2-part solution - Alternate or add both?

[chazman113]

Was trying to find this brought up on google but no luck...

Bad things obviously happen when you mix 2 part together. I also don't have a sump so I notice sometimes when I add the mixes in the morning they clash a bit. My question is... does anyone just alternate adding the 2-part? IE part 1 on monday, part 2 on tuesday... any disadvantage to this?

Thanks

[Crackem]

I have mine setup to dose 30min apart from eachother.

[ReachTheSky]

Most of us add them alternately but doing them days apart is not necessary. As long as you're certain that one component has mixed in well within the water column, you should be okay to add the other. A few minutes or hours apart have always worked for me.

[chazman113]

Most of us add them alternately but doing them days apart is not necessary. As long as you're certain that one component has mixed in well within the water column, you should be okay to add the other. A few minutes or hours apart have always worked for me.

But day-on day-off doesn't necessarily have any downside correct? The thing is I've trained myself to do it in the morning right when I get up and I'm usually out the door 10 minutes later, which doesn't lend much time to "mix".

[ReachTheSky]

No it doesn't have any downside as far as the chemistry is concerned.

[chazman113]

Good enough for me, hopefully that will fix my precip problems. If my alk is high and my calcium is a little on the low side, I can adjust the amount of each part I use, correct?

[ReachTheSky]

That's correct. I would recommend you test it daily at a specific time just to get an idea of how much the tank consumes on a 24-hour basis, then adjust the doses accordingly.

[chazman113]

Yea I've figured out about how much it needs to keep it "stable" but it seems my alk creeps up and my calcium creeps down lately, I'll change a few ML each way and see what happens.

[kissman]

Alk is best dosed over a peiod of time not at once. A lot of people dose there Alk and night and Calcium during the day.

[coralsnaked]

Smaller tanks can be a bit harder to keep the numbers very stable and dose in w/o precept because of the fewer gals of water and because smaller systems don't have dosing pumps and we pour by hand. Be sure you to pour very slowly in a high flow area. The day on and the day off routine maybe OK but will cause the tank to swing more than if they were dosed same day within 30+ minutes of each other. Downside depends on what corals you keep. Softies no problem, most LPS no problem, any SPS could be a problem depending on specific corals and amount you are dosing. If your tank is consuming 2-3 dKH of Alk per day and 50ppm Ca per day then alternate dosing could double the effect of swing making for pretty big swings. You would have to dose twice of much of Alk on one day to last two days and same for Ca. i would suspect a swing in Alk this large could be problematic for many SPS. But if you are dosing for a .5 Alk per day consumption then not so much of a problem. What works for one tank may not work for another. You could also try a 1 part dosing product.

Salifert makes a product called “All In One” and contains both Ca and Alk as well as Mg, trace and amino acids. Works well for 30 gal and less tanks. From memory I believe the dosage rate is 1ml per 5 gals X1 weekly as it is pretty concentrated. They suggest that if this does not maintain the Ca and Alk then go to twice a week. And I know w/ my heavily populated stony coral nano I still have to dose Alk X1 per week sometimes and this tank I do weekly 10% water changes which helps to keep the numbers up. I alternate w/ water chsange on weekend and Salifert dose during middle of week. It is all about how constant can I and do I need to keep the numbers.

Merry Skerry

[kissman]

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/1-kg-red-sea-reef-foundation-abc.html

[bertoni]

I dosed both at the same time into my tanks without problems for years, but every situation is different. What kind of problem is your tank having?

Many tanks have a large enough alkalinity drop per day that dosing every other day is going to let the alkalinity drop too low for safety. How much is your tank consuming every day?

[chazman113]

Smaller tanks can be a bit harder to keep the numbers very stable and dose in w/o precept because of the fewer gals of water and because smaller systems don't have dosing pumps and we pour by hand. Be sure you to pour very slowly in a high flow area. The day on and the day off routine maybe OK but will cause the tank to swing more than if they were dosed same day within 30+ minutes of each other. Downside depends on what corals you keep. Softies no problem, most LPS no problem, any SPS could be a problem depending on specific corals and amount you are dosing. If your tank is consuming 2-3 dKH of Alk per day and 50ppm Ca per day then alternate dosing could double the effect of swing making for pretty big swings. You would have to dose twice of much of Alk on one day to last two days and same for Ca. i would suspect a swing in Alk this large could be problematic for many SPS. But if you are dosing for a .5 Alk per day consumption then not so much of a problem. What works for one tank may not work for another. You could also try a 1 part dosing product.

Salifert makes a product called “All In One” and contains both Ca and Alk as well as Mg, trace and amino acids. Works well for 30 gal and less tanks. From memory I believe the dosage rate is 1ml per 5 gals X1 weekly as it is pretty concentrated. They suggest that if this does not maintain the Ca and Alk then go to twice a week. And I know w/ my heavily populated stony coral nano I still have to dose Alk X1 per week sometimes and this tank I do weekly 10% water changes which helps to keep the numbers up. I alternate w/ water chsange on weekend and Salifert dose during middle of week. It is all about how constant can I and do I need to keep the numbers.

Merry Skerry

Yea its a 55 gallon with soft coral, so I think I'm ok

[chazman113]

I dosed both at the same time into my tanks without problems for years, but every situation is different. What kind of problem is your tank having?

Many tanks have a large enough alkalinity drop per day that dosing every other day is going to let the alkalinity drop too low for safety. How much is your tank consuming every day?

Only need about 15ml of the stuff to keep my Alk in the 10ish range. Since I don't keep any SPS I think the swings will be minimal.

[bertoni]

Okay, I suspect the tank will be fine. Most likely, the tank needs about 15ml of the calcium per day, too, but water changes and the Kalk might keep up with the demand given the low alkalinity dosing level.