An Improved Do-it-Yourself Two-Part Calcium and Alkalinity Supplement Article Posted

[Chrismo]

Randy,
If there is a little bit of undisolved stuff at the bottom, I've just been shaking it up before pouring in. It seems to dissolve quickly in the tank. Is there anything wrong wih adding a bit of undisolved stuff?

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

In which part?

[tangblack]

Randy,

I have been checking my kh and noticed that it is dropping everyday. the calcium side seems ok. and seems to be going up.

Could the carbonate be too strong??
using recipe number 1

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It could be, but underdosing shows up in alkalinity long before it shows up in calcium,and most calcium kits have a lot more noise in the numbers that people often think. I'd raise the dose of both parts, and not reduce the calcium part unless the calcium rises above 450 ppm. That might happen due to to an off ratio, or due to water changes with a mix like Oceanic that has excessive calcium.
What form of calcium did you use?

[tangblack]

i have been using calcium reactor in the past and used to top up with calcium chloride or salifert coral calcium.

Currently my calcium is up to 440ppm and i dosed some baking soda today to get my alk up to 3.09mgl.

I will get the two part alk made a bit weaker and see what the levels are after 1 week,

Currently dosing 1.5litres a week , so it is quite a lot of two part solution.
I started to use the two part solution as my calcium reactor could not keep up , my cal/alk where always very low.

so far arfter 1 week of dosing there is no problems keeping up calcium levels. kh is a problem so hopefully if i reduce the strengh of the kh part it might keep my kh levels up.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I'd still stick to equal parts as I really do expect that you need both equally long term, but as long as you boost calcium if and when needed, that should be fine.

This article discusses the frequently observed "illusion" that alkalinity demand is higher than calcium demand even when dosing a perfect ratio (and shows when it might really be higher):

When Do Calcium and Alkalinity Demand Not Exactly Balance?
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-12/rhf/index.htm

[benraines]

Would it be ok to take two Kent Marine AquaDose 2.5 Gallon and use these to dose the 2 part recipe for calcium and alk.

Just wondering since I have read some posts where people say you shouldn't dose at the same time..

Thanks

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

yes, you can do that. You just don't want a big unmixed in cloud of alkalinity supplement to be interacting with a cloud of un mixed in calcium supplement. Have them drip apart from each other.

[benraines]

Thanks for the response and the great article... Have another question for you.....

I have 150G tank with a good bit of Softies and Fish 4-5" DSB...

I am wanting to use two KentMarine AquaDoses that i have aquired to do the dosing..

Just trying to figure out how to determine the settings for the Dosing each day...

The doser = 1 drip every 43 seconds will deliver about 200 milliliters per day(50 drips=5ml)

I know I can adjust the 1 drip every 43 seconds...

I am just trying to figure out how to convert that to your suggested starting of daily doses, which is 0.5mL/gallon a day.

Yes I have a mixed tank and am going to do Recipe 1...

Is their a difference in the verbage of ml and mL

I am trying to figure this out.. But if 50 drips=5.0 ml than 5 drip should = 1.0 ml which if I am reading it correctly I only want to dose about 2-3 drips a day.... That would be he*l to figure out...

Thanks for any input or pointing me in the right direction...


BenRaines

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Is their a difference in the verbage of ml and mL


No. Biologists seem to use ml more and chemists use mL.

There is no need to drop this additive at all, but if you want to I can assist.

In a 125, you'll start with something like 0.5 mL per gallon = 0.5 x 125 = 62.5 mL per day. That would be 625 drips per day by your drop size estimate.

[benraines]

That clears things up...

Now to break out the Calculator or Excel to figure out my drips...

My corals and fish say Thank You


Thanks so much for your response and help at ReefCentral..


BenRaines

NoResponseNeeded

[benraines]

Ok... I need slapped upside the head for stupidity....

I read through this whole article, my kent doser documentation and studied Randy's 2 part recipe..

Couldn't figure out how many drips or the difference between some conversions in using his charts.....

The whole time I misread the meanings of the numbers in the tables...

?.? mL/Gallon Per Gallon.... like an idiot I thought the number was for mL or Gallons and the whole time it was per Gallon of water in the tank..


Sometimes we just read to deep into things...

Thanks again

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

No problem.

You're welcome and good luck!

[benraines]

You thanked me to quick....

Ok... So I don't overdose my tank does this seem right....

My tank/sump is about 150 gallons.. so thats 75ml/day

So 75 ml = 750 drips

60 seconds in a minute
3600 seconds in an hour
86400 seconds in a day

So that would be one drip ever 115 seconds..... 86400/750



That sounds about right...

Thanks for all the help....

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Yes, that seems right. It would be good to not initially put too much fluid in the dripper, in case it drips a lot faster than you think.

[New Reefer]

Hi Randy,

Firstly, THANK YOU for this excellent recipe...

Now for my questions:

1.) The US seems to be the last bastion of the old imperial measuring system, with *most* of the rest of the world using the metric (SI) system. Personally, having been "metricated" for the past 30-odd years, I find the foot, pound, gallon measurements totally confusing, and very inconvenient, so I decided to convert your recipe into metric.

Would you please check my figures, and confirm if this is correct - if not, please feel free to correct me

I changed the concentration of the magnesium part so that one would add one liter of part 3a for every liter of parts 1 and 2 added (I like to keep things simple, and this way one can just add equal parts of all 3 ingredients every day, if my thinking is correct...)

The metric recipe:

Part 1: 132 grams CaCl2.2H2O per liter of water

Part 2: 157 grams NaHCO3 or 99 grams Na2CO3

Part 3(a): 120ml MgSO4 plus 200ml MgCl2.6H2O

2.) My tank has a rather high Ca demand. I'm currently running a calcium reactor and dripping lime as well, and the combination results in a fairly stable pH. I'm planning on using the 2-part additive as a supplement (my tank is still dropping ~0.5 dKH per day), and I would prefer it to not change the pH, if possible. Could one combine both the "unbaked" and "baked" baking soda in a ratio which would result in a ph of 8.0 - 8.5? if so, what should the ratio be to achieve the same "balance" with the rest of the ingredients?

Regards,
Hennie

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I'll go through the numbers later, but in general, using Recipe 2 will have very little impact on pH. You can combine them however you wish, but IMO, that is actually more a theoretically attractive idea than one that is useful in practice. If you choose to do it, just use a dilution similar to recipe 2, but bake about 15% of the baking soda that is used.

You can certainly dilute the magnesium part up to the point where you add equal amounts of all three every day as well, but that is more work than just adding it occasionally.

[New Reefer]

I'll go through the numbers later

Hi Randy, at the risk of being a may I remind you of this

Thanks,
Hennie

[Paul B]

Randy I hate to say it but after one gallon of your Dow Flake recipe my calcium is 400 which is where I want it. For the last thirty five years it never went over 350. I love this stuff.
Paul

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Hay, Paul, maybe it would work even better if you mixed it in old beer bottles.

Hennie:

I guess later can be now.

So if you want the additive to have little effect on pH, try 10 parts of Recipe 2 and 1 part of Recipe 1. Is that want you wanted? then if you see any overall effect at the particular pH that you are at, try boosting one of the parts relative to the other.

[Paul B]

How about one of these?

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Yes, those would be perfect.

[New Reefer]

So if you want the additive to have little effect on pH, try 10 parts of Recipe 2 and 1 part of Recipe 1.

Thanks, will do...

Is that want you wanted?

Well, yes and no

I would still appreciate it if you could check / confirm my calculations for a METRIC recipe from a previous post:

The metric recipe (per 1 liter of additive, with the Mg portion diluted to one liter, per liter of Ca added):

Part 1: 132 grams CaCl2.2H2O per liter of water

Part 2: 157 grams NaHCO3 or 99 grams Na2CO3

Part 3(a): 120ml MgSO4 plus 200ml MgCl2.6H2O"

Thanks,
Hennie

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The first two parts are fine. Do you really mean MgSO4, or Epsom salts, which is MgSO4 x 7 H2O for part 3?

For Epsom salts, I believe it should be:

187 mL of dry Epsom salts per L
plus
311 mL of dry MgCl2 6H2O

[johns]

wait I just got confused here:

Part 2: 157 grams NaHCO3 or 99 grams Na2CO3

Why the difference between the 2? I thought we measure the weight BEFORE drying the baking soda. what am I missing here?