B ionic help

[MorayMadness]

hey everyone.

my 55 g reef i have been trying to grow a massive amount of coraline.

right now my ph is 8.3 mag is 1200 dkh 9 ca 360 i am starting to use b ionic But my alk is 9 and i dont think i need to change that. if i use both parts of the b ionic the alk and the ca part will it raise my alk ? or simply maintain it ? anyone have any experience using this product ?

thanks trying to get my ca to 420 an mag to 1350

 

[Ziggy953]

I get my numbers there without adding anything to the tank. I have so much coraline that my rocks all look like purple blobs....All I do is PWCs every other week to keep my CA, Alk ect....where it needs to be...I don't know much about B ionic but there are a lot of people that us it....

 

[melosu58]

Have you tried weekly of bi weekly PWC`s. Try that first before you add chems.

 

[MT79]

if i use both parts of the b ionic the alk and the ca part will it raise my alk ? or simply maintain it ?

You have to find out what your daily usage of Ca and Alk are and then adjust your daily dosage of B-ionic accordingly. To find out the demand of your tank do a Ca and Alk test. Make NO Ca or Alk additions to the tank and test the Ca/Alk everyday or two until you see a difference. Average out the numbers-ie 1 meg/l drop over a four day period means a daily demand of .25 meg/l. Unless your tank is heavily stocked w/ stoney coral, your demand will most likely be much lower than my example. When using equal parts of #1 and 2, and the proper amount, it will maintain Ca and Alk. Most of the time you can just measure Alk, and the proper amount of that part will correspond to the proper amount of Ca. Small adjustments can be made when needed if one of the numbers waivers. Usually Alk/Ca demand are fairly balanced so adjustments are small, and infrequent. FWIW I've been using B-ionic for close to four years- it's good stuff

 

[MorayMadness]

thanks i dont have anything really just some mushrooms polyps and a new piece of xenia i just got yesterday,

when i do my pwc i use tropic marin salt so that gives me 320 ca and 1100 mag and 9 dkh. . my mag and ca is a tad low and i dont want to bring down the main tank parameters with 10g wc everyweek


so should i buff out my pwc to bring up the ca and mag to what i want my tank to be at ?

i do 10 gallons of 55 each week. im thinking about going back to IO or even reef crystals ive heard they have a better ca and mag and alk balance than tropic marin. it just doesnt make sense if i have to buff out my pwc

im using tap water btw as well.

the funny thing is my alk is balanced but my ca and mag arent. my mag was at 1100 before about 2 weeks ago and i have a mag buffer finaly brougt it to 1300 and my ca at 400 so once i get it there , shoudl i just keep dosing my b ionic to keep it there? i see what your saying about consumption. so ill keep a note of that, just a pain to have to adjust my pwc each week or shoudl i ?

 

[MT79]

so should i buff out my pwc to bring up the ca and mag to what i want my tank to be at ?

Absolutely.

finaly brougt it to 1300 and my ca at 400 so once i get it there , shoudl i just keep dosing my b ionic to keep it there?

Right. If you don't have stoney corals or clams you will not have to dose everyday, or even at all. 15-25% PWC weekly will maintain your CA/ALK, and other levels, assuming the make up water is buffered if necessary. If you switch to IO or Reefcrystal's you'll just have to buffer the Ca from about 350 to the tank level. Generally PWC's alone will be enough to maintain/grow coralline and provide for any calcareous animals that came w/ your LR.

 

[melosu58]

im using tap water btw as well.

This will hurt your reef tank as you go on. Tap water varies from locality to locality but most have excessive nutrients and heavy metals that will hurt your reef IMO.

 

[MorayMadness]

yeah i realize this. i have had my reef up for 6 years now and no problems. i m not going to house sps corals or any high maintenance corals. well see but as long as i live in my folks house.. they make the rules. i wish i could go to rodi even going to the lfs but its a hassle since its 10g a week plus top offs

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

With your Ca/Alk parameters, most likely you're going to have to do a few doses of just Calcium to get your numbers where you want them. This article should shed some light on things for you...

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm

 

[MorayMadness]

thank you. yeah i use turbo ca to get me where i need to ,. im figuring out the consumption rate of my tank and teh balance of my pwc doses. thanks for all your help.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Sounds like you have a handle on it. Just make sure to test your Alk/Ca often when you start dosing - as well as your salinity. If you're using too much additive, your salinity can creep up on you slowly.

I started out using the B-ionic, but switched to C-balance. The only reason for the switch was just ease of finding one product versus the other. After using both, I can't say I really see any difference between the two. They both do what they're supposed to do.