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2 part dosing

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by abower, May 1, 2015.

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  1. May 1, 2015 #21
    abower Ryan, Ia

    abower Well-Known ReefKeeper

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    Don't know enough about kalwasser. I know my pH stays high around 8.3-.4 so have been skeptical to try.
     
  2. May 1, 2015 #22
    FishBrain New London

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    I went to two part about two weeks ago. Using a Chinese pump marine color. On day three I noticed the calcium solution was dropping faster than the alk and they were both set to 100ml a day in 12 doses. So I tested the output and it was way off. so I adjusted tell the output was perfect and now My levels are rock solid.
     
  3. May 2, 2015 #23
    jeremy Davenport, IA

    jeremy Acro Addict

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    Yeah when I adjusted calcium alkalinity and magnesium where I wanted them I just dose equal alk and cal and everything is stable. The only time I adjust is when I need to dose more cause everything is growing.
    I test alk at least 5 times a week. Calcium every 2 weeks or so and mag maybe monthly. Unless I have made adjustments then I test every day.
    Quickest way to piss off corals is to have alkalinity swings. Keep that stable and good to go
     
  4. May 2, 2015 #24
    blackx-runner Cedar Rapids, IA

    blackx-runner Administrator Website Team Leadership Team

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    @abower@abower What kind of dosing pumps are you running? Are you dosing throughout the entire day? Are you separating the Ca and Alk so they don't dose at the same time?
    When I was dosing 2 part I believe I was holding at the 1:1 ratio as well. I was also running kalk through the ATO. The calculator on BRS is a good starting point. Get the Ca/Alk ratio correct to start- I think there are calculators on how much of each to dose to do that as well. Then set your dosing up at 1:1. I would check alk a couple times a day when you're dialing in. I wouldn't really focus too much on the Ca number at this point. As Alk settles in and stabilizes then go to daily checks. Once you get your Alk consumption dialed in, and the numbers holding rock solid you can test less frequently, but still often. As Jeremy mentioned Alk swings really piss off corals. I'm sure that's why your LPS are a little pissed off right now.
     
  5. May 25, 2015 #25
    vikubz Cedar Falls

    vikubz Well-Known ReefKeeper

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    Why not use kalk? Get ca/alk where you want then just use kalk in the topoff water. I've been using pickling lime and having no problems.
     
  6. May 25, 2015 #26
    blackx-runner Cedar Rapids, IA

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    For low/moderate demands Kalk can be plenty, and its a very quick and easy to set it up through your ATO. When you get a lot of SPS and other hard corals kalk probably won't be enough.
    When I had a my tank loaded with huge colonies of monti and other hard corals kalk in the topoff just couldn't keep up with demand. I still used kalk, but added 2 part to keep up with demand.
     
  7. Jun 8, 2015 #27
    abower Ryan, Ia

    abower Well-Known ReefKeeper

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    I've appreciated all the feedback so far. I have not posted because I am trying to balance the dosing which leads to my next question.

    I'm using BRS 1.1 pumps plugged into Neptune Controller 3 w/DC8

    Issue is I'm having a quart to a half gallon or alk removed from the gallon jug. At random events. Two ideas. Pump has a spot on the rotation that allows syphen or the dc8 relay is going out. To test last night I inversed the plugs. I figure if its relay the cal will go in the tank. If its pump the alc jug will be empty. Dosing is 4 intervals a day staggered 15 minutes between parts.

    So question is. Has anyone had syphon occur with the BRS pumps, or a relay go bad on any outlets on the old DC8?
     
  8. Jun 8, 2015 #28
    beckerj3 West Des Moines, IA

    beckerj3 Expert Reefkeeper Board of Directors Leadership Team GIRS Member

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    Not sure if this helps, but....

    I have a Reef Keeper controller with the PC4 power bar. Several months ago I had a similar problem. What I learned at that time was that the PC4 has 2 relay channels and 2 solid state channels. Anyway, the dosing pumps would not work on one of those type of channels. It would turn the pump on fine, but when the time was up, the change sent by the controller was not enough to turn the pump off. Consequently the pump kept running and dumped a huge amt of alk into the tank. Luckily I caught it soon enough and didn't have any major problems from it. As soon as I switched to the other channels on the power bar everything was fine. I think I have heard that the DC8 may have a similar situation.

    As I don't understand electronics, I can't explain it very well.
     
  9. Jun 8, 2015 #29
    blackx-runner Cedar Rapids, IA

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  10. Jun 8, 2015 #30
    abower Ryan, Ia

    abower Well-Known ReefKeeper

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    Quite sure the DC8 and EB8 are similar in that 6 are solid state and two are relay (I thhout it was inverse tho). 4 and 8 are the relay and the rest are solid state. Cal is on 4 and alc is on 5 (one of the "low watt problematic" solid states). So I believe you two have solved my issue. Thanks much.
     
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