2 Part Newbie
 

Hello Im hoping someone could advise me on this, I've just start 2 part dosing and I'm a little nervous, Alk is dropping, its gone from 9.5 to 8 dkh in 2 days. I'm using a standard 2 part A, B from J&L 25ml (2.5ml per 10G) per day. Is it normal for Alk to drop then stabilize after a couple of days or should I manually bring the Alk up to 9dkh with Sodium Carbonate?
FYI
I've been manualing dosing for a couple years using Sodium Carbonate and Reef Advantage for Ca for a 100G total volume.

Have you been testing your Mag ?
Also, what's your Ca @ ?

Or dose more Alk solution (which is most likely sodium carbonate ) in any case you'll need to add more Alk it won't stabilize if it's dropping daily the only Alk added is what you add .

It's near impossible to use a out of the box dosing schedule based on mls per gallons alone , you need to know your consumption rate for dkh then using the mixture find out what your daily dose is and then split the daily dose into as many doses as you like:)

Mg 1325
Ca 425

25 ml isn't very much alk;)

Yes I just don't want it dropping below 8 dkh.


That makes sense I'm just trying to figure on the proper daily dosage is. I'll keep testing Alk on a daily bases.

If you have to just boost naturally don't go more an a dkh per day , if you find out what you 25mls equals to in dkh youll be able to find out the daily dose by doing some math;)

Ok, so if I the dkh is dropping .4dkh per day dosing at 25ml would it be correct to say 25/.4 = 62.5 ml ? seems a little high

Close enough for now
If you like, get your Mag up a bit to make things easier
It'll help you balance the other 2
1350 is a good target ...

7 to 8 is OK. Mine has dipped below 7 sometimes (6.9 and user error) without ill effects, but I'm testing all the time so I caught and corrected it
I've also had mine go above 9.5, although I wasn't happy about it, and neither was my Hyacinth. Burnt tips and weeks to recover

Don't worry about Exact #s, but getting them balanced is important to start with. And making small changes is very important :surprise:
Alk 7-8 is good
Ca 410-420 is ideal - 450-470 is high but OK for a short while. As low as 380 is usable for a short while. This is the low end of your Mag balance (below 1200)
Mag 1350 is ideal - 1300-1500 or higher can work. Your Mag level divided by 3.25 is roughly where you Ca should be
Mag needs to be in the proper range for your Alk and Ca dosing to be stable
If your Mag is low, you won't be able to stabilize the others

So, if your Mag is 1350/3=415 Ca
Just a rough starting point

Test, dose, test, test and test some more :wink:

I started off dosing 100mls/day in my 75g w/100g total
I eventually backed it off to 70mls/day for my balance

Now I tweak it every week, and the big 3 aren't all the same due to my mixing jug methods
So I adjust as needed on a weekly basis

Thanks gregzz4 and reefwars I appreciate all of your help. like I said I'm just little nervous starting something new. :smile:

Good luck and keep us posted

I too was hesitant when I started 2-part, but it's all good

Nope it's not ,if your part a is soda ash you could be dosing as much as 150 if demand is high 60ml is a decent starting point but I would raise it to what you like first with manual dose then set your doser;)

I dose 40ml in a 40g tank and 175 ml in a 200g zoanthid system:)

And your dkh is dropping .87 dkh per day if you take Account your 25mls dosed. Use a reef calculator to help find a starting point if you need to:)

Ok update time, Im dosing 35ml Alk, and 50ml Ca and my numbers are stable. Alk ~8-8.3, Ca 420, Mg 1320. Sps is doing fine growing well. Is it normal to have such difference between the Alk and Ca when dosing, I'm guessing that 15ml is not really a significant difference?

Good to hear your params are stable Randall. Let's see some of those pieces now! :lol: