Yet another dosing thread...

[DREUTZ]

So i'm seriously going to dose bulk reef supply recipe 1 CA, ALK, and Mg now!! I have researched what levels to aim for and the relationships between the three and I'm still a little confused. My levels are as follows using salifert CA and ALK and Elos Mg test kits:

CA: 345ppm
Mg: 1300-1350 (the exact color change for the second part of the test was unclear so the difference is a drop which is a pretty big difference in MG present)
Alk: 7

What I'm about to say is what I've read and could certainly be wrong but here goes:

You want to get your Mg to the levels you want and the rest will stabilize and the dosing will be more consistent for the CA and Alk

If my MG is within the supposed correct range of 1300-1380 should I just start to dose CA and Alk?

How slowly should I increase my levels for the 3 parameters? I've read conflicting maximum amounts that you should raise each of the three in one day.

THANKS! :chefico:

 

[OzoneParkGuy]

Depends on the size of your tank. If a small tank possibly 5ml a day untill you reach your desired goal, if bigger, 60ml. I've dosed 60ml half the size of a dixie cup to desired levels then maintained my range with dosing pumps at 10ml per hour.

Yes you can start dosing since your mag levels are within range.

Dose one day then the folowing day dose again then test 2 hours later to see where you are at.

 

[DREUTZ]

My bad should've put tank size. It is a 29 gal Biocube

 

[NYreefNoob]

just top off with kalkwasser, will get all levels correct and do the same thing, only thing i need to dose is a little magnesium occasionally, how much evap do you go through each day ?

 

[DREUTZ]

just top off with kalkwasser, will get all levels correct and do the same thing, only thing i need to dose is a little magnesium occasionally, how much evap do you go through each day ?

Not an option I have the bulk reef supply mixed up and ready to go.

 

[DREUTZ]

An edit to the original thread about water volume

So i'm seriously going to dose bulk reef supply recipe 1 CA, ALK, and Mg now!! I have researched what levels to aim for and the relationships between the three and I'm still a little confused. My levels are as follows using salifert CA and ALK and Elos Mg test kits:

CA: 345ppm
Mg: 1300-1350 (the exact color change for the second part of the test was unclear so the difference is a drop which is a pretty big difference in MG present)
Alk: 7

What I'm about to say is what I've read and could certainly be wrong but here goes:

You want to get your Mg to the levels you want and the rest will stabilize and the dosing will be more consistent for the CA and Alk

If my MG is within the supposed correct range of 1300-1380 should I just start to dose CA and Alk?

How slowly should I increase my levels for the 3 parameters? I've read conflicting maximum amounts that you should raise each of the three in one day.




WATER VOLUME:
The Bulk Reef Supply Calculator asks what the total system water volume is. I have a 29 gal Biocube and I have been told that it isn't really 29 gallon. I have 45 lbs of LR and i think 20-25 lbs of LS. I made the back chambers a fuge so the water level is higher than the stock level. I know the LR and LS is going to displace a certain volume of water. How would I determine my water volume based on these factors or am I overthinking it?

 

[NYreefNoob]

sell it and buy a $2.50 bag of mrs wages pickling lime, will last you half a year on a tank that size

 

[NYreefNoob]

start with 5 ml of alk and cal, dont dose them at the same time give a half hour or so between each, then check mag tomm see where it is, then dose the same of alk and cal and check all levels a few hours later

 

[OzoneParkGuy]

Kalkwasser's main purpose was for those whose had a Low PH and wanted to increase the PH to 8.20 and greater without really affecting the Alk & Ca++

Here is a Volume Calculator to determine....
http://reef.diesyst.com/volcalc/volcalc.html

 

[DREUTZ]

Depends on the size of your tank. If a small tank possibly 5ml a day untill you reach your desired goal, if bigger, 60ml. I've dosed 60ml half the size of a dixie cup to desired levels then maintained my range with dosing pumps at 10ml per hour.

Yes you can start dosing since your mag levels are within range.

Dose one day then the folowing day dose again then test 2 hours later to see where you are at.

did you mean 50 ml a day or if bigger 60?

 

[NYreefNoob]

no 5 ml,

Benefits of adding Kalkwasser:
You may be interested in why it is so important to add Kalkwasser. Some of the benefits are:

• It adds calcium that is needed by most of the creatures in the reef.
• It encourages the growth of pink and purple coralline algae.
• It keeps the pH elevated. By adding Kalkwasser on a regular basis (make-up water) and doing water changes every 2 to 3 weeks, I have found my pH to be consistently between 8.2 and 8.4. Keeping the pH at this level makes it less likely that micro-algae will become a problem.
• as well as it helps precipitate phosphates, i have maintained sps systems on kalk, granted i dont have a huge system either 80g

 

[DREUTZ]

I appreciate your advice regarding the KW, but I'm just going to use the BRS stuff. BRS says that it raises pH and does all of the other things that you said except precipitating phosphates. I was looking at what to buy when I decided to does and there were KW camps, BRS camps and any of the various A & B camps that all swore by what they were using. I picked BRS and I'm sticking to it. Maybe when i am out of this I will reconsider what I am using.

 

[DREUTZ]

Started the dose'n...

 

[Lenny718]

Best of luck! I used to rely on weekly water changes to maintain my cal and alk but when I started getting into SPS about a year ago I knew I need a little more. I started dosing with BRS 2 part and holy purple coralline! My tank has just exploded with positive growth.

 

[OzoneParkGuy]

5ml for your 29Gal.

1. Know what your levels are 1st before dosing anything.

2. Decided what level you want to be at.

3. Gradually increase... test often to see how close you are to your goal.

4. Once reached you'll need to to do the math for your tank to see what is the daily recommended dosing to stablilize your tank.

5 Then your good to go. You'll be fine... your already a step ahead because you've read and have an idea. GL!! Remember if you over dose, STOP! Let the system gradually lower on there own, regular RODI top off will suffice.

 

[Jakef150]

hey i have biocube 29

I used pure arm&hammer w/ RO DI water mixed to raise ALK..I use a full cap of gatorado bottle and it raise approx 1.5 DKH ALK. of course i tested it before dosing.

I tested the measure until i found full of cap (gatorado) prefect for me.

I also have receipt #1 and #2 homemade dose in 2 bottles. SAVE MONEY!

My tank biocube 29 , has approx 20 lbs rocks and 20 lbs sand. so i figured its approx 20-22.

If you wanna chat about biocube 29 or whatever tips etc PM me since i m from long island , holbrook , too

later

 

[DJYoshi]

I added a few SPS frags last week into my 36 & boom calcium dropped like CRAZY from 480 to 330 in a matter of 4 days after I started dosing mag.
Dosing isn't the cheapest thing, but thanks to DLO, he gave the bbm group a great tip on spending basically $1.99 on mag!

 

[DREUTZ]

Thanks again for the advice. I'm gonna go through this supply of BRS stuff and once that's done and I'm a dosing expert I promise all of you I will investigate other methods haha. Thanks for the input though!

Holla: Jake w/ the BC from Holbrook !!

 

[InfernoST]

Have you used the BFS calculator? It tells you the max you can increase it in one day safely (after you click the calculate button read the info in the left pane). Enter your water volume (I'm guessing about 25 gallons, do not know how much sand and live rock you have in there) then select which element you want to increase, put in the current level then the desired level and click calculate. Be careful when input the information for Alk, there is a value option window so you can select whichever one you are using (meq/l, DKH & ppm), You are using DKH (Default is meq/l) so make sure it is selected otherwise you can put in too little or too much Alk solution. Hope this helps.

 

[DREUTZ]

I saw this, "...Try not to increase Calcium more than 50 ppm per day. If larger changes are required spread the dose over a few days. Test between additions."

Using the calculator to see how much I would need to add to increase the max 50 ppm/day it gave me:

Current Calcium Level: 400 ppm
Desired Calcium Level: 450 ppm
Product: Need: 122.8 ml; 4.1 fl oz; 24.5 tsp

So the max I could put in for a day is 122.8ml which seems ridiculously large.

I did two days of adding 5 ml of both alk and ca and tonight I'm going to check the parameters again and see how things are changing. I also wanted to do a water change tonight so would it be wiser to test before or after the change?