Starting BRS two part

[rk4435]

Any advise or warnings?

I've been trying to dose Alk only using Seachem buffer, I'm thinking it must not be meant to use as a pre mix solution because it hasn't kept up and I managed to drive down my Alk and Mag somehow.

I hope to get everything running on my Jebao doser except for the mag, hopefully it will behave with manual dosing.

 

[jbdreefs]

See the recent "disaster" thread about building a fail safe for the doser... Could be a fluke.

Also, when using the BRS calculator. Pay attention to the units. bRS does not default to dkh. The default is meq/l (or whatever it is).

 

[gacolt]

brs 2part is great very user friendly.
i would go with a better dosing pump.bubble magus or better

 

[pbyrmartin]

the key is to find out how much cal/alk your tank use daily, I dose 110 ml each daily.
If you don't have a lot of corals in your tank you can start out at about 15 -20 ml per day each then measure after a few days and raise it accordingly.


gook luck

 

[picoreefguy]

also make sure to get your mag in line before you try to mess with trying to get the alk back up. if the magnesium is too far out of whack your alk will never be right

 

[rk4435]

Thanks for the note about the meg/l thing. I almost messed up because of that one.


Picoreef, my Mag was fine since I changed salts a couple of months ago then suddenly was low about a week ago, even with manual dosing I can't seem to get it up and I'm starting to think my brand new Red Sea kit is bad. It replaced my Salifert kit that had me jumping hoops around Christmas trying to get my Mag up.

 

[picoreefguy]

yea it could very well be the test kit. have you taken a sample to an lfs to get your results verified?

 

[rk4435]

The lfs in my area do not do Mag for some reason.

The drop also cooresponds to me gettig a new shipment of salt, possible the bad batch syndrome? Nonetheless I suppose I'll order another kit feom a different maker.

Is there a better time of day to dose the Alk solution? I think I saw the Soda Ash can make your ph go up, if that's true wouldn't it make sense to dose the Alk in the middle of the night when lights are off?

 

[rk4435]

I'm not sure how phosphates could factor in to the Mag issue, if it could at all, I'm thinking my Hanna checker may be as suspects as my Mag test. Last weekend my Phos was undetectable, I retested with the same results. My skimmer stopped working last Sunday and my Phos was .19 this weekend. I now have a new skimmer but it hasn't broken in yet.

 

[picoreefguy]

its weird that they wont check the mag, i figured all stores would offer it even if at a small charge. check and see if your salt has a batch and lot number if it does call up the company and ask if anyone else with the same batch and lot has had the same problem. if you get lucky they might even replace the salt for you.

and yea any kind of alk supplement will raise ph so its best to do it when you know ph is lower. its the same reason a lot of people have their fuge lights on a reverse light cycle and do kalk drips at night. but honestly the amount you add to your tank on any given day should not raise your ph enough to annoy anything so if its inconvenient to dose at night then i wouldn't worry about. but if you need to dose so much that you do get large swings in ph its best to split the doses up as much as possible

 

[bcavalli]

rk4435;1023072 wrote: The lfs in my area do not do Mag for some reason.

The drop also cooresponds to me gettig a new shipment of salt, possible the bad batch syndrome? Nonetheless I suppose I'll order another kit feom a different maker.

Is there a better time of day to dose the Alk solution? I think I saw the Soda Ash can make your ph go up, if that's true wouldn't it make sense to dose the Alk in the middle of the night when lights are off?

I dose Alkalinity 10 hours at night and Calcium 10 hours during the day as Picoreefguy said it helps minimize your pH swing overnight. When I add Magnesium (once a week) I'll add it during the break between doses.

 

[rk4435]

Thanks Bccavalli. I've got my Alk dropping in around 5:30 in the morning and my Calcium has been good all week. Mag is still staying a bit low so it must be the {%}^# kit. I'm really getting tired of buying multiple test kits.

 

[enderg60]

Been dosing 3 part for years and years. and its great.

2 best tips I can give you,

test and adjust your timing often until you get it set. Then retest and adjust at least monthly.

DO NOT GET A DOSING PUMP THAT CAN SIPHON. Many dosing pumps will maintain a seal so when the pump shuts off no more fluid can flow no matter what. But many do not, be very wary of these.