Randy Recommended DIY Two Part Recipes

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

There are a whole lot of different DIY recipes around now, and I thought I lay out the differences and my recommendations.

In all cases, food grade, USP (pharma) grade, or Analytical Reagent/ACS grades are all good choices for materials. Lower or ungraded materials may be fine, but its more of a risk.

The best three, IMO, are:

A. Baking soda for alk part, calcium chloride for calcium part, and Balling Part 3 to balance all other ions. This is a low pH recipe. it is my DIY #2 with a changed part 3.
B. Baked baking soda (washing soda, sodium carbonate) for alk part, calcium chloride for calcium part, and Balling Part 3 to balance all other ions. This is a high pH two party, and can be twice as potent as A. It is my DIY #1 with a changed part 3.
C. Sodium hydroxide for alk part, calcium chloride for calcium part, and Balling Part 3 to balance all other ions. This is the highest pH alk part possible, and can be made higher in potency than the others (if required).

Next step down in desirability, but also in cost:

D. Baking soda for alk part, calcium chloride for calcium part, and my DIY Part 3 to balance magnesium/sulfate/chloride. This is a low pH recipe. Tt is my full DIY #2.
E. Baked baking soda (washing soda, sodium carbonate) for alk part, calcium chloride for calcium part, and my DIY Part 3 to balance magnesium/sulfate/chloride. This is a high pH two party, and can be twice as potent as A. It is my full DIY #1.
F. Sodium hydroxide for alk part, calcium chloride for calcium part, and my DIY Part 3 to balance magnesium/sulfate/chloride.. This is the highest pH alk part possible, and can be made higher in potency than the others (if required).

 

[homer1475]

Question on your DIY 2 parts......

I have always used your DIY 2 part for recipe 2(baking soda, and calcium chloride). I do weekly WC's with regular purple box IO. My mag levels are always relatively normal/high. Should I still be dosing a part 3 regardless of MAG levels for ionic balance even though MAG levels are always well within normal ranges?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Question on your DIY 2 parts......

I have always used your DIY 2 part for recipe 2(baking soda, and calcium chloride). I do weekly WC's with regular purple box IO. My mag levels are always relatively normal/high. Should I still be dosing a part 3 regardless of MAG levels for ionic balance even though MAG levels are always well within normal ranges?

Significant water changes go a long way to reducing concerns about ionic balance coming from use of sodium carbonate and calcium chloride. Decades ago, Craig Bingman modeled that here:

Aquarium Frontiers Biochemistry of Aquaria

"Minor water exchanges (2 to 5 percent) can be an appreciable help in cases where calcification is slow. Cases where small water exchanges are done take longer to achieve steady-state values than when larger water exchanges are made. For the 2- and 5-percent monthly cases, the values have not yet reached steady-state values even after 60 partial water exchanges (monthly for five years.) At the highest calcification rates, large monthly water exchanges (on the order of 20 percent or more monthly) are required to prevent large deviations from natural seawater ionic ratios."