B-Ionic Can you dose with different amounts of each part?

[ms71171]

Just wondering because I have been. My alk is at 6.0 and my calcium still wont break 400 so I started dosing more calcium lately. Is this bad?

[kimura]

Nope I do the same thing. I use the recommened amount for alk, but add a couple of ml's more for my calcium. That definately helped out a lot! My coraline algae is now starting to grow all over my LR and on the snails and Hermitt crabs shell! I love the stuff:D I'm just not able to get it to grow on the glass or anything else??? I'll keep experimenting, I'm thinking that I there may be some residual phosphate in my tank that's hindering the full blown out growth that I am expecting. I'll let you know. Good Luck.

[tinyreef]

no, you can unbalance them. part 1 is alk and part 2 is CaCl. i usually unbalance my dosages as i always end up with a little of one or the other and make up the next batch around.

 

you may want to opt for a cheaper calcium (only) supplement than the b-ionic part 2. kalk or turbo calcium (cacl grains) would be more cost effective imo. dose the regular bionic and on top of that the second source.

[Fant]

You can create an ionic imbalance that way. One thing to consider is that it is very difficult to maintain both calcium and alkalinity at the high ends of the recomended range, 350-450 ppm for Ca and 7-10 for dkh. Any given volume of water can only hold so many dissolved solids.

[ms71171]

I guess i will start adding some kalk to my top-off water and try that to boost my calcium and just use the B-ionic in the recommended dosages.

[TStaut]

Check your magnesium level. If mag is too low, your CA won't stay in solution above a certain level. I'll bet you that your mag is currently right around 3X your CA level, so as soon as you add some magnesium your CA can go higher.

 

The other thing to do is get that alk down. (I take it you mean 6.0 meq/l and not DKH...)

 

I had very similar levels to yours, I did a few water changes and added nothing but liquid CA, no alk at all. It came into balance after about 3 weeks.

 

At 6.0 meq/l, my LPS started looking very unhappy.

 

HTH.

 

Travis

[Dave ESPI]

yes you can dose differently.

 

Magnezium supp is also a good idea. I use it also from ESV with my B-ionic.

 

Fant ? ionic imbalance? explain.....

[Fant]

B-ionic uses calcium chloride. If you use it unbalanced and as the primary source of calcium supp, you can face the potential for chloride to accumulate and funk around with the alk.

[Dave ESPI]

last I checked Calcium chloride was an uncleated form of calcium...

it will only dissolute if there is a free vallance shell electron to split off. In my 3 + years of using ESV I have not seen any imbalances caused. I HAVE seen CA fall out of solution though.

it would have to be a really FUBAR tank to cause damages.

[tinyreef]

you should only see a gradual increase of salinity from the CaCl. the Na splitting off the part one solution is supposed to suck up the chloride or as dave points out it'll just stay in solution as a calcium salt. keeping an eye on the sg will prevent the fubar.

 

that's why i stopped dumping my salt creep back into the tank. X) actually, you should really keep an eye on the salinity/sg. one time it shot up to 1.030 when i got really lazy last year (and kept dumping the salt creep back in X) X) ).

[ms71171]

Is Tsaut correct about my needing to lower my Alk from 6.0? I always have read that reef tanks require Alk of 6.0 and higher was ok.

[Dave ESPI]

Originally posted by ms71171

Is Tsaut correct about my needing to lower my Alk from 6.0?  I always have read that reef tanks require Alk of 6.0 and higher was ok.

 

6.0 waht..... ? DKH or PPM?

 

shoot fer 13 DKH.

[ms71171]

Originally posted by Dave ESPI

 

6.0 waht..... ? DKH or PPM?

 

shoot fer 13 DKH.

 

Sorry... I think its ppm. What ever measurement is on the Seachem test kit.

[TStaut]

You need to find out.

 

Alkalinity is either expressed in DKH, that’s degrees of carbonate hardness, or in meq/l, that’s milliequivalents per liter.

 

1 meq/l= 2.8 DKH, so you can see why we need to know what this number is expressing.

 

I’m almost positive seachem is meq/l, meaning your dkh is about 16.8, which is definitely too high. Should be 8-12 DKH. (aiming for 13 is OK too )

 

The directions on the seachem kit suck as far as what a good level is, they tell you 4-6 meq/l which is a load of crap.

[Fant]

If your test kit uses ppm, get a new one, as those kits only test carbonate hardness.

[Satchmo]

Seachem, for the record, is measured in meq/L.

[MrConclusion]

Tetra has a good cheap KH test kit (tetratest series) for about $7-$9 which reads out in DKH.

 

Anyone know of a cheap & effective Mg test kit?

[ms71171]

Originally posted by TStaut

You need to find out.

 

Alkalinity is either expressed in DKH, that’s degrees of carbonate hardness, or in meq/l, that’s milliequivalents per liter.

 

1 meq/l= 2.8 DKH, so you can see why we need to know what this number is expressing.

 

I’m almost positive seachem is meq/l, meaning your dkh is about 16.8, which is definitely too high. Should be 8-12 DKH.  (aiming for 13 is OK too  )

 

The directions on the seachem kit suck as far as what a good level is, they tell you 4-6 meq/l which is a load of crap.

 

Great info! Thanks...

[TStaut]

I just got a mag test kit from www.aquariumpros.com it was the cheapest by far for a salifert test (same deal with CA and Alk tests, got those too).

[Dave ESPI]

MrConclusion posted an interesting quandry..

Anyone know of a cheap & effective Mg test kit?

yeah.. uhhh I have to be a jerk and point this out, but you cant have both CHEEP and EFFECTIVE..... with ANYTHING in this hobby.

Use the Salifert Mg test. Its around 22.00 but IME is the best.