Which 2 part?

[reelss]

3 months in on my reef tank and i finally ran a complete test:
Salinity 1.024,
pH 7.8,
Alk 8.7 dkh,
Nitrate 0,
Phosphate 0,
Calcium 385,
Magnesium 1000.

I am not dosing anything yet, but thinking about starting a 2 part. What do you all recommend? I've looked in to BRS and Seachem Fusion...which do you guys use?

 

[Tautog]

I use BRS, but on a young tank, without many corals, there isn’t a high demand . WC’s should be enough for now. Let your tank mature. I didn’t start 2- part until year 2

 

[mitch91175]

Although you may not at this point need to dose 2 part, it till is a good exercise to measure your parameters so you can get an idea of your consumption. You mag looks a little low to me. Not critical, but you may want to keep it a little higher than 1000 to help keep algae outbreaks at bay. From everything that I have read is that higher magnesium helps with certain types of algae outbreaks.

 

[reelss]

Although you may not at this point need to dose 2 part, it till is a good exercise to measure your parameters so you can get an idea of your consumption. You mag looks a little low to me. Not critical, but you may want to keep it a little higher than 1000 to help keep algae outbreaks at bay. From everything that I have read is that higher magnesium helps with certain types of algae outbreaks.

So if i don't use the 2 part, how can i get my calcium and magnesium levels up?

 

[mitch91175]

So if i don't use the 2 part, how can i get my calcium and magnesium levels up?

You can do a water change or you can use 2 part. 2 part would be easier than the water change. You can use the homemade recipe that is on the board or just get BRS stuff, mix it up and use the calculator on their website to increase where you want it.

Doing a water change to increase mag will take a lot of water, so doing 2 part will honestly be your best bet.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Currently I'm using BRS 2 part. But I agree with above, monitor your levels daily, and watch your alk and calcium consumption. If they aren't significant you can keep these levels up with water changes. If they're depleting at a considerable level then you may want to either start 2 part or a kalkwasser solution. How will you know how much is a considerable amount? That's a great question and I don't know if there is a set number. Myself personally I started 2 part when I was seeing my DKH drop almost a whole point a day. Before that I was just supplimenting with water changes aand Kent Marine Calcium and Baking soda. 2 part, while it seems more intimidating, is soooooo much easier.

 

[ZAB]

You can also use kalkwasser..to calicium,alk.and has a side benefit to help lower phosphates.

 

[mitch91175]

You can also use kalkwasser..to calicium,alk.and has a side benefit to help lower phosphates.

Good call @ZAB. You will still need to do something for magnesium.

 

[ZAB]

You can also use kalkwasser..to calicium,alk.and has a side benefit to help lower phosphates.

Sorry for type of..these sausage fingers of mine..hard to type on phone

 

[SteadyC]

I think your decision would be better answered by knowing what kind of corals do you plan to keep. If you are only doing softies, you maybe don’t need to dose anything and just do water changes. Or manual doses to correct shortages like your mag, which you can use BRS mag, mix some up and pour some in. Your Alk seems maintained with whatever you are doing today. Until we know which corals you plan to keep, can’t answer on your calcium. For example, if you have softies, I wouldn’t worry about your calcium, if you plan to keep LPS or SPS, I would increase it a bit.

If you plan to, or have LPS or SPS, dosing is probably a good idea. The options are pretty endless, Triton system, BRS, ESV B-Ionic (which I hear also includes trace elements in addition to macro elements (calcium, alk, mag), Red Sea, are the brands I prefer. Or read about more from other reefers.

I personally use kalk as part of my ATO (calcium, alk, PH increaser all in one), additional daily dose of sodium carbonate (BRS alk supplement, kalk doesn’t keep up with my alk needs alone), BRS mag, and Triton potassium. All of these are automated, dosed daily. I then manually dose, weekly, Red Sea Colors for trace elements.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I'm suspicious the magnesium value (1000 ppm) is not correct. What kit did you use? It would take a long time to get to where you are from most starting salt mixes, dosing calcium and alkalinity and no magnesium.

Even the low salinity you are at does not explain it, but raising it to 35 ppt (sg = 1.0264) will boost magnesium to 1100 ppm, assuming it is currently at 1000 ppm.