2 part dosing questions

[FishieBusiness]

Hi All,

So I have started dosing 2part ESV B-Ionic this week. On Sunday reading were ALK.7.3 CA.360 dosed about 75 milliliters. Monday ALK.8.3 CA.380. MAG.1240 dosed 100 milliliters. Tuesday ALK.8.3 CA.360 MAG.1230. dosed 100 milliliters. Wednesday ALK.8.9 CA.360. MAG.1270 dosed 100milliters. Just now ALK.11.5. CA.400. MAG.1310. PH.8.2 on average. All test kits are Salifert less than 6 months old.

The ALK. seems to be getting higher but the CA. has little change. Is this normal? Can you increase the CA with out increasing the ALK.

I have a 90gal tank mixed reef with about 20gal in sump. I was shooting for ALK 9-10 and CA 420-440. Reef Chemistry Calculator has different amounts to raise ALK and CA. to desired levels. Telling me to add 3x the ALK. amount to get desired CA levels. ESV says you add equal amounts of P1 & P2.

Am I doing something wrong?? What would you do??

 

[Ifreitas14]

I also use two part but I don’t dose equal parts my tank use more alk than cal at the moment so I dose each one to what level I want the tank to be at

 

[coralfishreef]

In my experience, 2 part keeps alk/calc levels balanced when they are balanced to begin with. I’ve found this article helpful in the past.

The Right Way to Use 2-Part Additives

Nearly 20 years ago a company called E.S.V invented a product called B-ionic. This was a product that came in two bottles that replenished both calcium and alkalinity in their natural, ionic balanc…

joejaworski.wordpress.com

 

[Rafanho]

I am using All-for-reef from BRS..I dose about 13ml only everyday since I dont have much corals in my tank...kh at 10.2 an cal. at 440...

 

[Chris A.]

Alk is in very small concentrations in sea water but there’s a abundance of calcium. Your alk will fluctuate way more than calcium. Hence why they base the two part on alk amounts and not calcium. Your still using it at the same rate but taking 10 from 100 alk is like taking 10 from 100,000 calcium. You won’t see the same difference on a test kit. Hope that helps and reduce your dose because your overdosing your alk. You want to keep it stable day to day.

 

[afboundguy]

I used to have to add more calcium than alk as well even after getting the levels at the correct levels before I started dosing 2 part. I kept a daily log of how much I added and at the beginning I tested daily and then spread it out to weekly until I figured out what worked and then I automated it with dosing pumps.

I did give up on it as I wasn't keeping any SPS and water changes were enough to get good growth but I plan on starting 2 part dosing again and I will start taking daily notes again. I ended up just making a word document on the computer as the tank is right next to the tank so it was easier.

 

[Pardsie]

I use an APP called Aquatic log it is free and I primarily use the log and diary sections. When your readings are out of range they have a red indicator. The only thing missing is there is no info on how to correct it they leave that up to you.

 

[mvallee]

In my experience, 2 part keeps alk/calc levels balanced when they are balanced to begin with. I’ve found this article helpful in the past.

The Right Way to Use 2-Part Additives

Nearly 20 years ago a company called E.S.V invented a product called B-ionic. This was a product that came in two bottles that replenished both calcium and alkalinity in their natural, ionic balanc…

joejaworski.wordpress.com

Thanks for the link, this was a great article, explained a lot, I have been getting ready to start dosing and this is one of the first articles to make sense.

 

[FREAKINRICAN69]

In my experience, 2 part keeps alk/calc levels balanced when they are balanced to begin with. I’ve found this article helpful in the past.

The Right Way to Use 2-Part Additives

Nearly 20 years ago a company called E.S.V invented a product called B-ionic. This was a product that came in two bottles that replenished both calcium and alkalinity in their natural, ionic balanc…

joejaworski.wordpress.com

Awesome link thanks for the info chief.

 

[FishieBusiness]

In my experience, 2 part keeps alk/calc levels balanced when they are balanced to begin with. I’ve found this article helpful in the past.

The Right Way to Use 2-Part Additives

Nearly 20 years ago a company called E.S.V invented a product called B-ionic. This was a product that came in two bottles that replenished both calcium and alkalinity in their natural, ionic balanc…

joejaworski.wordpress.com

Thanks for the read. Helpful going forward with proper dosing.

 

[FishieBusiness]

Thanks for all the responses. I think I should hold off on the dosing for 2 weeks and get a couple of water changes in. Then start baseline readings and adjust from there.

What do you think about that?

 

[Pardsie]

The ESV website FAQ also agrees with Jaworskis advice.

 

[FishieBusiness]

The ESV website FAQ also agrees with Jaworskis advice.

Thanks. Maybe I should have started there.

 

[dz6t]

Hi All,

So I have started dosing 2part ESV B-Ionic this week. On Sunday reading were ALK.7.3 CA.360 dosed about 75 milliliters. Monday ALK.8.3 CA.380. MAG.1240 dosed 100 milliliters. Tuesday ALK.8.3 CA.360 MAG.1230. dosed 100 milliliters. Wednesday ALK.8.9 CA.360. MAG.1270 dosed 100milliters. Just now ALK.11.5. CA.400. MAG.1310. PH.8.2 on average. All test kits are Salifert less than 6 months old.

The ALK. seems to be getting higher but the CA. has little change. Is this normal? Can you increase the CA with out increasing the ALK.

I have a 90gal tank mixed reef with about 20gal in sump. I was shooting for ALK 9-10 and CA 420-440. Reef Chemistry Calculator has different amounts to raise ALK and CA. to desired levels. Telling me to add 3x the ALK. amount to get desired CA levels. ESV says you add equal amounts of P1 & P2.

Am I doing something wrong?? What would you do??

What you see is pretty common in dosing two-parts.
The major reason is that consumer grade calcium test kits, all of them, have large margins of error, some as much as 15%.
That means you can not accurately rely on calcium test to adjust dosing.

Alk test kits, such as Salifert are accurate and reliable enough to guide the dosing of Alk.

That is where the TWO-parts dosing system comes in handy. Two-parts system, such as B-ionic, Randy’s Two-parts, have pre calculated amount of calcium and Alk to make them balanced when dosing at 1:1 volume wise. All you need to do is to monitor Alk.

If you need to dose 10 mL of Alk liquid per day, just drop 10 mL of calcium liquid per day. No need to test calcium.

The bottom line is that consumer grade calcium and magnesium test kits are not accurate enough to use for dosing.

 

[FishieBusiness]

What you see is pretty common in dosing two-parts.
The major reason is that consumer grade calcium test kits, all of them, have large margins of error, some as much as 15%.
That means you can not accurately rely on calcium test to adjust dosing.

Alk test kits, such as Salifert are accurate and reliable enough to guide the dosing of Alk.

That is where the TWO-parts dosing system comes in handy. Two-parts system, such as B-ionic, Randy’s Two-parts, have pre calculated amount of calcium and Alk to make them balanced when dosing at 1:1 volume wise. All you need to do is to monitor Alk.

If you need to dose 10 mL of Alk liquid per day, just drop 10 mL of calcium liquid per day. No need to test calcium.

The bottom line is that consumer grade calcium and magnesium test kits are not accurate enough to use for dosing.

Thanks again Dong.

 

[highfive52]

I dose brs two part. I do dose a lil more calcium than alk but I spread out doses and always dose 20 minutes apart. Totally normal.

 

[FREAKINRICAN69]

What you see is pretty common in dosing two-parts.
The major reason is that consumer grade calcium test kits, all of them, have large margins of error, some as much as 15%.
That means you can not accurately rely on calcium test to adjust dosing.

Alk test kits, such as Salifert are accurate and reliable enough to guide the dosing of Alk.

That is where the TWO-parts dosing system comes in handy. Two-parts system, such as B-ionic, Randy’s Two-parts, have pre calculated amount of calcium and Alk to make them balanced when dosing at 1:1 volume wise. All you need to do is to monitor Alk.

If you need to dose 10 mL of Alk liquid per day, just drop 10 mL of calcium liquid per day. No need to test calcium.

The bottom line is that consumer grade calcium and magnesium test kits are not accurate enough to use for dosing.

Thanks for that explanation Dong. Makes total sense...