Working out ongoing costs of a dosing regime

The Opinionated Reefer · Sep 27, 2022

So how do I work out the ongoing cost of one dosing system vs another?

For example, I am currently using ATI Essentials pro

So if you have 300Litre tank that uses 1dkh a day of alkalinity it will take 21ml of pro to meet demand.

I can buy a 10 liter pair of bottles for £104 (pound Sterling)

That 10L set would last me 476 days at that consumption rate.

I believe ATI Essentials pro is 7ml per 100L to raise it by 1dkh

If I was to change to the Original balling method I can get 3 x 1kg of powders that make 5L of solution each for £36.95

I think 30ml of this raises 35L by 2.2 DKH but the different powders are used at a slightly different rate so part c would last much longer than parts A and B.

How do I work out the cost of these on a cost per dkh or cost per week basis? Bare in mind I will probably have to include Trace separately with the original balling method.

I just want to find out what ongoing costs of each are compared to each other.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 27, 2022

Best way is to assume an alk depletion rate (doesn't need to match yours for this purpose).

Say, 1 dKH per day in a 100 gallon tank.

Then work out what you need from each product, and then what it would cost.

The Opinionated Reefer · Sep 27, 2022

So if I just use my original example of

300L tank using 1dkh a day that would be £104/476 = 22 pence per day for ATI in a 10L set.

Working out the original balling method is a bit more difficult.

30ml of this raises 35L by 2.2 DKH as opposed to 7ml of ATI raises 100L 1 dkh.

100/35 = 2.85

2.85 x 30 = 85.5ml to raise 100L by 2.2 dkh

85.5/2 = 42.5ml to raise 100L by 1.1 dkh. Take away the 0.5 to make 42ml to raise 100L by 1 dkh roughly.

So ATI ESSENTIALS Pro is 6 times more concentrated than tropic marin original balling?

Surely my math is wrong somewhere?

Anyway, 3 x 1kg of balling classic powders for £36.95

Salt needed for 5 L solution:
Calcium chloride dihydrate (part A): 380 g
Sodium carbonate/sodium bicarbonate (part B): 378 g
Sodium chloride-free sea salt (part C): 120 g

5 L of solution will only last 119 days 5000/42 = 119

But the 1kg of powder makes 13L of alk solution since 1000/380 = 2.63

2.6 x 5000 - 13000

so 13000/42 = 309 days

so 36.95/309 = 0.119 so you could say it is 12 pence per day.

And maybe even cheaper as the 1kg of Sodium chloride-free sea will make 8 x 5L so will only need to buy refills of parts A and B.

Ah but then we need to add trace so:

1litre of A and K elements is £23 each so that's £46

So dosed at 3ml per day would be 333 days

46/333 = 0.14 so it 14 pence a day to dose trace element

So works out at 26 pence a day to dose the original balling with added trace elements. Could buy in bigger bulk and save a bit more and get it down to around 10 pence. That's if I bought the powders in 4kg each boxes and 5L bottles of A and K trace.

I dunno does all this look correct or am I way off here lol

The Opinionated Reefer · Sep 28, 2022

So I have been told i can use food grades A and B

76g/l calcium chloride
84g/l sodium bicarbonate
24g/l Tropic Marin Part C

Or 53g/l of sodium carbonate if you want a pH boost.

So how are these numbers worked out compared to the tropic marin powders given that the Alk part is a mixture of carbonate/bicaronate.

Do the numbers i have been given look correct for dosing equal amounts of each liquid?