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What if any are the advantages of using a 2 part Calcium / Alkalinity supplement vs. a store bought “all in one”?
from what i understand its more cost effective, but in the end its the same thing. with home made you have to ensure you ionicly balance it which i haven’t even looked into knowing how to do, i mean you could get it close enough for government work but you’ll always have to adjust one or the other. store bought is ready to go just dose what ever ml dose works for your tank.
just uxe bulk reef supplys chemicals. there cheap enuough n u get a nifty little calculator to use for measurements when u mix the chemicals per there instruction.
diy two part is cheaper, ready made, store bought is more expensive but less work.
I don’t necessarily mean the DIY 2 part vs. store bought 2 part. I mean more along the lines of the 2 part vs. the buffers/supplements.
convenience, i guess. and its easler to pour in a liquid and not cover a coral with powder while it disolves. but i believe you still have to test parameters regularly with either system. tank conditions can still get Ca and alk out of balance. like if you get lots of aeration in the tank and sump, you get more CO2 disolved in the water, and that reduces the alk, but not the Calcium. so DKH and PH can drop out of balance with calcium uptake. other things like light cycle on a fuge and bio activity in the sand can affect alk too.
buffers/supplements such as seachems reef builder/buffer and such are bassicaly the same chemicals that are in “Two part” just the supplements arent balanced in relation to another part.
u could make a two part out of seachems reef builder and seachems advantage calcium, ive done it.
two part just implys an ionically balanced system of calcium/alkalinity supplements.
[quote=“Cdangel0, post:2, topic:557”]
What if any are the advantages of using a 2 part Calcium / Alkalinity supplement vs. a store bought “all in one”?[/quote]they don’t make an all-in-one product to replenish calcium and alkalinity at the same time.
yes they do, its called PURPLE UP!!!
[quote=“addicted2reefin, post:9, topic:557”]
yes they do, its called PURPLE UP!!![/quote]
purple up is useless, it is literally aragonite sand silt with water in a bottle, the idea is the sand will dissolve into calcium… problem is you need your PH to be at about 7.6 for that to happen.
it is in every way completely useless!
edit, purple up is sold as a quick fix for coralline algae (purple) all you need for that to take over your tank is to keep your calcium levels at 400ppm+ and some patience
oh yea, purple up is made by … CaribSea… you know the same people who mine aragonite sand and sell it to you and me for $40 a bag but sell it to concrete manufacture’s for $0.50 a lb
edit like #6. purple up not only does not add calcium to your system, it in no way buffers alkalinity at all.
to better illustrate my point, here is a before and after of my tank.
first shot is when i had just completed my cycle and was dealing with some algae, very white rocks other than the diatoms.
second is to date picture, i’d actually wish the coralline would STOP growing. all i ever used was B-ionic 2 part system.
i’d buy a product called “Purple STOP” if they sold it though… lol
[quote=“TimH07, post:11, topic:557”]
i’d buy a product called “Purple STOP” if they sold it though… lol[/quote]
HA!
purple up was a joke… i had a bottle that ended up precipitating calcium carbonate in the bottle.
but ya, it does have calcium and alkalinity in it, but it is very useless for level maitnence
[quote=“addicted2reefin, post:14, topic:557”]
but ya, it does have calcium and alkalinity in it, but it is very useless for level maitnence[/quote]
you cant have alkalinity supplements (sodium carbonate) and calcium supplements (either calcium chloride or calcium hydroxide) in the same bottle AT ALL, they will bond to each other and precipitate and fall in the fluid like a stone, that is why they are sold in 2 part solutions.
so no, purple up in no way has both at all… it is simply snake oil to the public, a miracle cure, quick fix, failure of a product
I think i also has a bit of magnesium and strontium in it which might do more than the powdered aragonite to grow some coraline.
[quote=“kaptken, post:16, topic:557”]
I think i also has a bit of magnesium and strontium in it which might do more than the powdered aragonite to grow some coraline. [/quote]
i agree and disagree
“Ten micron aragoniteâ€â€ÂÂÂÂÂÂtargets the live rock surface, where it dissolves in situ (in place), delivering calcium, strontium, magnesium and carbonate right where it is needed.” ~Caribsea
first, aragonite is old dead coral skelatons crushed up basically, it could deliver mag and strontium but it still has to dissolve first.
second, dissolves in place? the idea it will stick to your rock and dissolve when you have the flow i have wont work, it would accumulate in a dead zone and not dissolve.
its nothing more than the sand and rock in your tank already.
Yes, i tried aragomite for a while. it clouded the water, settled and then plucgged up my plenum sand bed with fine powder. so that didn’t work. the aragonite disolves at less than normal tank PH. so it sits on the bottom. I have put it in RO water barrels and mixed endlessly with pumps, and it only disolves a little. enough to raise the PH to about 7.8, wher it stops disolving. a DKH test revealed a stable less than 1 DKH of carbonate hardness in the RO water barrel. 99% of the aragonite settled to the bottom. a year later, it was mostly still there. it doesn’t add much in the way of calcium or alakalinity above PH 8. and although it can raise RO water to PH 8, the DKH is about 1. Low density. tap water.
first u say it has aragonite which is bassically calcium carbonate. then u says it has nothing for alkalinity, which is carbonates. if the bottle is left open calcium carbonate will precipitate. it is possible for calcium and alkalinity to be in the same solution, look at our tanks.
i bought a bottle which sit for about a month, and i tried to use it, and it was in a solid BALL that i couldnt get out of the bottle.
yes i agree purple up is junk, but it does very minutely buffer alkalinty and does increase calc
[quote=“addicted2reefin, post:19, topic:557”]
first u say it has aragonite which is bassically calcium carbonate. then u says it has nothing for alkalinity, which is carbonates. if the bottle is left open calcium carbonate will precipitate. it is possible for calcium and alkalinity to be in the same solution, look at our tanks.
yes i agree purple up is junk, but it does very minutely buffer alkalinty and does increase calc[/quote]
aragonite is neither or, it is BOTH, it is the end result of all precipitation/usage of the elements in the water. aragonite is all of calcium, sodium carbonate, magnesium, strontium and other elements already precipitated or used into the final result.
i just noticed your post that you left purple up in the bottle and it precipitated, no in fact it did not, that is the product… they sell you the sand silt in a bottle. shake it up its snake oil, let it settle and it has “precipitated”