buffers vs straight ca/kh/mg?

[Johnb123]

what's the difference other than more control with straight ca/kh/mg?

[bertoni]

pH buffers and alkalinity supplements are the same thing. The ingredients can differ a bit, depending on the brand and how much of a pH effect the supplement is supposed to have.

[droog]

The term "buffer" applied to these products annoys me. Generally they are straight Alkalinity additives. The notion that your chemistry is "buffered" is misleading IMO. Sounds like a safety measure when it is not. We care about stable Alkalinity much more than "buffered" pH.

I believe you're best with "balanced" supplements like commercial 2-part or DIY 2-part additives. Avoid anything that calls itself "buffer".

2-part is works well in most cases. Ca/Alk/Mg dosed separately also works but requires more work, more testing and can easily result in less stable water chemistry. I think it did in my case anyway. I started out dosing RedSea Ca/Alk/Mg supplements separately and testing each one weekly. Now I use TLF C-Balance 2-part additive and recently only measure Alk. When I test all parameters they are always in balance. Coral growth took off exponentially after the switch to 2-part. Of course it may be different for others...

Apex monitors my pH, which tends to stay 8.1 - 8.3. High 7's is also OK, generally indicating excessive C02. The fix for that is to get fresh air into the tank or skimmer if possible. Or use a C02 scrubber. Raising Alk to get higher pH is like the proverbial "cutting off your nose to spite your face".

-droog

[tmz]

Alkalinity does buffer pH by neutralizing acid . However, calling an alkalinity supplement a "buffer" to market it as a pH control leads to a lot of confusion and misuse to control pH which doesn't happen given the influx of CO2 into the water from the surrounding air.

[Johnb123]

isn't doing ca/kh/mg 2 part? what's the difference from doing ca/kh/mg and 2 part?

The term "buffer" applied to these products annoys me. Generally they are straight Alkalinity additives. The notion that your chemistry is "buffered" is misleading IMO. Sounds like a safety measure when it is not. We care about stable Alkalinity much more than "buffered" pH.

I believe you're best with "balanced" supplements like commercial 2-part or DIY 2-part additives. Avoid anything that calls itself "buffer".

2-part is works well in most cases. Ca/Alk/Mg dosed separately also works but requires more work, more testing and can easily result in less stable water chemistry. I think it did in my case anyway. I started out dosing RedSea Ca/Alk/Mg supplements separately and testing each one weekly. Now I use TLF C-Balance 2-part additive and recently only measure Alk. When I test all parameters they are always in balance. Coral growth took off exponentially after the switch to 2-part. Of course it may be different for others...

Apex monitors my pH, which tends to stay 8.1 - 8.3. High 7's is also OK, generally indicating excessive C02. The fix for that is to get fresh air into the tank or skimmer if possible. Or use a C02 scrubber. Raising Alk to get higher pH is like the proverbial "cutting off your nose to spite your face".

-droog

[bertoni]

A 2-part has solutions that add alkalinity and calcium, with some versions having some magnesium in the calcium solution. The solutions are designed so that dosing the same amount of both liquids will add calcium and alkalinity in the ratio that corals and coralline consume them, so it's not necessary to monitor calcium as often. That's very useful because our calcium kits aren't all that useful in measuring day-to-day changes, because of the large amount of calcium in saltwater, as compared to alkalinity.