I just mixed a one gallon Two Part Mix solution. When I poured the Alkalinity portion in the sump, the water turned white and there was allot of white flakes floating around than they dissolved pretty quickly. Is this suppose to happen? I stopped adding at 1 ounce when I noticed the white flakes and water. I also poured an equal amount of calcium but that was clear when I poured it in the sump.
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Two Part Solution ?????
- Thread starter ricwilli
- Start date
the cloudyness is normal, but I never had flakes. Was the amount of the Alk portion you mixed accurate as opposed to a guesstimate? You mixed the parts in their own container? Are you adding the Alk portion first? The reason I ask is the Ca may be percipitating.
That happens with any of the 2 part solutions (Kent, B-Ionic, TwoPartSolution) when you add larger amount of the Alk part. Flakes are 1/16" to 1/8", and they quickly dissolve.
It also helps to wait 5 minutes between additions. Add the ALK first, wait 5 minutes, then add the Calcium.
My tanks needs are small, only 50 ML a day, so I put 25ml of each in morning on the way out the door and add the other 25 ml when I get home after I feed them.
I have 2 dosing pumps, but I am not consuming enough right now to make it worth the while to set it up.
My tanks needs are small, only 50 ML a day, so I put 25ml of each in morning on the way out the door and add the other 25 ml when I get home after I feed them.
I have 2 dosing pumps, but I am not consuming enough right now to make it worth the while to set it up.
That's not unusual. The precipitate is mostly Mg(OH)2. Ideally the addition would be made slowly to an area of strong mixing. Otherwise, just a slow pour into an area of strong mixing (e.g., right in front of a pump outlet) works well. This happens because the pH of this additive is quite high, rasing the local pH very high and causing Mg(OH)2 to precipitate (though other things can precipitate as well). Mostly of this will dissolve again.
cj
cj
I think I've made a really bad mistake. Unfortunately I was having problems getting on NJRC yesterday from home. That said, I could not read any of the post in this thread. So I woke up this morning and added 12 oz of equal portions of the two part solution. I thought everything was OK and left to work. Well, that is not the case.... I just got a phone call from my wife telling me that the water is very, very cloudy. She can not see anything. I can't even leave work to take care of the tank. I think my tank has just crashed and there is nothing I can do.I can't believe this is happening.
It probably didn't crash. You most likely had a major precipitation event in the tank from adding to much too fast. It will probably be clear by the time you get home tonight. Retest your alk, calcium and magnesium and take it slow.
Ideally, don't dose the 2 parts at the same time if you are adding large amounts. Dose them 1 or 2 hours apart. A slow drip is far better then a large addition. Either way, try and dose near your skimmer EXIT water and NOT near a pump intake if possible. The heat of the pump (near it or going through it) will cause precipitation to happen faster/easier.
If you have adequate sump space you can do two drips at the same time but it's not quite as ideal (from precip point of view) as waiting a bit between doses. If you do this mix EACH PART of the 2 part separately with RO/DI water and setup two drips on each side of the sump area. Since it's already diluted and being added slowly each part gets a chance to mix with the surrounding water a lot better and you typically don't get a localized precipitation event.
If you only have room for one drip, determine if your pH rises or falls from the use of the alk portion of the buffer. If it causes your pH to fall dose that one during the day. If it causes your pH to rise, then dose that one at night. This will help keep pH more constant. Clean the drip container with a small RO/DI drip after using it to flush out anything remaining and then setup the calcium drip on the other schedule (night or day). This works pretty decent using only one drip container. Ideally 2 separate drip containers are better even if you only use one at a time as only the one type of chemical is ever used in that container.
Carlo
PS if your Ca, Alk, Mg numbers are far off from normal post them here to get help if needed.
Ideally, don't dose the 2 parts at the same time if you are adding large amounts. Dose them 1 or 2 hours apart. A slow drip is far better then a large addition. Either way, try and dose near your skimmer EXIT water and NOT near a pump intake if possible. The heat of the pump (near it or going through it) will cause precipitation to happen faster/easier.
If you have adequate sump space you can do two drips at the same time but it's not quite as ideal (from precip point of view) as waiting a bit between doses. If you do this mix EACH PART of the 2 part separately with RO/DI water and setup two drips on each side of the sump area. Since it's already diluted and being added slowly each part gets a chance to mix with the surrounding water a lot better and you typically don't get a localized precipitation event.
If you only have room for one drip, determine if your pH rises or falls from the use of the alk portion of the buffer. If it causes your pH to fall dose that one during the day. If it causes your pH to rise, then dose that one at night. This will help keep pH more constant. Clean the drip container with a small RO/DI drip after using it to flush out anything remaining and then setup the calcium drip on the other schedule (night or day). This works pretty decent using only one drip container. Ideally 2 separate drip containers are better even if you only use one at a time as only the one type of chemical is ever used in that container.
Carlo
PS if your Ca, Alk, Mg numbers are far off from normal post them here to get help if needed.
ricwilli said:
How large is your tank ??? I use b-ionic and the most I ever use on a given day is 2 oz. of each part. Even then it's an ounce in the a.m. and an once in the p.m. Here's a calculator to assist in getting your #s level http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chemcalc.html
ricwilli said:
Think of it as extremely fine sand. You can gently blow it with the turkey blaster off your corals, though they should be able to slime it off by themselves. Just shake the stuff off the chaeto. This might cloud the water a bit, but the stuff is "inert" now and will not pose chemical danger. Let your skimmer work full throttle, just so that it can collect the "dust" that gets disturbed.
Btw you nuked your tank (added) with 60-80ppm (depending on your actual water volume) of Ca if you followed the recipe. Go easier next time, maybe 10 ppm rise per day.
The "white dust" is either Ca or Mg that's precipitated out of the water. If you blow it around it may well go back into solution. I'd try that route, but wouldn't worry about trying to siphon it out of the tank.
Ideally you'd figure out what your system is using in a given day and then dose enough to make that amount up each day.
Good thing you weren't home. Panick always makes us do things better left undone. You've already shocked your tank once, doing anything else to "remedy" the situation may well have made it worse.
When you get home test your alk/ca and see what your numbers are and post them up. You may want to check them again in the morning to see what the trend is before making much of an adjustment or dosing again.
Glad the tank looks better. Lots of us have done similar things and lived to tell about it. No worries.
Ideally you'd figure out what your system is using in a given day and then dose enough to make that amount up each day.
Good thing you weren't home. Panick always makes us do things better left undone. You've already shocked your tank once, doing anything else to "remedy" the situation may well have made it worse.
When you get home test your alk/ca and see what your numbers are and post them up. You may want to check them again in the morning to see what the trend is before making much of an adjustment or dosing again.
Glad the tank looks better. Lots of us have done similar things and lived to tell about it. No worries.
I apologize for my colorful expression. I didn't want to scare you. What has happened has happened and the process has run its course. Now, judging by the posts on different sites on the web, some tanks got affected because of large swings in pH and Alk and some didn't get affected much. If you are going on a vacation let it run on the previous routine.ricwilli said:The word "NUKED" scares the crap out of me. I am worried cause I will be going on vacation next week and don't think my tank will be in good condition to be alone with my mother. Not that is safe with me either
ricwilli said:The word "NUKED" scares the crap out of me. I am worried cause I will be going on vacation next week and don't think my tank will be in good condition to be alone with my mother. Not that is safe with me either
I would not leave my tanks for a week even if they are in perfect shape. I would get a fellow NJRC memeber to come over a couple times that lives close.
As mentioned, this is *relativey* harmless. You added too much of the two part too fast, causing a bunch of CaCO3 to precipitate abiotically. This likely won't redissolve to any significant degree but shouldn't cause any harm either. After this happens calcium and/or alkalinity may be low. I'd check those parameters and make any adjustments necessary by first calculating how much of each part needs to be added and adding those amounts slowly. Calcium can be supplemented more quickly than alkalinity because there will be a negligible affect on pH from the calcium part. The alkalinity part (depending on its formulation) can have a larger effect on pH, so that really does need to be added slowly (e.g., not more than ~1 - 2 dKH increase at a time).
cj
cj