mrhasan
03-17-2013, 04:03 AM
Alright so I bought TLF C-balance to start dosing it. Before putting it into the main tank, I thought about carrying out some experiments to see how part A and part B affects the big three.
First impression:
C-balance and B-Ionic are the two most popular 1 gallon 2 part dosing brands. Now obviously I was in confusing whether to buy B-ionic 1 gallon 2-part ($30) or C-balance 1 gallon 2-part ($40). I went with C-balance because C-balance proved to be better in terms of money although it is costing $10 extra. I will elaborate it later. The best thing I found about C-balance is, it comes in two 1 gallon jugs but only filled upto 1/3 as concentrated solution. That makes the packaging lighter and hence the shipping costs less. This is a huge advantage since I have to bring it from J&L because of unavailability in Calgary.
Experiment:
So obviously the question arises how much should I add? And how will it affect the levels? Do they affect other parameters? Like will dosing Calc affect Alk and vice versa? Because in some other forum, I read a reefer claiming that part A (calc) lowers his alk. So I have to verify it myself.
Since today was the water change day, I took 5 gallons of water out of my tank for the experiments. The big three of the tank:
Ca: 350 ppm
Alk: 9.3 dKh
Mg: 1440 ppm
I divided the water into three buckets:
Tub A: 1 gallon of water (to dose part B to raise alk by 1 dkh)
Tub B: 1 gallon of water (to dose part A to raise calc by 10 ppm)
Tub C: 3 gallon of water (to dose part A and B to raise both alk and calc by 1.5dkh and 50ppm respectively)
I used reef calculator to find out the amount of the parts required for each tub to achieve the desired levels.
Tub A: 0.7ml of part B should be able to raise alk by 1 dkh. Upon mixing the amount to the tub, the following parameters were noted:
Calc: 350ppm (unchanged)
Alk: 10.5dkh (an increase of 1.2dkh but salifert has a resolution of 0.2dkh so it is acceptable)
Mg: untested (such small volume would have had very small affect on Mg)
pH: least bothered :razz:
Tub B: 1ml of part A should be able to raise alk by 10ppm. Upon mixing the amount to the tub, the following parameters were noted:
Calc: 360ppm (an increase of 10ppm as expected)
Alk: 0.3dkh
Mg: untested
pH: untested
Tub C: The maximum suggested increase for calc level in a day is 50ppm and 1.5dkh for alk. Hence, I found the amount to dose to hit the maximum level and the reef calculator said:
15ml of A can raise calc by 50ppm
3.2ml of B can raise alk by 1.5dkh
Upon adding the required amount of solutions, the parameters are:
Ca: 410ppm (increase of 60ppm)
Alk: 10.9dkh (increase of 1.6dkh)
Mg: 1455 (increase of 15ppm)
So the bottom line is:
C-balance part A doesn't affect alk and part B doesn't affect calc
Test kit used: Salifert
Salinity @ 1.026
Dosing:
1ml/gallon of part A to raise Calc by 10ppm
0.7ml/gallon of part B to raise Alk by 1dkh
Using these will slightly increase the mg level too just to replenish the balance of the big three.
Hope it helps to people who are willing to try C-balance.
This experiment, by no mean, is lab grade standard and mistake or uncertainty is unavoidable. The guy from the other forum claimed a significant drop of alk upon dosing part A but this experiment shows otherwise. Please do take it with a grain of salt :)
First impression:
C-balance and B-Ionic are the two most popular 1 gallon 2 part dosing brands. Now obviously I was in confusing whether to buy B-ionic 1 gallon 2-part ($30) or C-balance 1 gallon 2-part ($40). I went with C-balance because C-balance proved to be better in terms of money although it is costing $10 extra. I will elaborate it later. The best thing I found about C-balance is, it comes in two 1 gallon jugs but only filled upto 1/3 as concentrated solution. That makes the packaging lighter and hence the shipping costs less. This is a huge advantage since I have to bring it from J&L because of unavailability in Calgary.
Experiment:
So obviously the question arises how much should I add? And how will it affect the levels? Do they affect other parameters? Like will dosing Calc affect Alk and vice versa? Because in some other forum, I read a reefer claiming that part A (calc) lowers his alk. So I have to verify it myself.
Since today was the water change day, I took 5 gallons of water out of my tank for the experiments. The big three of the tank:
Ca: 350 ppm
Alk: 9.3 dKh
Mg: 1440 ppm
I divided the water into three buckets:
Tub A: 1 gallon of water (to dose part B to raise alk by 1 dkh)
Tub B: 1 gallon of water (to dose part A to raise calc by 10 ppm)
Tub C: 3 gallon of water (to dose part A and B to raise both alk and calc by 1.5dkh and 50ppm respectively)
I used reef calculator to find out the amount of the parts required for each tub to achieve the desired levels.
Tub A: 0.7ml of part B should be able to raise alk by 1 dkh. Upon mixing the amount to the tub, the following parameters were noted:
Calc: 350ppm (unchanged)
Alk: 10.5dkh (an increase of 1.2dkh but salifert has a resolution of 0.2dkh so it is acceptable)
Mg: untested (such small volume would have had very small affect on Mg)
pH: least bothered :razz:
Tub B: 1ml of part A should be able to raise alk by 10ppm. Upon mixing the amount to the tub, the following parameters were noted:
Calc: 360ppm (an increase of 10ppm as expected)
Alk: 0.3dkh
Mg: untested
pH: untested
Tub C: The maximum suggested increase for calc level in a day is 50ppm and 1.5dkh for alk. Hence, I found the amount to dose to hit the maximum level and the reef calculator said:
15ml of A can raise calc by 50ppm
3.2ml of B can raise alk by 1.5dkh
Upon adding the required amount of solutions, the parameters are:
Ca: 410ppm (increase of 60ppm)
Alk: 10.9dkh (increase of 1.6dkh)
Mg: 1455 (increase of 15ppm)
So the bottom line is:
C-balance part A doesn't affect alk and part B doesn't affect calc
Test kit used: Salifert
Salinity @ 1.026
Dosing:
1ml/gallon of part A to raise Calc by 10ppm
0.7ml/gallon of part B to raise Alk by 1dkh
Using these will slightly increase the mg level too just to replenish the balance of the big three.
Hope it helps to people who are willing to try C-balance.
This experiment, by no mean, is lab grade standard and mistake or uncertainty is unavoidable. The guy from the other forum claimed a significant drop of alk upon dosing part A but this experiment shows otherwise. Please do take it with a grain of salt :)