CA reactor, B-Ionic, Randy's 2 part ?
- Thread starter jhale
- Start date
- Location
- The Big City
You only need to bake for one hour at 300 degree's it's not that hard.
"Spread baking soda (594 grams or about 2 ? cups) on a baking tray and heat in an ordinary oven at 300 ?F for 1 hour to drive off water and carbon dioxide"
In a small tank B-ionic might not cost that much, but when you get into maintaining larger tanks your wallet can take a big hit.
Dave I know you have more to contribute.
"Spread baking soda (594 grams or about 2 ? cups) on a baking tray and heat in an ordinary oven at 300 ?F for 1 hour to drive off water and carbon dioxide"
In a small tank B-ionic might not cost that much, but when you get into maintaining larger tanks your wallet can take a big hit.
Dave I know you have more to contribute.
- Location
- Ossining, NY
JH,
you should have included a check box for a series of both -
I was chatting with dave about this all night last eve. I have decided to dial down my reactor to get me to about 400 Ca and 9.0 dkh. I did this purposefully because my reactor was not giving my corals the growth I experienced in the past. So, I am dosing approx 8oz of Bionic per week - I have noticed some growth in the past two weeks that I have begin to use this method.
As for the Randy's -
I did this last year before installing my reactor - I had the same growth, but had some algea problems, not really bad, but just some cyano on the glass that I didn't like. I think this was in part for two reasons: 1) I didn't use dowflake, I used 100% Ca Cl that had 1% water in it - I didn't bake the Ca and I was not able to fully disolve the baking soda even with using a blender and heated Ro.DI water.
Hope this is helpful, I voted that I have a reactor even though I am cheating and doing both.
House
you should have included a check box for a series of both -
I was chatting with dave about this all night last eve. I have decided to dial down my reactor to get me to about 400 Ca and 9.0 dkh. I did this purposefully because my reactor was not giving my corals the growth I experienced in the past. So, I am dosing approx 8oz of Bionic per week - I have noticed some growth in the past two weeks that I have begin to use this method.
As for the Randy's -
I did this last year before installing my reactor - I had the same growth, but had some algea problems, not really bad, but just some cyano on the glass that I didn't like. I think this was in part for two reasons: 1) I didn't use dowflake, I used 100% Ca Cl that had 1% water in it - I didn't bake the Ca and I was not able to fully disolve the baking soda even with using a blender and heated Ro.DI water.
Hope this is helpful, I voted that I have a reactor even though I am cheating and doing both.
House
- Location
- The Big City
I think Jim try it and had a problem with Hair algae as he didn't bake it long enough to get the water out of it.
I was going to try it, and I actually bought the items and I still have them in my cabinet. But since I don't use that much of B-Ionic it wasn't worth it to me have any more problems than I already have.
Also I don't use the oven and because of where the washing machine is I can't open the door all the way. I guess that was just a good excuss not to use it.
I was going to try it, and I actually bought the items and I still have them in my cabinet. But since I don't use that much of B-Ionic it wasn't worth it to me have any more problems than I already have.
Also I don't use the oven and because of where the washing machine is I can't open the door all the way. I guess that was just a good excuss not to use it.
- Location
- Wallingford, CT
I use a reactor because it can keep up with the demand of the tank. When I started with a smaller (55g) tank, I used C-Balance as a two-part additive. It was doing well but as the corals and clams started to grow, I couldn't keep the Alk above 7.6
I ended up dosing almost the maximum dosage for the gallons and still needed to tweak with Reef Builder to raise the Alk.
I ended up dosing almost the maximum dosage for the gallons and still needed to tweak with Reef Builder to raise the Alk.
right now there is a change in the randy forumla, soon i will be doing a group buy with MR for magnesium chloride. This is the real deal around 50lb of mag choride for 16 dollars per bag. I just called the company up, and their NY distributor will be calling me back anytime today.
Trace Element Content of Dead Sea Works
Magnesium Chloride
Element Typical(ppm) Maximum(ppm)
Mg (magnesium)115000(11.5%) 125000 (12.5%)
Ca (calcium)7000 8000
Br (bromine)5000 8000
K (potassium)2500 3500
S(sulfate)(SO42-) 180 200
Sr (strontium)120 150
(rest below is so minor it doesnt really matter)
B 20 30
Li 10 15
N* 4 5
Si 9 15
Fe 3 10
P 2 3
Mn 2 3
Al 1 3
Ba 1 2
Co <1
Cr <1
Cu <1
F <1
Mo <1
Ni <1
Se <1
V <1
Zn <1
As <0.1
Hg <0.1
Pb <0.1
Cd <0.01
I n.a
Rb n.a
Trace Element Content of Dead Sea Works
Magnesium Chloride
Element Typical(ppm) Maximum(ppm)
Mg (magnesium)115000(11.5%) 125000 (12.5%)
Ca (calcium)7000 8000
Br (bromine)5000 8000
K (potassium)2500 3500
S(sulfate)(SO42-) 180 200
Sr (strontium)120 150
(rest below is so minor it doesnt really matter)
B 20 30
Li 10 15
N* 4 5
Si 9 15
Fe 3 10
P 2 3
Mn 2 3
Al 1 3
Ba 1 2
Co <1
Cr <1
Cu <1
F <1
Mo <1
Ni <1
Se <1
V <1
Zn <1
As <0.1
Hg <0.1
Pb <0.1
Cd <0.01
I n.a
Rb n.a
marrone said:
Michael that's pretty funny. I guess you don't cook too much at your place.
I made the poll a multiple choice, you can pick more than one answer.
Dave and I were also discussing this on saturday night, we were thinking about making a large quantity of the two part. I want to get feedback on it first.
The po4 problem you had was caused by using the wrong product, right?
The little bit of NH3 that comes from the formula does not concern me, your biological filter should handle it.
- Location
- Ossining, NY
Yes came from the Ca I bought I believe since it had traces of water that was unidentified. I am guessing this was the reason - RO/DI have never read more than 3 on TDS.
House
House
- Location
- The Big City
jhale said:
I have a micro wave oven, a convectional oven and I can use the stove and there is always sandwiches. I used the oven once and ever since then when I go to use it smokes comes out from it, so I've decided I can live without it.
- Location
- Ossining, NY
Yeah I knew it was mutiple choice, but that doesn't represent who is doing both - only calculates one vote for each in total.
Jim
Jim
- Location
- Washington Heights, NY
I got in on the NJreefers group buy and it was only $10 plus $2 for other stuff. The place is right in South Jersey.spykes said:
- Location
- Washington Heights, NY
Why do you have to bake the Ca?House of Laughter said:
I got peladow where they evaporate the water from dowflake.
utilizing randy's formula and the litermeter method, it might be cost effective to go this route.
http://www.meltsnow.com/msds-mag-flakes.htm
http://www.meltsnow.com/msds-mag-flakes.htm
- Location
- Ossining, NY
Kimoyo,
In the recipe, you don't have to bake the Ca, but the Ca I purchased was not the prpoer one and it had traces of water in it, so I might of had to bake it to eliminate the water.
House
In the recipe, you don't have to bake the Ca, but the Ca I purchased was not the prpoer one and it had traces of water in it, so I might of had to bake it to eliminate the water.
House
Dave, count me in for a 50 pound bag of magnesium chloride when you get the hook up.
I use a calcium reactor and periodically supplement with Dow Flake, baking soda, and Epson salt when levels are tested low.
I use a calcium reactor and periodically supplement with Dow Flake, baking soda, and Epson salt when levels are tested low.
- Location
- Ossining, NY
Yeah Dave, count me in as well.
House
House
B-ionic with a calcium reactor I find to be the best combo.
I cut back on the cacium reactor and the b-ionic to about 2/3-1/2 the rec. dosage and it seems to work realy well on several aquariums I care for
if given the choice either ca reactor or b-ionic I'd choose just b-ionic it may cost more in the long run but the balace is there.
I cut back on the cacium reactor and the b-ionic to about 2/3-1/2 the rec. dosage and it seems to work realy well on several aquariums I care for
if given the choice either ca reactor or b-ionic I'd choose just b-ionic it may cost more in the long run but the balace is there.
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