sand in the chamber right now koralith, MTC pro-cal, I just threw out whole colonies in the woods behind my house, its the coral graveyard.:shhh:. If Daceman Dave finds out he will kill me.
2 part plus ca reactor on my sps reef
- Thread starter smcooler
- Start date
sand in the chamber right now koralith, MTC pro-cal, I just threw out whole colonies in the woods behind my house, its the coral graveyard.:shhh:. If Daceman Dave finds out he will kill me.
- Location
- poughquag, ny
sm you got a bb tank ?
iconoclast
Tired Member
- Location
- Brooklyn: near brooklyn college
Why don't you start topping off with kalk using an ATO. a reservoir is nice and cheap, you'd only have to mix it ever week or so depending on your set up. dont believe all that talk that kalk looses its potency over time; that happens only if the mixture is stirred and exposed to the air (after the initial mixing of course). check this article out, otherwise just do an experiment yourself. kalk would fix your alk struggles too.
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-05/rhf/feature/index.php
Start making your own 2 part using dow flake and baking soda, its much, much, much cheaper. there are various ways to automate it. I'm looking into using auqualifters and precision valves on a digital timer. but rigging up a drip or using medical dosing pumps works well too i hear. those hobby dosing pumps are so costly, its really highway robbery.
if dowflake is not available in your part of the woods try from this place (20$ ish no shipping) or buckeye, theyve got the mag flake too. (which is used in conjunction with epson salts to maintain a balance of ions or some such)
http://www.tecprod2.com/files/display2.mv?specchem+IM50F
http://www.buckeyefieldsupply.com/showproducts.asp?Category=124&Sub=0
If you need to read up on how to mix your own 2 part read this good article, its what i follow. ive only used kent marine turbo calcium thus far but will buy dowflake once i run low. honestly even if i were to buy only the turbo calcium and baking soda its extremely cheaper than buying ready made 2 part. that stuff is highway robbery man! honestly to mix a gallon of each it probably costs like 2$ even when using turbo calcium. suffice it to say dowflake would be much cheaper.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php
Also look into what kind of salt mix youre using, some have much more ca, alk and mag than others.
for reference on salt mixture comparisons check this thread on the RC
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...readid=1287118
I havn't read the whole thing *disclaimer* but I also started a thread here which evolved into some discussion about salt mixes here
http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/general-discussion/39671-where-do-you-buy-your-salt-locally.html
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-05/rhf/feature/index.php
Start making your own 2 part using dow flake and baking soda, its much, much, much cheaper. there are various ways to automate it. I'm looking into using auqualifters and precision valves on a digital timer. but rigging up a drip or using medical dosing pumps works well too i hear. those hobby dosing pumps are so costly, its really highway robbery.
if dowflake is not available in your part of the woods try from this place (20$ ish no shipping) or buckeye, theyve got the mag flake too. (which is used in conjunction with epson salts to maintain a balance of ions or some such)
http://www.tecprod2.com/files/display2.mv?specchem+IM50F
http://www.buckeyefieldsupply.com/showproducts.asp?Category=124&Sub=0
If you need to read up on how to mix your own 2 part read this good article, its what i follow. ive only used kent marine turbo calcium thus far but will buy dowflake once i run low. honestly even if i were to buy only the turbo calcium and baking soda its extremely cheaper than buying ready made 2 part. that stuff is highway robbery man! honestly to mix a gallon of each it probably costs like 2$ even when using turbo calcium. suffice it to say dowflake would be much cheaper.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php
Also look into what kind of salt mix youre using, some have much more ca, alk and mag than others.
for reference on salt mixture comparisons check this thread on the RC
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...readid=1287118
I havn't read the whole thing *disclaimer* but I also started a thread here which evolved into some discussion about salt mixes here
http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/general-discussion/39671-where-do-you-buy-your-salt-locally.html
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Kalk is my next move, i did it before and growth and ph was great it was just a pain to maintain, i will do it right this time with a reactor and a ato. I have found a local source for the 2 part nice and cheap and good pure stuff, gettanked.com
s
s
- Location
- poughquag, ny
dave you cam buy the bit, it doesnt look that hard to do, i might even have a diamond bit around, if not you know who does it down by me, off topic but how's the car ? and sm a even cheaper way to dose use a 5g bucket on drip mode, did it for 2 weeks but is a pain in the azz, i dont use a reactor just dose evs, and getting tired of doing that and thinking of a kalk reactor myself
nyfireman3097
Senior Member
- Location
- Staten Island New York
Stan I used 2 part on my tank. My theroy is thought making 2 part is NOT the same as B-Ionic. B-Ionic has other helpful elements in it that you will never get from DIY 2 part. Why not add a 2nd chamber on to your reactor now ? It will add cal/Mag top off in it also help keep your PH up.
hay Nick Im running the pro-cal it has the 2nd chamber, I think I have to many sticks
.Killerdrgn
Advanced Reefer
- Location
- Park Ridge, NJ
Actually on the Boston Reefers forum they did do a comparison with B-Ionic 2 part and just regular randys two part and the ingredients were exactly the same. They, may have been randy himself, did a impurities signature and found that it was the exact match of Dow Flake. Most on the board came to the conclusion that B-Ionic was indeed just using dow flake and charging more for their bottles.
Not sure about how it is now though since dow no longer extracts the bromine from their salts, B-Ionic may have just stockpiled a lot of Dow flake, as twopart supply did, before they stopped taking out the bromine or B-Ionic does the additional step of taking it out.
Or they could have done the test on ESV, I forget which of the two, or they did both.
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Well got my b-ionic doser online last night, doses with the air pump works like a charm with a digital timer i does 40 mills 4 times in the am. Since useing this stuff for about 5 weeks growth gas exploded, my ca. reactor is still online running at its max.
s
s
iconoclast
Tired Member
- Location
- Brooklyn: near brooklyn college
even if B Ionic and such helped maintain some trace elements you could still save a huge amount by making DIY 2 part and buying mineral and vitamin supplements.
im going to try this place out for my 2 part, next batch after all my b-ionic is gone. The salt he sells is top notch also he blends each batch himself, each bag of 25 gals is a perfect mix every time.
http://www.gettankedaquariums.com/
http://www.gettankedaquariums.com/
iconoclast
Tired Member
- Location
- Brooklyn: near brooklyn college
smcooler,
that webstore looks just like bulkreefsupply
that webstore looks just like bulkreefsupply
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