Randy Holmes Farley 2 part DIY additive

[DevilBoy]

I have been reading on this 2 part additive. I guess you can call it 3 since the Mg part is in there also. I think i am going to try doing this, it seems alot cheaper to do it this when the buying the 2 part Bionic. I just have a few questions before i buy the stuff i need to do it.

1. Is this just a maintence additive or can this be used to increase Ca or Alk?
The reason i ask is my Ca is alittle out of balance with my Alk. 370ppm and 3.5meq/l respectively. i would like to raise my Ca first to 420-430ish which would put me close to being in balance.

2. Could i just add the Ca part of this additive to raise the Ca without effecting my Alk?
then start dosing equally once my Ca is up?

3. Or would i be better off with some Kent Marine Turbo Calcium to raise the Ca up, then dose the additive in equal parts to keep things in line?

4. dosing the diy 2 part system will this raise my ca and alk levels if i dose in equal portions? Once i get my 420ish Ca, then can i dose this 2 part in equal doses to mantain my readings and be stable?

Thanks
sorry for all the questions

[hydroman]

I've used the two-part system for about six months and a couple of times I've used it to increase calcium. I would first figure out how much part 1 and part 2 you need to maintain your levels and then add a little extra part 1 until calcium is where you like it. I have a 65 gallon with a light LPS load and I'm dosing 30 ml part 1 (ca) and 5 ml part 2 (alk) to maintain at ~410 ca and 4.5 meq/l alk.

[Sea monkey]

Originally Posted by DevilBoy

I have been reading on this 2 part additive. I guess you can call it 3 since the Mg part is in there also. I think i am going to try doing this, it seems alot cheaper to do it this when the buying the 2 part Bionic. I just have a few questions before i buy the stuff i need to do it.

1. Is this just a maintenance additive or can this be used to increase Ca or Alk?
The reason i ask is my Ca is a little out of balance with my Alk. 370ppm and 3.5meq/l respectively. i would like to raise my Ca first to 420-430ish which would put me close to being in balance.

2. Could i just add the Ca part of this additive to raise the Ca without effecting my Alk?
then start dosing equally once my Ca is up?

3. Or would i be better off with some Kent Marine Turbo Calcium to raise the Ca up, then dose the additive in equal parts to keep things in line?

4. dosing the diy 2 part system will this raise my ca and alk levels if i dose in equal portions? Once i get my 420ish Ca, then can i dose this 2 part in equal doses to mantain my readings and be stable?

Thanks
sorry for all the questions

It is perfectly safe to use these products to raise the levels to where you want them. Randy recommends you elevate the levels to where you want them and then use the 2 part to maintain these levels. kent turbo is calcium chloride , only difference between that and dow calcium chloride is the fancy label , price and kent has a bit less water in it .

this is a quote form his article . http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php

To initiate dosing, first adjust calcium and alkalinity to roughly their correct ranges. This may require a substantial dose of just the calcium part if calcium is low (e.g., below 380 ppm). I would suggest targeting calcium between 380 and 450 ppm, and alkalinity between 2.5 and 4 meq/L (7-11 dKH; 125-200 ppm calcium carbonate equivalents).
This calculator shows how much of what parts to add in order to boost one or both of the parameters by a certain amount:
Reef chemicals calculator

http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chem_calc3.html
Then, once things seem roughly correct, select a starting daily dose for routine dosing. Here are some suggested starting doses, but the exact values do not matter much. The suggested doses apply to both recipes.

[David Grigor]

1. Yes. Both parts can be used to raise your levels.
2. Yes, well kindof. By nature raising CA will lower Alk some. So you may have to add more of one and less of the other to get in line. Using 1 part only will have some effect on the other.
3. No advantage of using Kent Turbo vs. the CA chloride. If you already own the Turbo then yes you can use it up but I wouldn't buy it and would just use the CA recipe.
4. Yes, that is the main intended purpose. However, you may find that when mixing the stuff you may not have been exact with your measurements so over a long period of time you may need to make an adjustment. For example: I use the pellets and the water content does vary some plus I just use measuring cups that may or may not be totally accurate. So I did have the CA level creep up gradually over about a 6 month period time higher than the alk by about 50ppm. So I did have to stop or slow down on the CA for a few weeks to get back in line.

If your not already using it, this is a great little tool to help with adjustments:

http://jdieck1.home.comcast.net/chemcalc.html

[-Ace-]

I too use this formula, but I thought it was somewhat necessary to dose in equal proportions once you have figured out what is needed to keep your tank at your desired levels? I am dosing equal proportions, and have for some time, and both my CAL and ALK levels stay pretty consistant. I would have to believe if I dosed more of one or the other, my levels would also swing one way or another.

[David Grigor]

Correct -Ace- that is the intended use and expected goal.

Initially though, when you have been using another dosing method or no dosing method at all, you can have an in-balance of ALK/CA that could require adjusting. The other case is where your slightly off on the dosing ( manually ) or on the measurements when making the solution ( or water content variation in the pellets ). Both cases could make CA or ALK slightly off balance that could require an adjustment at some point. In my case the CA was slightly too strong ( more common when using pellets ) which made the CA about 50ppm higher over a 6-8 month time.

[stuckey_t]

Here we go again Do a search in this forum under 2 part and you will find all you want to know about this method.....

also look at innovative aquatics website

advanced aquarist online magazine

and also under prestone driveway heat, dowflake, magflake, etc..

[kjdeut]

Do you have to bake the baking soda? The video from Seamonkey's link just mixed it with water but the artical tells you to bake it.

[David Grigor]

Ken, it depends, recipe #1 where you bake it will increase your PH slightly. Recipe #2 where you don't bake it will slighty decrease your PH when adding.

For me, even though I add Kalk to all top off I still bake it because even with Kalk my PH isn't high enough because of in home CO2 levels so I want the little additional boost.

[kjdeut]

Thanks Dave

[DevilBoy]

Thanks guys, This sounds like a very easy and cheap additive to make on your own. I am going to go to sea monkeys site and order one of the kits first to see if i like the outcome of this additive before i buy the ingridents in bulk...

[REEFSTOCK]

Ditto what DG said. for us.

[David Grigor]

For my 110g, a concervative estimate based on my usage, the annual costs was $12 a year.

[DevilBoy]

Originally Posted by David Grigor

For my 110g, a concervative estimate based on my usage, the annual costs was $12 a year.

David, where did you buy in bulk so cheap?? i think i seen the bags of dow flake and mag flake are about $11 dollars each. How long does a bag last?

[David Grigor]

The CA chloride I use is a 9lb container of the driveway heat from walmart at $6.83. I use recipe #1 at half strength and a gallon last 2-2.5months. At 1 cup per gallon that's about 6-8 cups per year. So don't even use but a fraction of the 9lb per year so concervative estimate of $3 for the CA. Same goes with the ALK about 8 cups per year total and the largest A&H box from Walmart is like $2.70. As for the Mg, the 50lb bag was $20 and will last me about 10years so that's $2 per year. The epson salt is $2.19 for 4lbs. So yes $12 is conservative estimate per year.