Post your DIY additives here!

[LimestoneCowboy]

Got it. Well 3 months into combining all the above(Mn,Ru,I,Se,Cr,Co,Fe,Zn,V,Mo,Ni) like I mentioned, we are seeing residual values in our monthly ICP's so my thought was that it was working. At least that was the measuring stick we have used so far. We don't do water changes either, so felt like we had a decent control in place to test that. I wonder if its possible that mixing up only 15 days at a time with a good amount of DI water is helping keep them from ppt or interacting, but that seems unlikely right? Thank you for any thoughts there @Randy Holmes-Farley . Here is an example of how we are calculating based on the ICP tests each month too.

 

[Nate’sTanks]

The hexahydrate is 60% as potent as the anhydrous version, so with the same mass you used,

adding 1 mL (10.0 mg) to 1000 liters of water will give a final concentration of 10.0/1000 = 0.010 mg/L

So i have 0 chemistry background and trying to work backward to find out the concentration of what the stock solution would be.

using C1V1=C2V2 would be doing x=(0.01 mg/l * 1,000,000 ml)/(1ml) and coming up with a value of 10,000 mg/l or 10,000 ppm?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

So i have 0 chemistry background and trying to work backward to find out the concentration of what the stock solution would be.

using C1V1=C2V2 would be doing x=(0.01 mg/l * 1,000,000 ml)/(1ml) and coming up with a value of 10,000 mg/l or 10,000 ppm?

If you are trying to find the concentration of the 1 mL of fluid before dilution, yes.

 

[Nate’sTanks]

If you are trying to find the concentration of the 1 mL of fluid before dilution, yes.

Thank you, Randy, I appreciate the speedy reply. I am going through your list and trying to work backwards on a few so I am sure ill have another question in the future.

 

[Terrapod]

Vanadium is used by every organism, so it needed at some (undetermined) level, but bear in mind that they also recommend things with no known biological use, just for the sake of matching natural seawater levels of things.

Out of interest Randy, what elements from my icp should I ignore. I'm trying to avoid wasting time and energy on things that dont deserve it. Sorry if you have posted this before now !

 

[Terrapod]

Hey all, this thread is great. I went online and got the chemicals I need to supplement my reef after the icp test came back..

However the iron tablets I ordered came with the 4r red e124 dye, is this a deal-breaker, are they unsuitable now?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Hey all, this thread is great. I went online and got the chemicals I need to supplement my reef after the icp test came back..

However the iron tablets I ordered came with the 4r red e124 dye, is this a deal-breaker, are they unsuitable now?

That is likely fine. A tiny bit of USP grade dye in a low dosed product is unlikely to be any issue.

 

[salty joe]

#1 is 40% molybdenum by weight
#2 is 32.5% manganese by weight

#1 Dissolve 1 gram in 1000 mL RO/Di. Concentration is 400 mg/L or 0.4 mg/mL. Adding 1 mL per 100 gallons boosts molybdenum by 0.4 mg/378 L = 0.0011 mg/L (1.1 ug/L). Scale to what you want to dose (maybe 10 mL per 100 gallons)

#2 Dissolve 1 gram in 1000 mL RO/Di. Concentration is 325 mg/L or 0.325 mg/mL. Adding 1 mL per 100 gallons boosts molybdenum by 0.325 mg/378 L = 0.0009 mg/L (0.9 ug/L). Scale to what you want to dose (maybe 2 mL per 100 gallons)

These are dosed per gallon. Your iodine recipe is dosed per liter. I'm just double checking to make sure gallons is not a typo.
Also, I really appreciate your recipes for home brew dosing, you help make high power reefing affordable. Thank You!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

These are dosed per gallon. Your iodine recipe is dosed per liter. I'm just double checking to make sure gallons is not a typo.
Also, I really appreciate your recipes for home brew dosing, you help make high power reefing affordable. Thank You!

Yes, I usually give dosing per gallon since most reefers in the US know their aquarium volumes by gallons, but chemistry math is often easier in liters for making dosing solutions.

 

[ravi197699]

Thanks Randy ,
Just checking that last bit you mentioned is to boost 100l by 1mg not 1000l by 1 ?
it’s something I’m likly to dose over 4 weeks

@Randy Holmes-Farley - Do I have the steps correct to make DIY Fluoride for my tank?

2.22 mg of NaF to provide 1 mg of fluoride in 1 liter of water.
NaF required for 100 liters=2.22 mg/L×100 L=222 mg, do I have this correct?

 

[ravi197699]

Be careful with fluoride. It can be fairly toxic.

NaF is 45% fluoride by weight, so to add 1 mg/L to 100 liters takes

(1 mg/L x 100 L ) / 0.45 = 222 mg, or 0.2 grams.

You can dissolve up to about 30 grams in a litter of RO/DI.

If you dissolve 10 grams in 1 L, then it is 10 mg/mL NaF and it takes 22 mL of that solution to boost 100 L by 1 mg/L F.

link to where this can be purchased for DIY Fluoride?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

link to where this can be purchased for DIY Fluoride?

I see a bunch of possible places if you google sodium fluoride chemical under shopping.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

@Randy Holmes-Farley - Do I have the steps correct to make DIY Fluoride for my tank?

2.22 mg of NaF to provide 1 mg of fluoride in 1 liter of water.
NaF required for 100 liters=2.22 mg/L×100 L=222 mg, do I have this correct?

That last sentence would add 1 mg/L F, yes.

 

[ravi197699]

I see a bunch of possible places if you google sodium fluoride chemical under shopping.

https://www.carolina.com/catalog/detail.jsp?prodId=889308&srsltid=AfmBOooDJNW3Y7k3cNIJUGrKxtAzpLIYZRK0vHlY6hRXmkP3yPkc7fwsOHE

can this be used for this?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It may be fine, but it says nothing about purity.

 

[ravi197699]

It may be fine, but it says nothing about purity.

Sodium Fluoride Powder ACS Grade

Buy Sodium Fluoride Powder ACS, Florocid, CAS 7681-49-4, and a wide selection of sodium fluoride available in many proofs, grades, and package sizes for companies in academia/education, food, fragrance, biotech, life science, pharmaceutical, R&D and analytical laboratories, industrial, and...

www.laballey.com

found this as well,

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

ACS is a good grade and that material seems suitable.

 

[ravi197699]

ACS is a good grade and that material seems suitable.

Thank you sir,

 

[seahuy]

For dosing nitrate, I'd use a food grade sodium or potassium nitrate. I won't link them since they change rapidly, but Amazon sells some and Loudwolf sells some that can be obtained on ETSY. Calcium nitrate is likely also OK and is often available.

For dosing phosphate I'd use food grade sodium or potassium phosphate, and here there is substantial variability since you can have 1, 2 or 3 sodium or potassium ions per phosphate. All are fine if food grade, but the potency changes a bit. Same link issues.

For dosing these materials, this calculator can often help:

http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/calculator.htm

Thanks Randy for suggesting sodium/potassium Nitrate and referencing an easy to use calculator.

Your post is referenced from the DIY Archive, very helpful with the calculator.

The calculator only calculates from Potassium Nitrate, no option for Sodium Nitrate, are there any difference between the 2 for potency or maybe little difference that we can ignore? I know from other threads you might recommend .7 or something.

and may I suggest if you can edit your original post, if applicable, to add the percentage factor if we're using potassium or sodium nitrate. Thank you Randy for all your help!

edited, okay so i just went google and maybe this is correct way to calculate this:
google has

	Potassium nitrate	Sodium nitrate
Molar mass	101.1 g/mol	84.99 g/mol

So that means if I use Sodium Nitrate, i should 101.1/84.99 = 1.18x the recommended dosage from the calculator for Nitrate from Potassium Nitrate

Is that correct?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Yes.

IMO, the difference is not significant for our purposes, but it is fine to up the dose by 18% if being very precise.