Can I premix B-ionic in a large holding drum which will then be slowly added to my tank as topoff water? I don't remember much about my chemistry days, but if I dilute the mixture signicantly (such as 12 oz of each in a 55 gallon drum of RO water) non of the important parts should precipitate out. I sent email to ESV and they have not responded. Does anyone have any experience with this technique?
Can I premix B-ionic or other 2 part formulations?
- Thread starter texman
- Start date
If you could mix them together they wouldn't be sold as a 2 part. I'm not trying to be smart but just think about this from a marketing standpoint. No one likes 2 part anythings if they can use a comparable 1 part. In the case of B-Ionic one part maintains calcium and the other part alkalinity. ESV state imphatically on the label not to mix the two before adding.
I have done the same thing on a smaller scale in a 30 gallon trash can. I don't think there have been any ill effects. I keep a Rio pump in it to keep it flowing. My Calcium levels in my tank are higher than 400, and I only ocassionally have to add to my Alk. Seems to be working.
I found that at first, I added too much Alkalinity buffer (part 1). Even though it was in proportion to the correct amount of water, my tank was not producing enough organics to lower my PH and my alk. My DKH levels were WAYYYYY too high. So now, I just add half the amount of Part 1 and twice the amount of Part 2, and my levels stay perfect.
You may just have to adjust it to fit your particular aquarium. Mine is a 75 gallon, if it's larger or smaller, I am sure the amounts will have to be changed.
By the way, I see you are in Brownsville. I took a trip down to Corpus last April and LOVED it. We took a day trip from there and drove all the way to the South tip of Padre. What a Beautiful seashore. We were told it was the height of Sargassum season. We would wake in the morning and the sea weed would be 4 feet deep on the shore, and FULL of Man-o-war's. It sucked for the kids who were surfing. We also took a trip out to the jetty at Aransas Pass. I picked up some cool limpets and an anemone off the chunk rock. Unfortunately I also discovered Oyster Drills, but not until I had already introduced them to my tank and lost two Mexican Turbos. I found out they are snails that will kill other shelled animals in your reef tank. I had to ditch those. But I did keep a Porcelain crab I found under the rock.
I wish I lived by the sea...
I found that at first, I added too much Alkalinity buffer (part 1). Even though it was in proportion to the correct amount of water, my tank was not producing enough organics to lower my PH and my alk. My DKH levels were WAYYYYY too high. So now, I just add half the amount of Part 1 and twice the amount of Part 2, and my levels stay perfect.
You may just have to adjust it to fit your particular aquarium. Mine is a 75 gallon, if it's larger or smaller, I am sure the amounts will have to be changed.
By the way, I see you are in Brownsville. I took a trip down to Corpus last April and LOVED it. We took a day trip from there and drove all the way to the South tip of Padre. What a Beautiful seashore. We were told it was the height of Sargassum season. We would wake in the morning and the sea weed would be 4 feet deep on the shore, and FULL of Man-o-war's. It sucked for the kids who were surfing. We also took a trip out to the jetty at Aransas Pass. I picked up some cool limpets and an anemone off the chunk rock. Unfortunately I also discovered Oyster Drills, but not until I had already introduced them to my tank and lost two Mexican Turbos. I found out they are snails that will kill other shelled animals in your reef tank. I had to ditch those. But I did keep a Porcelain crab I found under the rock.
I wish I lived by the sea...
I do drip Kalkwasser once a week. I mix up a gallon and drip for a day.
My tank loses about a gallon a day from evap.
Kalkwasser is messy and I find it clogs my dripper :wink:
I have read in a book by Dilbeek, that corals need dissolved calcium for proper calcification to take place. My experience has proven to me, that this is indeed the case.
I started out dripping all my topoff mixed with kalkwasser. I had great alkalinity and great calcium levels, but I could never get my CA up above 400. And SPS growth was slow. Since I started using B-Ionioc 2 part, growth has been explosive. All other factors were the same. Temp, Phosphates, all the same.
I don't claim to know it all, but I know what I have seen. I hate to sound like an advertisement, but I think the stuff is great.
It might be relatively expensive, but hey, who said reefing was cheap? :lol:
My tank loses about a gallon a day from evap.
Kalkwasser is messy and I find it clogs my dripper :wink:
I have read in a book by Dilbeek, that corals need dissolved calcium for proper calcification to take place. My experience has proven to me, that this is indeed the case.
I started out dripping all my topoff mixed with kalkwasser. I had great alkalinity and great calcium levels, but I could never get my CA up above 400. And SPS growth was slow. Since I started using B-Ionioc 2 part, growth has been explosive. All other factors were the same. Temp, Phosphates, all the same.
I don't claim to know it all, but I know what I have seen. I hate to sound like an advertisement, but I think the stuff is great.
It might be relatively expensive, but hey, who said reefing was cheap? :lol:
Dewman":28qa4nkb said:
That's hardly enough kalk to accomplish much of anything. Kalkwasser can boost both alkalinty and calcium at the same time but needs to be dosed/dripped similar to the evaporation level of your tank in order to come close to maintaining calc/alkalinity levels IME.
Dewman, it is an interesting place to live down here. I live in Brownsville, but also have a house on the beach at South Padre. Most of the summer, we do not have much sargasm at all, however in the spring and early weeks of the summer, we do sometimes get a lot. The floating sargasm actually harbors an unbelievable amount of life. Next time, you are down, you should scoop some up with a bucket while it is still floating and you will find all sorts of neat stuff. Once, I caught 2 sargasm angler fish. Within 1 hr, there was only one (got eaten by its buddy) As far as putting things in reef tanks from here, you have to be very careful (as you already found out) Most of the stuff is pretty nasty and will not be reef friendly. I do a lot of offshore fishing and have caught some very neat things. I am still thinking about putting a baby dorado in my reef tank. I have caught one in the past with a net that was only about 2" long. I am pretty sure that if he survives though, that he will start to eat all the other fish in the tank. Anyway, as I said, I think that adding small amounts of the B-ionic in a large container of water is fine (that is basically what you are doing when adding the stuff to a small tank) I do not see any warnings about adding B-ionic to a tank less than 30 gallons. What probably is true, is that the two parts cannot be directly mixed since something would surely precipitate out at such a high concentration. I appreciate you relaying your experience.
Bowfront,
I dripped kalkwasser for the last year daily and still had better results with 2-part solution. Some things work for some people, some things don't. No biggie. Like I said, b-ionic is easier and quicker to use, and if you spend as much time as I do at work, I'm sure you'll agree that anything to take one chore out of your weekly (daily) routine, is a welcome relief.
Texman.
I think I am coming down again in the spring, so I will give the sargassum-dip a try! I love seining creek chub for my friends greeb, because of all the other stuff you pull up (sculpins, red bellied dace, darters, crawdads...) so you know I can't wait to get in there and start poking around in a marine environment.
One thing I did notice was how much flotsam there was on that particular stretch of beach. Is this due to the off-shore oil rigs dumping stuff off the side? Looking through some of that stuff was pretty interesting in itsself. We found a green plastic float about 10"across. The kind used on nets for fishing. It said it was manufactured in Brazil. Wonder if that was the country of origin. We also found coconuts. We wondered if they had drifted all the way across the gulf in the directin of the currents.
So very interesting.
Clark,
I hear ya man! Looks like you're in the same boat as me. Imagine, I come to Tulsa to get away from it all !! 8O
I'll help you escape this place if you help me!
I dripped kalkwasser for the last year daily and still had better results with 2-part solution. Some things work for some people, some things don't. No biggie. Like I said, b-ionic is easier and quicker to use, and if you spend as much time as I do at work, I'm sure you'll agree that anything to take one chore out of your weekly (daily) routine, is a welcome relief.
Texman.
I think I am coming down again in the spring, so I will give the sargassum-dip a try! I love seining creek chub for my friends greeb, because of all the other stuff you pull up (sculpins, red bellied dace, darters, crawdads...) so you know I can't wait to get in there and start poking around in a marine environment.
One thing I did notice was how much flotsam there was on that particular stretch of beach. Is this due to the off-shore oil rigs dumping stuff off the side? Looking through some of that stuff was pretty interesting in itsself. We found a green plastic float about 10"across. The kind used on nets for fishing. It said it was manufactured in Brazil. Wonder if that was the country of origin. We also found coconuts. We wondered if they had drifted all the way across the gulf in the directin of the currents.
So very interesting.
Clark,
I hear ya man! Looks like you're in the same boat as me. Imagine, I come to Tulsa to get away from it all !! 8O
I'll help you escape this place if you help me!
Dewman:
The offshore oil rigs are fairly tightly regulated as to what they can throw into the water and generally stick to the rules. Unfortunately, shrimpers are big polluters and dump alot of trash into the water. Fishermen in Mexico as far as I am concerned, are the worst offenders. They seem to have absolutely no regard for the environment. We see old nylon drift nets with literally tons of dead fish, birds, and turtles in them. The time of year you are at the beach really reflects where the junk comes from. After about May or so, until November, the current to this area comes from the north coast of South America and follows the coast of Central America and Mexico to our area. That is why we always have to be very careful when boating before or after dark when there has been a recent hurricane down there. The flooding tends to wash huge trees and other floating stuff out the rivers and into the current which carries it up here. In the winter months, our current comes from the Northern Gulf of Mexico, so we see a lot junk from Louisiana and Mississippi.
The offshore oil rigs are fairly tightly regulated as to what they can throw into the water and generally stick to the rules. Unfortunately, shrimpers are big polluters and dump alot of trash into the water. Fishermen in Mexico as far as I am concerned, are the worst offenders. They seem to have absolutely no regard for the environment. We see old nylon drift nets with literally tons of dead fish, birds, and turtles in them. The time of year you are at the beach really reflects where the junk comes from. After about May or so, until November, the current to this area comes from the north coast of South America and follows the coast of Central America and Mexico to our area. That is why we always have to be very careful when boating before or after dark when there has been a recent hurricane down there. The flooding tends to wash huge trees and other floating stuff out the rivers and into the current which carries it up here. In the winter months, our current comes from the Northern Gulf of Mexico, so we see a lot junk from Louisiana and Mississippi.
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