Brightwell Reef Code Max Dosage vs. Advanced

[LilElroyJetson]

I've been dosing Brightwell Aquatics Reef Code A & B for about a week now. Learned that I need to dial up my dose but also wanted to bring my Calcium and Alkalinity up generally, and in reading the advanced instructions I'm a bit confused.

Reef Code A (Calcium) instructions read:
"If the initial calcium in the aquarium is below 412 ppm, add this product at the maximum rate of 5ml per 10 US-gallons daily until the desired calcium concentration is attained, then dose daily or weekly as needed."

5ml of Reed Code A increases Ca by 80 ppm in 1 gallon of water, so in my 30 gallon tank the "max dosage" of 15ml of Reef Code A would raise my Ca by 8ppm. That seems like a very small increase for a max daily dosage. On top of that, hypothetically, if a tank were to consume 20ppm of calcium per day, the recommended "daily dosage for maintenance" based on consumption (forumula: Daily Decrease in Ca / 16 x Water Volume = Daily Dosage) would require dosing Reef Code A at 37.5 ml per day to maintain calcium balance, MUCH higher than the suggested daily "maximum rate."

Am I missing something here? Or is the "maximum rate" instruction simply poor wording of the instructions?

 

[Ron Reefman]

I don't use it, so I can't help much. However, I do dose Ca, alk and Mg manually twice a week. I was doing it once a week but my Ca was going down from 450 to 380 or 360 over 7 days. Although I didn't see any issues with raising Ca from 360 to 450 over a short time frame (like 5 or 10 minutes), I knew a similar increase in alk was hard on some corals. My alk would drop from 9.5 dKH to 6.0 dKH and that's a big increase over any short time frame. So I still dose manually, but I only raise alk by 1.5 to 2.0 dKH every 24 hours. And I've found that I get no precipitate if I add the alk by turkey baster directly into a wavemaker. I may get some white haze if I go a bit too fast, but nothing if I slow down a bit. The same alk just added to the tank water precipitates like crazy!

Short answer, I agree that given your list of instructions, raising Ca only 8ppm per day is crazy!

 

[LilElroyJetson]

I don't use it, so I can't help much. However, I do dose Ca, alk and Mg manually twice a week. I was doing it once a week but my Ca was going down from 450 to 380 or 360 over 7 days. Although I didn't see any issues with raising Ca from 360 to 450 over a short time frame (like 5 or 10 minutes), I knew a similar increase in alk was hard on some corals. My alk would drop from 9.5 dKH to 6.0 dKH and that's a big increase over any short time frame. So I still dose manually, but I only raise alk by 1.5 to 2.0 dKH every 24 hours. And I've found that I get no precipitate if I add the alk by turkey baster directly into a wavemaker. I may get some white haze if I go a bit too fast, but nothing if I slow down a bit. The same alk just added to the tank water precipitates like crazy!

Short answer, I agree that given your list of instructions, raising Ca only 8ppm per day is crazy!

That’s what I thought. I may have to give them a call Monday and ask for clarification. Although I’m already breaking the rule and things are looking fine haha. Of course I’d be more concerned with a big jump but simply trying to maintain levels while being advised not to exceed a daily max rate that conflicts with the advanced dosing instructions doesn’t seem to add up. Thanks for the reply!

 

[Ron Reefman]

Good luck. Just remember, big jumps in Ca and Mg are not hard to do. Big jumps in alk are hard on everybody in the tank.

I'd like to hear what Brightwell has to say.

 

[LilElroyJetson]

Good luck. Just remember, big jumps in Ca and Mg are not hard to do. Big jumps in alk are hard on everybody in the tank.

I'd like to hear what Brightwell has to say.

Definitely. I always err on the safe side when dosing anything which is why I was concerned with these instructions and didn’t want to up the dose too much until getting a straight answer. I think a lot of people also don’t opt for Brightwell for their 2-part because it’s more expensive, so I’m not too surprised by the lack of feedback.

I’ll make sure to update with whatever info I get from Brightwell after I talk to them!

 

[LilElroyJetson]

Just wanted to report an update on this, I spoke with Dave at Brightwell Aquatics and that “maximum rate” can be ignored when following the advanced instructions and dosing as you would any other two part. It’s there for beginners to make sure too much isn’t just getting dumped into the tank trying to bring calcium up quickly. There are no other elements in Reef Code A that would cause an overdose or issue when testing and dosing accordingly above the suggested “maximum rate.”