CA reactor, B-Ionic, Randy's 2 part ?

[alrha]

I use seachem products (Reef Advantage Calcium, Reef Buffer/Builder, Reef Advantage Magnesium [when needed]). I dose about 8tsp a day (alternating between alk and ca).

I dont have a reactor mainly because i dont really have the room for one (or want to hassle).

I tend to be averse to adding anything to my tank that is not made for the aquarium. i know it costs more to use brand name products, but at least i have the peace of mind, i wouldnt want to make one small mistake once and find my entire tank wiped out. (not to mention the hassle of making these formulas).

 

[paul]

Guess I`m the first, so far, to only use Randy`s two part. Dosing is done by a Sentry two channel pump. I use one box (1 lb) of Arm&Hammer baking soda to a gallon of RO water. Two cups of calcium chloride to a gallon of RO.

Lowes sells 50 pound bags of prestone driveway heat for $16. Similar stuff to Kent`s turbo calcium.

I`m very happy with the results. My calc is ~440 and alk at 9.6 dkh.
Tank is a 210 gal, 90% sps with a 75 gal sump and 15 gal refuge.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v237/pwilk20/Picture526.jpg

Paul.

 

[spykes]

nice paul!

 

[Kedd]

I'll second what Spykes said.
Nice tank paul.

Kedd

 

[paul]

Thanks guys.

About one third of my sps came from your your tank Kedd. Got them back in January.

Here`s one, a two inch frag grew to a nice small colony in the past year.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v237/pwilk20/Picture522.jpg

Paul.

 

[spykes]

paul did you notice any cyano or algae growth? also a po4 problem?
i have many questions for you!

 

[Kedd]

That's funny, I had no idea, But I remember now.
I'm glad they are doing well.

Kedd

 

[paul]

paul did you notice any cyano or algae growth? also a po4 problem?
i have many questions for you!

I do have a little cyano where there`s not much flow, but I don`t think it`s related to the two part formula. I had it in my old 65 gal where I dosed B-ionic, when flow got to it, the stuff vanished.

I`ve got some turf algae, which is a low nutrient algae. Again, had the same stuff using B-ionic. Pink coraline is growing like crazy, PO4 is not detectable on Salifert kit.

On Reef Central people are complaining that their calcium reactors are leeching major PO4! Check out Malev`s posts. Poor guy was fighting PO4 for so long. It might have been the reactor`s media. Now he`s passing his reactor`s output through phosban. Ouch!

Paul.

 

[kimoyo]

It sounds like those who were having phosphate/algae problems where using brands other than peladow or dowflake. I've read many times on RC about people using peladow and dowflake without any algae/phosphate issues.

Marc (Melev) was dosing phytoplankton which is basically putting phosphate in your tank. We remove phosphates by skimming phyto out of the tank. He also may have some other issues.

 

[spykes]

grat news, also where do you buy a 1lb of baking soda?

 

[jhale]

a baking supply store, somewhere in the city.

 

[jhale]

Paul I think your Ca and Alk levels are perfect, is it hard to maintain those levels with the two part formula, or do you have to tweak it often?

does it varry from batch to batch?

thanks,

J

 

[NYPDFrogman]

I switched from B-Ionic to a ca reactor on 10/25/2005
it was costing me a small fortune to dose B-ionic.
I had a discussion with Tony at reef Exotics about dosing and ca reactors.
Tony knows his stuff. the very first question he asked me was if I checked Magnesium and strontium. I told him that I checked them at least once a week and that my Mg was between 1500-1600 at any given time and I had to add strontium on a steady basis. he noted that he is constantly adding Mg to his tank to keep it above 1320.

I have noticed a drop in Mg in my tank since I added the ca reactor.
and still dose strontium (which will lower your alk if not dosed properly)
my MG now stays areouns 1350-1400
my strontium is around 10mg/l ( I'd like to see it a bit higher around 14-16mg/l but I dont want it to affect my alk)
I was never able to maintain 400 mg/l of Ca and keep my alk at 10 DKH like it is now

with B-Ionic I was able to maintain 380 mg/l of cal and 7-8 DKH but I was adding ALOT of B-ionic

I'm not knocking B-Ionic at all! when I had the 65 gal tank running it was a breeze and I got great results. I found with my 180 and a heavy Ca load (3X the SPS per gallon) that it wasnt cost affective to dose B-ionic

If your running a Ca you definitly have to check Mg and strontium and dose accordingly

 

[jhale]

frank, the drop in MG can be from not dosing B-Ionic.

I know seachem uses MG in their CA Reef Advantage and the Reef Builder (Alk).
MG is included in each one in proportionate amounts and acts as a buffer to keep the CA and Alk in balance, I don't know for sure but I would guess B-Ionic does the same thing. I never tested for MG till the other day, I read 1300 on a salifert kit.
According to salifert instructions NS has from 1300-1500 MG, so I'm happy with the 1300 I got. The same seachem products also contain strontium so I feel safe not having to dose that as well. I do test for it and the level is always fine.

With each method it's important to know what needs to be added, it looks like none of them are perfect.

 

[spykes]

pretty much any two part additives are portion of one part containing magnisum and stronium, just the amount might not be that much as disired. I believe randy's formula isnt perfect, but it is very cost effiective and with magnisum chloride i think it is very possible to not spend a fortune on bionic and create a very cost effective 2 part formula which allows us to benifit with lower amount of co2 in our tanks, and keeping up with the magnisum ions as well.

 

[NYPDFrogman]

frank, the drop in MG can be from not dosing B-Ionic.

I

With each method it's important to know what needs to be added, it looks like none of them are perfect.

for sure! I dont think a Ca reactor alone creates a Utopia chemistry wise.
I still dose Kalkwasser in my make up water, Mg and strontium.

in my early years of reef keeping I was kind of "sloppy" I dosed by eye and the look of the tank was my barometer, now I'm much more dilligent and displined in husbandry, and still trust my eye but I also measure and test to be sure.
this 180 is proably my 10th reef tank since I started, I'm made plenty of mistakes and spent needless $$$

one plus for this hobby is the ability to share info like this
MR rocks!

 

[Reefer420]

I've been using Kent Nano part A&B- seems to be working great for my tank as of now. They add extra trace elements that can become depleted rapidly from a nano (iodine, etc.). Have noticed a huge differance in my tank since starting it. Would be expensive for a larger tank though- but my small bottles will take me a while to get though in my 16g.

 

[jhale]

pretty much any two part additives are portion of one part containing magnisum and strontium, just the amount might not be that much as desired.

as pointed out even with a CA reactor you still need to dose MG and strontium. If Randys two part saves over the cost of B-ionic, I would not mind having to dose the two other "missing" parts.

for cost your looking at 329 for the new litermaid III.
this would be necessary for either the 2 part or b ionic.

 

[paul]

grat news, also where do you buy a 1lb of baking soda?

I get it from Pathmark or Target, it`s less than a dollar.

Another benefit of using the homemade two part is that the alk part rises my ph. During winter this is very helpful, since all windows are closed I`m having trouble keeping my ph above 8.0. A calcium reactor would further lower the ph.

Here`s a pic of my simple setup...

Paul.

 

[jhale]

Paul,

why is it sitting in a box by itself?