Jump to content
inTank Media Baskets

2 part and water changes


do not smoke the reef(er)

Recommended Posts

do not smoke the reef(er)

Hey everyone

 

about to start dosing 2 part in my 20 gallon

 

My alkalinity goes from 8.4 dKH to 7.3dKH in about 5 days time. I do a weekly water change of about 15%.  I wanted to know how to dose accordingly to compensate for the weekly WC. I figured if i do not lower my Ca and Alk a little bit before the water change the levels would spike? Does the same happen with mag?

 

Do not want to overdose my tank and any insight would help, this is going to be my first attempt at dosing 2 part. 

 

Put a picture of my little DIY dosing containers and stand

IMG_7109 (1).JPG

Link to comment

Best way is to dose through the week to what your new water tests at OR dose up your new water. Then when you do a change your tank will be the same as the new water. 

 

Did you order those bulkheads in your containers from BRS?

Link to comment
do not smoke the reef(er)
13 hours ago, braaap said:

Best way is to dose through the week to what your new water tests at OR dose up your new water. Then when you do a change your tank will be the same as the new water. 

 

Did you order those bulkheads in your containers from BRS?


Thank you for the help! that totally makes sense.

 

Yes i got them from BRS and drilled out the top of the OXO containers. They seem to be working fine so far. Just really have to shove that airline tubing in good or it wont get suction.

Link to comment
chipmunkofdoom2

Your goal should be to maintain stable values of all the parameters you're dosing. Calcium and magnesium are important, however, alkalinity is the most important reading to keep stable in a reef tank. Alkalinity swings can cause RTN and STN and will devastate your tank.

 

If I were in your shoes, I would choose a level to maintain for alkalinity and shoot to always have this level. This level could really be whatever you want as long as it's within the 7dKh to 11dKh, where most people have had success. I choose to run it on the higher side (11dKh), but that's mainly to buffer pH and to encourage coral growth. I would start with learning what alkalinity your salt mix is when you mix it up, and shoot to maintain that in your tank. When it comes time to change water, the carbonate levels in your tank and new saltwater should match. Once you get more comfortable with your dosing, you can choose to maintain different levels if you'd like. Personally, that's where I'd start though.

 

Personally I would (and do) also test every new batch of saltwater I mix for Mg, carbonate (alkalinity) and calcium. I dose Mg up to 1,350ppm, Ca to 450ppm, and I match the alkalinity to whatever it is in the tank on that particular day. I test and correct calcium in the tank every week, and I test and correct magnesium in the tank once a month. It only takes about 20 minutes to test Ca/Alk/Mg in the new water, test alkalinity in my tank, then dose the newly mixed water accordingly.

 

 

Link to comment
do not smoke the reef(er)
6 hours ago, chipmunkofdoom2 said:

Your goal should be to maintain stable values of all the parameters you're dosing. Calcium and magnesium are important, however, alkalinity is the most important reading to keep stable in a reef tank. Alkalinity swings can cause RTN and STN and will devastate your tank.

 

If I were in your shoes, I would choose a level to maintain for alkalinity and shoot to always have this level. This level could really be whatever you want as long as it's within the 7dKh to 11dKh, where most people have had success. I choose to run it on the higher side (11dKh), but that's mainly to buffer pH and to encourage coral growth. I would start with learning what alkalinity your salt mix is when you mix it up, and shoot to maintain that in your tank. When it comes time to change water, the carbonate levels in your tank and new saltwater should match. Once you get more comfortable with your dosing, you can choose to maintain different levels if you'd like. Personally, that's where I'd start though.

 

Personally I would (and do) also test every new batch of saltwater I mix for Mg, carbonate (alkalinity) and calcium. I dose Mg up to 1,350ppm, Ca to 450ppm, and I match the alkalinity to whatever it is in the tank on that particular day. I test and correct calcium in the tank every week, and I test and correct magnesium in the tank once a month. It only takes about 20 minutes to test Ca/Alk/Mg in the new water, test alkalinity in my tank, then dose the newly mixed water accordingly.

 

 

Currently using Fritz - so my Alk is coming in at 8.4  Ca 440ppm , I am going to follow in your footsteps and dose the new water to get it up to my desired dKH

 

Before dosing i tested my tank a day after the water change, then 3 days then 5 then 7 right before i did the next WC. I saw my alk drop to 7.3dkh by the end of the week. I just did a WC last night and started to dose only my Alk, trying to get it up to 9 dKH. 

 

Going to test again (alk,calcium and mag) this Saturday and see where i am at and dose accordingly. Maybe even do another WC just to practice dosing the new batch and please my corals.

Link to comment

The best way to dose properly is to determine the daily usage. 

 

Test your tank 2 hrs after waterchange

Test the next day

Keep testing until you see a change.

 

Dose according to that.

 

Some ppl's tanks use up elements daily, others every other day, some in 3 days. It all depends on whats in the tank.

Link to comment
8 hours ago, Clown79 said:

The best way to dose properly is to determine the daily usage. 

 

Test your tank 2 hrs after waterchange

Test the next day

Keep testing until you see a change.

 

Dose according to that.

 

Some ppl's tanks use up elements daily, others every other day, some in 3 days. It all depends on whats in the tank.

Ok, let me see if I understand this correctly.

 

1. As long as calcium is above 400 and alk above 7 it is ok.  We shouldn't focus so much on increasing them as keeping them stable?

 

2. Magnesium needs to be kept in check because it keeps a balance between calc and alk.

 

3. Two part dosing should only be done when parameters start to drop.  (Not daily like the Kent nano bottle says).  If calc is in range but alk is low, do I still add both parts of the two part or only the one that needs adjusting?

 

4.  API reef test kits suck and I wasted $25. 

 

5. I need to adjust the alk/calc/mag levels in my new water when adding to prevent spikes.  (I do have SPS.... went a little coral happy a little too soon).     

Link to comment

Yes. Thats right.

 

If your newly made salt water mixes to ex.

 

Ca 400

Alk 8

Mag 1300

 

Its better to focus on keeping those numbers stable rather than trying to increase the numbers.

 

In order to increase them you will need to dose your newly made salt to the numbers you want then dose the tank accordingly to maintain them.

 

Stability is key.

 

As for how often one needs to dose depends on the consumption of each tank.

 

If your tank doesn't consume elements daily , when you dose, its actually increasing the numbers which causes fluctuations.

Link to comment

Awesome.   I am in the middle of building another users 5gallon bucket sump.  I'll likely do a 100% water change tomorrow and get my readings from the start.  Then calculate how much my corals use.  

 

Everything so far is doing well.  Except maybe a Psammacora that doesn't appear to be open.  (Just added yesterday, he slimed like mad.  Was a very unhappy critter). 

 

What i I gather is most of the testing stuff and additives I have already bought are useless for a SPS tank.  API test strips give a rather subjectI've range... and Kent nano 2 part just says add X amount per 4 gallons.  I can't find where it says how much it will actually raise the alk or calcium for a given dose.

 

what testing kit are you guys using?   I really don't want to spend the money on more useless stuff....   really hope i can nurse my Psammacora through the weekend.... it's going to be rough and he's my favorite little guy.  

Link to comment

None of the dosers give you a specific amount to add really. There are online calculators for dosing.

 

I use eav bionic 2 part doser and the mag doser. 

 

As for testing kits i've used Api, salifert, and red sea.

 

I like the red sea pro for alk, ca, and mag, its faster to fo the test and they have refill kits.

 

For phos i use salifert as Api isn't low range.

 

Nitrate i use api or salifert

Link to comment

You can start by dosing both parts in small  increments, say 2ml per day.  Test every other day increasing or decreasing ml per day until you hit your desired amount.  

 

I was using Bionic for the first 2yrs, then switched to BRS.  Simply because it's cheaper, I can buy in bulk.  With bionic, I was buying 2 gallon jugs every 2 months.  

 

 

Link to comment
do not smoke the reef(er)
2 hours ago, Asureef said:

You can start by dosing both parts in small  increments, say 2ml per day.  Test every other day increasing or decreasing ml per day until you hit your desired amount.  

 

I was using Bionic for the first 2yrs, then switched to BRS.  Simply because it's cheaper, I can buy in bulk.  With bionic, I was buying 2 gallon jugs every 2 months.  

 

 

Right now i am dosing about 13ml of alk per day. I am currently using the Jabeo DP4. I did some test with it prior to use for accuracy. I determined that the smaller the measurement amount the less accurate the dose. I guess you get what you pay for! My solution was to dilute my 2 part to 1/2 rodi and 1/2 2part. This makes my dosing with this pump more accurate since it is dispense more liquid at a diluted amount. 

 

Can't wait to upgrade to a larger tank so dosing in such small increments won't be as big of an issue. That BRS has a price that is hard to beat, and its easy to mix.

 

On 2/24/2017 at 10:22 PM, Clown79 said:

None of the dosers give you a specific amount to add really. There are online calculators for dosing.

 

I use eav bionic 2 part doser and the mag doser. 

 

As for testing kits i've used Api, salifert, and red sea.

 

I like the red sea pro for alk, ca, and mag, its faster to fo the test and they have refill kits.

 

For phos i use salifert as Api isn't low range.

 

Nitrate i use api or salifert

I am using the Red Sea test kits, Alk, Ca, Mag, works great for me so far. I use the API test for nitrate, ammonia and nitrite.

 

 

Link to comment
do not smoke the reef(er)

yeah i thought so too, when i woke up i changed the schedule this morning to half of that to start.

Link to comment
do not smoke the reef(er)
On 3/2/2017 at 7:07 PM, Clown79 said:

How big is the tank? That seems like a lot. Are you testing to ensure its the correct amount?

I was using Bulk Reef Supply calculator , currently using their Alk, Ca, and Mag, wanted to raise my 20 gallon tank from 400 ppm to 440ppm. Their calculator said to add 81.8ml to raise to this level.

 

Let me know if this sounds wrong? 

 

I am only adding 40ml a day to start. Doing a test tonight. Have been dosing at 40ml since Thursday and everything looks good. 

 

 

Link to comment

The only way to know is

 

Test after water change

Test next day- if params dropped, dose then test within a few hrs to see if that value(ml) brings you back to the original numbers after water change

Link to comment
On 3/4/2017 at 10:42 PM, do not smoke the reef(er) said:

I was using Bulk Reef Supply calculator , currently using their Alk, Ca, and Mag, wanted to raise my 20 gallon tank from 400 ppm to 440ppm. Their calculator said to add 81.8ml to raise to this level.

 

Let me know if this sounds wrong? 

 

I am only adding 40ml a day to start. Doing a test tonight. Have been dosing at 40ml since Thursday and everything looks good. 

 

 

 

You have to remember that the calculator isn't going to be perfect because you probably don't know your exact water volume. You need to test daily at the same time. Do that for 5 days or so. Then figure out what the daily consumption is and dose accordingly. 

Link to comment

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recommended Discussions

×
×
  • Create New...