Randy's Two-Part

ReefdUp wrote: I order mine in huge quantities from bulk reef supply.

JohnnyHeavens wrote: ReefdUp wrote: I order mine in huge quantities from bulk reef supply. What parts/items?

I think Reefdup is saying that she orders in the 5 gallon amounts of each. 

That's what I used to do was kalkwasser and calcium/alk as needed. It was dirt cheap, it will be the way my next tank is set up also. Cause alk/cal can get expensive, using all 3 will be cheap. With adding lime, make sure and watch your ph, you may need to go with sodium bicarbonate, instead of sodium carbonate( or baking soda, vs "cooked" baking soda/soda ash)

JayTee wrote: I just heard of this from a new friend that stopped by to buy some frags. I was oblivious to the fact that I can use something other than the LFS, $40 per gallon stuff.   I have been adding the max recommended dosage based on the label of the Kent 2 part that I am currently using, and cant keep levels high enough. Can anyone tell me if this 2 part system will save me money? I am seeing the previous posts, stating that a gallon would last about a month in a 65g (mine is 55g). Im a bit confused because the Kent product I am using now lasts me somewhere between 2 and 3 months, and I am dosing the maximum that they recommend. Also, considering the BRS dosing pump system, mainly to make things easier on my tank sitter when they are needed. Does anyone have any experience with them?Â

BRS two part will save you tons of money versus kents, bionic etc. What I was saying was that in my heavily stocked tank a gallon of the solution I make lasts about a month on a 120g tank. Each gallon of cal cl or soda ash ingredients you buy from BRS makes about 10 gallons of solution. So even at buying the ingredients one gal at a time a $15 bottle lasts nearly a year and that is without using kalkwasser. Just straight 2 part. Buying a 5 gallon bucket of ingredients is even cheaper but $15 a year is cheap enough if you only want to buy it in small quantities.

I think a gallon makes 7 gallons of alk, and 6 gallons of calcium.... could be wrong but I think that was what I got when I did the math, a few months ago. I will do the math again tonight when I get home

Kalk, lime water, calcium hydroxide = cal/alk at the same level your corals will intake them. I talked with a chemist that used to be on the boards and that is what he told me. Fully saturated mix is 2tsp a gallon. When my tank was growing like crazy I was only at 13tsp for 10gallons. The trick is to figure out how much your tank is uptaking. And its used to maintain levels, not raise levels

Sorry never looked into exactly how many gallons of solution it makes. I assumed around 10 causr thats what it seems like. Haha.. Ethier way buy in bulk or small quantities is cheap from BRS.

Just for shiz and giggles lets crunch some numbers for the OP. So there is 3785 mls in a gallon. Assuming your tank is heavily stocked and you need to dose around 1 ml per gal per day. In a 65g tank that would be 65 mls of each per day. 3785/65 = 58.2 So a gallon of solution will last 58 days. So pretty much 2 months. So a gallon of cal cl salt will last 372 days. ( 58.2x 6.4 =372.48 ). Then a gallon of soda ash will last 465 days ( 58.2 x 8 =465.6 ).

So yeah a long time. Haha IMO the best thing about buying the 5 gallons of ingredients. Is saving on shipping . So thats what I may do next time I order.

Wicked, what timer are you using for the pumps.

This is all great info.  Im going to place my order for the BRS 2 part tonight.  I will probably have to wait until after payday to get the pumps.  But regardless, I cant wait to start saving money over the pre-mixed stuff.  And, its always fun to add a mechanical piece to my tank.  Wickedsnowman is right.  My interest kind of comes and goes in spurts.  It will be nice to spend some time getting the pumps tuned in, etc.  

Great inputs guys.

Chad, do you have any problem when dosing kalkwasser like Fatman is having?

Thanks
Duy

I think kalkwasser if used correctly can be a super easy way to maintain a reef. I personally have never tried it. I even bought a bag of it from BRS planning on using it. However the guy I bought my 120g from scared me out of it. He was adding in his top off water and had a float switch fail.... And it pumped like 10 gallons of it into his reef. Needless to say it killed everything. In the end it was great for me though. I got a 120g and super nice knotty alder stand and canopy for dirt cheap ;). This dude had thousands invested in coral, clams and fish. I felt really bad for him. He wanted nothing to do with the hobby after that.