals]

What do you mean its not accurate?

You do know that the Red Sea products are not designed for 1:1 dosing, and it should never be 1:1 with that product.

uh oh… mind expanding on that a bit?

I have the liquid Alk, Cal, and Mag by redsea

what i do is if i need cal, i dose Xml in my tank to bring the respective ppm back up. same with mag and the alk is set to dose from a doser straight out of the bottle which is what my lfs advised me to do.

is that not the correct way to do it?

in other words, i’m just dosing ML straight out of the redsea bottles according to what amount of ppm the bottle instructs it’d raise

 

[mehaffydr]

I use BRS powder.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

in other words, i’m just dosing ML straight out of the redsea bottles according to what amount of ppm the bottle instructs it’d raise

That is fine.

Most companies have designed their two or three part systems for equal volume dosing of the calcium and alk parts, so that one can measure alk, and dose everything else based on it. It is much more precise than trying to dose based on calcium demand since calcium moves more slowly and kits are not super precise. Then only slowly adjust calcium dosing over long periods if it seems to be drifting too high or too low.

Red Sea has taken a different route, and their calcium product is very concentrated, needing much less than their alk part, requiring measuring of both alk and calcium to dose them.

 

[piranhaman00]

Sodium hydroxide or sodium bicarbonate

Calcium chloride

Brightwell Magnesion

 

[highest_tides]

All-4-reef

 

[bdare]

Calcium reactor with Remag. Takes care of all 3.

 

[Grimmj]

Been using all for reef for cal and alk. I had to boost my mag at one point with kent

 

[christianscorals]

That is fine.

Most companies have designed their two or three part systems for equal volume dosing of the calcium and alk parts, so that one can measure alk, and dose everything else based on it. It is much more precise than trying to dose based on calcium demand since calcium moves more slowly and kits are not super precise. Then only slowly adjust calcium dosing over long periods if it seems to be drifting too high or too low.

Red Sea has taken a different route, and their calcium product is very concentrated, needing much less than their alk part, requiring measuring of both alk and calcium to dose them.

Thanks for the info. What product(s) would you recommend for my situation? Especially if I only have 1 doser and my cal is consumed at a slower rate than alk?