Salt/Two Part advice

[Djplus1]

So, I'm down to maybe 1 or 1.5 water changes of Tropic Marin salt mix after a WC last night. I've been slacking the last 3 months or so, changing once every 2.5 to 3 weeks when I usually change every week. My question is related to what kind of salt mix I should get next?

 

Option A: I just go ahead and get another bucket of "high quality" mix like Tropic Marin or Red Sea Coral Pro and try to keep changing weekly to keep up with my elements.

 

Option B: Lose the fancy salt and get regular IO and finally hook up my dosers that are still in the box from last year's Black Friday sale.

 

Option C: Keep using the "high quality" salt mixes (or at least use Reef Crystals) and start dosing in addition.

 

I assume that I can spend less on salt by using the IO, but that difference will more than be made up buying Two Part. Or I can lessen the amount of Two Part I use by using "high quality" salt or RC, right?

 

What do you guys think?

[matt]

Option B - water changes are significantly more work than 2-part fill ups

[Djplus1]

Option B - water changes are significantly more work than 2-part fill ups

Option B is not in lieu of water changes. It just uses the cheapest salt out there. Is this the most cost efficient route of the two dosing scenarios?

[Brian Ward]

I switched to IO and used a kalk stirrer and calc reactor but 2-part would work as well. You can monitor levels and dose as needed instead of taking whatever comes with RC or another salt mix. If you already have the dosing pumps, those are a sunk cost and this becomes an easier decision IMO. Go to IO and save the money there. Then only add what you need in 2-part.

[Djplus1]

I switched to IO and used a kalk stirrer and calc reactor but 2-part would work as well. You can monitor levels and dose as needed instead of taking whatever comes with RC or another salt mix. If you already have the dosing pumps, those are a sunk cost and this becomes an easier decision IMO. Go to IO and save the money there. Then only add what you need in 2-part.

I'm actually planning on using my Kalk Stirrer still too as I already have that and Kalk is cheap, so less 2 part, right?

[YHSublime]

I switched to io from reef crystals when I started dosing. I agree with Brian. I saw no changes for the better or worse. That's not true, I saved some money with a cheaper salt, so one positive.

[Brian Ward]

I'm actually planning on using my Kalk Stirrer still too as I already have that and Kalk is cheap, so less 2 part, right?

Yes, less 2-part. I haven't seen a setup that uses both a kalk stirrer and 2-part so I'm not sure how you would balance the additives. Typically you would just add 2-part in equal proportions to keep things balanced in the tank. Someone with more knowledge of the chemistry would need to chime in - but you should probably open a new thread on this topic

[matt]

I think people who mix and match approaches usually add 2-part last....assuming the other approaches (kalk at least) are bound by an upward limit on the impact and/or slightly unbalanced. 2-part helps achieve balance and/or go beyond any approach or equipment size capacities.

 

I still say option b

[DuffyGeos]

I actually saved this post. This is the way I am going to head.

 

Decadence, on 25 Aug 2014 - 1:45 PM, said:

A long time ago, I ran only kalk in my ATO. My skimmer overflowed (now has automatic shut-off) and poured water on the floor and 4 gallons of fully saturated kalkwasser turned my tank completely white. It took months to recover from that event. After that, I put a separate pump on a timer to do just kalk and the remaining small amount of top off ran through the JBJ head alone. After a while, I didn't have enough top-off for kalk alone and so I got dosing pumps. One day, my calcium doser jammed and after a few weeks, my calcium plummeted down to 320 and I lost a few corals. I have learned to not trust any piece of equipment in my tank and have layered multiple safeties as a result which is my reasoning for adding the calcium reactor to the mix. If any one of my dosing method fails, I will gradually notice that something is wrong and the corals have time to adapt. Only using one method with the amount I dose in comparison to the water volume, a simple mistake could nuke the tank.

 

Having all three also allows me to play on the advantages of each system and mitigate the disadvantages. For example, calcium reactors drop PH and kalk raises it. Calcium reactors introduce phosphate and kalk binds and precipitates it. Calcium reactors and kalk can be hard to make small adjustments with so they can stay continuous and the dosing pumps can adjust for demand or catch-up. Dosing pumps can create a chloride imbalance over time so running the bulk of the duty off of the other methods allows you to minimize the chloride build-up while still taking advantage of the easy fine tuning. Calcium reactors and kalk don't have an accurate way to adjust magnesium levels but my dosers do it just fine…. The three are a match made in heaven. 

[matt]

I read that too and liked it. Not everyone can afford to run three methods at once, but it sure sounds nice

[DuffyGeos]

I read that too and liked it. Not everyone can afford to run three methods at once, but it sure sounds nice

 

I like the redundancy, I understand that running all three adds to the cost, but I look at how much I plan on putting in the tank (300g) and what happens if  I use only one, and it fails, and I lose all the corals. From that point of view it is a good insurance policy. Now on my 16g I hand dose, I have the dosing pumps, just have not got around to setting them up. If it crashes (and yes I know it is stuffed with corals), with 50 corals at a low average of $20 each that is $1,000 of coral....... So even on that tank it would not be cheap, but I figure I can't go too wrong with hand dosing daily, twice a day.

[zygote2k]

redundancy doesn't matter when you don't notice anything for "three weeks". A 2=part doser will last years and not have issues if you monitor it weekly and flush the lines.

[DuffyGeos]

redundancy doesn't matter when you don't notice anything for "three weeks". A 2=part doser will last years and not have issues if you monitor it weekly and flush the lines.

 

Agreed, but I do like a backup plan if I am out of town for a week or two.

[Decadence]

I'm glad that post stuck with you Duffy. We are working on a big system which will have redundancies galore!

 

redundancy doesn't matter when you don't notice anything for "three weeks". A 2=part doser will last years and not have issues if you monitor it weekly and flush the lines.

As was noted in the post which was quoted, I had a calcium dosing pump fail on me. The motor locked up while only a few months old and it was replaced under warranty. I only test calcium every month normally and alk every week. It had been a few weeks since testing calcium when I discovered it low. I tested it because my alkalinity got high, presumably because the corals stopped growing. I would guess the Alk rise to be why I lost some corals even though it was brought on by the calcium drop.

 

I would honestly say that my dosing pumps were the biggest pain of allof the methods that I used due to the high consumption. They're great for smaller tanks or for those with lower consumption because they don't have to work as hard. My calcium reactor has been the only piece of equipment which has not failed me to this day. I would definitely recommend that if you were to chose only one piece of equipment.

[Djplus1]

Oh, I forgot. I also have two AIO tanks that have corals that I don't plan on Dosing, so I would need to still buy RC at least. My assumption is using RC (along with the Kalk Stirrer) on the bigger tank will just mean I will be dosing much less, correct? There are no real negatives that I'm missing, right?