Randy Holmes-Farley 2 part solution

[spaulr]

I've just ordered the supplies to make the Ca, Mg and Alk solutions.

Tank size is 40 gallons with 12-15 in the sump for a total of 55 gallons.

The biggest concern I have is that it doesn't state what the max dosage is each day if you are attempting to bump your levels up. My Ca has been notoriously low, possibly because of lower Mg levels.

Ca - 325 - Elos kit
KH - 11 - Elos kit
Mg - 1100 - New Salifert kit

I've been using B-Ionic to boost my Ca level - doubling the dosage for Ca only as my initial Ca was 275. I'd prefer to have a gradual increase, but after a 5-10 gallon water change each week I'd never get to a Ca of ~380-420.

Anyone else using this system?

 

[Anonymous]

This calculator should give you all the information you need.

http://reef.diesyst.com/

 

[Anonymous]

Man make sure you check your test kits when doing this, and above all else make sure you're consistant in making your batches.

For whatever reason I doubled the dowflake simply to have a more potent stock, and didn't bake the baking soda (but added more as advised) I really screwed the pooch. Measured my Alkalinity, 6.5dKH (a little low, but not so much to worry), then measured my calcium.... 620ppm! (YIKES!, need to stop dosing calcium for a week and see where it ends up)

 

[spaulr]

Thanks for the tips. I ordered the dow flake and mag flake. I went through almost an entire bottle of B-Ionic Ca solution to get my Ca up to 400, 410.

I guess instant ocean salt is pretty low on Ca (ok on Mg which measured out at 1100).

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah I found out the hard way that IO is low in calcium, I used to drip kalk into a 10g prop tank, and did semi-religious water changes (usually 20% once a week) and couldn't for the life of me figure out why my calcium can't get high.. durrrrr

I was/am planning on taking a trip to tahoe before the snow goes away and want to stop by a local hardware store and just buy a few 50 pound bags of the stuff for probably the same price as online places sell "aquarium stuff"

 

[Anonymous]

Hey Mike!

Let me know if you want to snag a few bags of Dow and Mag for me when you go to the snow!

 

[Anonymous]

Do I WANT to snag some bags for you? Sheesh, I do have a prius, don't want to take home 400 pounds worth of stuff and impact my gas mileage do I?

 

[Anonymous]

Sure you do!

 

[spaulr]

This site also has a really good deal on a 50lb bag of Dowflake. Shipping is reasonable as well - at least to Ca.

http://www.ecleaningsupplier.com/icemel ... &RowCount=