Snowboarda42
Cirrhitichthys falco
I just wanted to put into even simpler terms Mixing and Dosing Randy's 2 Part Recipe to help myself and others make sure to do it right. It might have been just me, but in the beggining, it was confusing what to do. If there's something I messed up, let me know.
Here's what you're going to need:
-pH Test
-Ca Test
-Mg Test
-3 1 Gallon Jugs of Water
-Suppliments, which you will choose farther down the page.
First, find your ph. If the Ph is 8.3 or above, use Recipe 2. If Below, use Recipe 1.
Reason being, Recipe 1 tends to make pH rise temporarily, while 2 makes it drop temporarily.
Recipe 1:
1. Get 3 1 Gall Jugs Of Distilled water.
2. In First one, Mark With Ca.
-Dissolve 2.5 Cups of calcium chloride dihydrate, or calcium chloride in this Gallon of Distilled water. **See Note at Bottom**
-Shake well, and Set aside.
-This is your Ca Suppliment.
3. In Second Jug, Mark with Alk
-Preheat oven to 300 degrees
-Get 2.25 Cups Arm&Hammer Baking Soda
-Spread on a cookie sheet as evenly as possible
-Put cookie sheet w/Baking soda in oven for about an Hour
-Remove and let cool
-Take the Gallon Jug Marked Alk and add 1/3 of Baked Baking Soda.
-Shake Well until Dissolved.
-Add Second 1/3
-Shake Well until Dissolved.
-Add Rest of Baked Baking Soda
-Shake Well until Dissolved.
-Set Aside
-This is your Alk Suppliment
4. In Third Jug, Mark with Mg.
-This Recipe can use Either all Epsom Salts, or Part Epsom Salt, Part Magnesium Chloride Hexahydrate. The second one is preffered, but a little harder to obtain.
-In Jug Marked Mg, add 3 Cups Epsom Salts
-Shake Well
-Add 5 Cups Magnesium Chloride Hexahydrate
-Shake Well
-Don't Mind the Precipitate, its Ok if it goes in your tank.
OR:
4. In Third Jug, Mark with Mg.
-In Jug Marked Mg, add 8 Cups Epsom Salts (Add 1/4 at a time, shaking between each 2 cups)
-Shake Well
-This is your Mg Suppliment
Recipe 2:
1. Get 3 1 Gall Jugs Of Distilled water.
2. In First Jug, Mark With Ca.
-Dissolve 1.25 Cups of calcium chloride dihydrate, or calcium chloride in this Gallon of Distilled water. **See Note at Bottom**
-Shake well, and Set aside.
-This is your Ca Suppliment.
3. In second Jug, Mark With Alk.
-Take 1.25 Cups of Arm&Hammer Baking Soda
-Add it to this Jug
-Shake Well
-This is Your Alk Suppliment
4. In Third Jug, Mark with Mg.
-This Recipe can use Either all Epsom Salts, or Part Epsom Salt, Part Magnesium Chloride Hexahydrate. The second one is preffered, but a little harder to obtain.
-In Jug Marked Mg, add 3 Cups Epsom Salts
-Shake Well
-Add 5 Cups Magnesium Chloride Hexahydrate
-Shake Well
-Don't Mind the Precipitate, its Ok if it goes in your tank.
OR:
4. In Third Jug, Mark with Mg.
-In Jug Marked Mg, add 8 Cups Epsom Salts (Add 1/4 at a time, shaking between each 2 cups)
-Shake Well
-This is your Mg Suppliment
**"If you use an anhydrous or monohydrate calcium chloride (such as Dow Mini-Pellets, Kent's Turbo Calcium, Prestone Driveway Heat or Peladow Calcium Chloride), then you should use about 20% (1/5) less solid calcium chloride by volume to make the recipe."**
Finding Out What to Add:
1. Test Ca, Alk, and Mg levels of your tank water.
2. Go to The Reef Calculator
3. Type In Your System Volume (Compensate for Sumps, Room taken up by Sand, Live Rock, etc.)
4. Using the Levels you measured from testing type in you Ca in the Second Box down. Then your Alk in the 4th, and 6th Type in your Mg.
5. Click the image to the right with the picture of the graph. You should see this load.
6. The Green + is where your levels currently reside. You want this to be somewhere in the Reddish Colored box. Same goes with the Mg Bar at the bottom. The reason for these two being in different graphs has to do with the fact that Ca & Alk are directly related and effect each other greatly. But thats another topic.
7. If your green arrows are NOT in this box, you're going to need to add some of your suppliments.
8. Now comes the choosey part. You need to choose a level you want to aim for in either the Ca or Alk Category. Which one you pick is up to you and makes no difference in the way you add suppliments. I picked Alk, which I will describe for this Thread's purpose. Now pick a level you want to aim for. I chose 10dKH since it is in the desired range of 8-12dKH. You can pick Ca if you want, then a number between 380-450ppm.
9. Now, type in your desired level underneath your current level. In my case, put the 10 in the second alk box.
10. Under product, scroll down until you get to Randy's 2 Part. If you used Recipe 1, choose Recipe one. Choose Recipe 2 If you used Recipe 2.
11. Look at the three buttons at the bottom that say Submit Ca, Submit Alk, and Submit Mg.
12. Click the one you just put your desired value into. In my case, click Alk. A pop up window will open.
13. On this window, you'll see a number of things. It will give you the required dosage of the product you selected to add to your tank. It should show ml, oz, and tsp. (Use google to convert any of those to cups if you want. google -> Convert _oz to cups).
14. You can then add this to your tank. At the bottom of the popup, it will give you a tip on dosing.
15. Before you close this useful popup, look on the right. It should give you a Ca Reading as well. In this case, 432ppm. This is the amount of Ca your tank can have dissolved in its water with a level of 10dKH. Its called being Balanced. See how the two are related? Remember the balanced number (Ca in this case)
16. Close the pop up window.
17. Remember that balanced number (Ca in my case)? Type it in the desired Ca box, with your current Ca level in the box above it. Pick your product (Randy's Recipe 1 or 2) and hit Submit (Ca, in this case). It will open another similar looking pop-up window with how much Ca Suppliment to Add.
18. Add this to your tank. Again, you can use the Google thing to convert.
19. Type your Mg level in the second to last box, and your desired level below it. I usually just do 1300ppm. Hit Submit Mg and Add the Required amount.
If any of your Suppliments are out of the Red box, it will tell you below what the causes are and how to fix the problem (i.e. add both Suppliments, Add just one, wait for them to come down, etc.)
After you get the hang of this, you'll find out that you know how much to add each day. Each tank is Different and requires different amounts of suppliments due to demand from corals, inverts, etc. This is why we have this calculator.
I hope this helps people understand how to make and add Randy's 2 Part Recipe. It's a LOT easier than it sounds folks.
Here's what you're going to need:
-pH Test
-Ca Test
-Mg Test
-3 1 Gallon Jugs of Water
-Suppliments, which you will choose farther down the page.
First, find your ph. If the Ph is 8.3 or above, use Recipe 2. If Below, use Recipe 1.
Reason being, Recipe 1 tends to make pH rise temporarily, while 2 makes it drop temporarily.
Recipe 1:
1. Get 3 1 Gall Jugs Of Distilled water.
2. In First one, Mark With Ca.
-Dissolve 2.5 Cups of calcium chloride dihydrate, or calcium chloride in this Gallon of Distilled water. **See Note at Bottom**
-Shake well, and Set aside.
-This is your Ca Suppliment.
3. In Second Jug, Mark with Alk
-Preheat oven to 300 degrees
-Get 2.25 Cups Arm&Hammer Baking Soda
-Spread on a cookie sheet as evenly as possible
-Put cookie sheet w/Baking soda in oven for about an Hour
-Remove and let cool
-Take the Gallon Jug Marked Alk and add 1/3 of Baked Baking Soda.
-Shake Well until Dissolved.
-Add Second 1/3
-Shake Well until Dissolved.
-Add Rest of Baked Baking Soda
-Shake Well until Dissolved.
-Set Aside
-This is your Alk Suppliment
4. In Third Jug, Mark with Mg.
-This Recipe can use Either all Epsom Salts, or Part Epsom Salt, Part Magnesium Chloride Hexahydrate. The second one is preffered, but a little harder to obtain.
-In Jug Marked Mg, add 3 Cups Epsom Salts
-Shake Well
-Add 5 Cups Magnesium Chloride Hexahydrate
-Shake Well
-Don't Mind the Precipitate, its Ok if it goes in your tank.
OR:
4. In Third Jug, Mark with Mg.
-In Jug Marked Mg, add 8 Cups Epsom Salts (Add 1/4 at a time, shaking between each 2 cups)
-Shake Well
-This is your Mg Suppliment
Recipe 2:
1. Get 3 1 Gall Jugs Of Distilled water.
2. In First Jug, Mark With Ca.
-Dissolve 1.25 Cups of calcium chloride dihydrate, or calcium chloride in this Gallon of Distilled water. **See Note at Bottom**
-Shake well, and Set aside.
-This is your Ca Suppliment.
3. In second Jug, Mark With Alk.
-Take 1.25 Cups of Arm&Hammer Baking Soda
-Add it to this Jug
-Shake Well
-This is Your Alk Suppliment
4. In Third Jug, Mark with Mg.
-This Recipe can use Either all Epsom Salts, or Part Epsom Salt, Part Magnesium Chloride Hexahydrate. The second one is preffered, but a little harder to obtain.
-In Jug Marked Mg, add 3 Cups Epsom Salts
-Shake Well
-Add 5 Cups Magnesium Chloride Hexahydrate
-Shake Well
-Don't Mind the Precipitate, its Ok if it goes in your tank.
OR:
4. In Third Jug, Mark with Mg.
-In Jug Marked Mg, add 8 Cups Epsom Salts (Add 1/4 at a time, shaking between each 2 cups)
-Shake Well
-This is your Mg Suppliment
**"If you use an anhydrous or monohydrate calcium chloride (such as Dow Mini-Pellets, Kent's Turbo Calcium, Prestone Driveway Heat or Peladow Calcium Chloride), then you should use about 20% (1/5) less solid calcium chloride by volume to make the recipe."**
Finding Out What to Add:
1. Test Ca, Alk, and Mg levels of your tank water.
2. Go to The Reef Calculator
3. Type In Your System Volume (Compensate for Sumps, Room taken up by Sand, Live Rock, etc.)
4. Using the Levels you measured from testing type in you Ca in the Second Box down. Then your Alk in the 4th, and 6th Type in your Mg.
5. Click the image to the right with the picture of the graph. You should see this load.
6. The Green + is where your levels currently reside. You want this to be somewhere in the Reddish Colored box. Same goes with the Mg Bar at the bottom. The reason for these two being in different graphs has to do with the fact that Ca & Alk are directly related and effect each other greatly. But thats another topic.
7. If your green arrows are NOT in this box, you're going to need to add some of your suppliments.
8. Now comes the choosey part. You need to choose a level you want to aim for in either the Ca or Alk Category. Which one you pick is up to you and makes no difference in the way you add suppliments. I picked Alk, which I will describe for this Thread's purpose. Now pick a level you want to aim for. I chose 10dKH since it is in the desired range of 8-12dKH. You can pick Ca if you want, then a number between 380-450ppm.
9. Now, type in your desired level underneath your current level. In my case, put the 10 in the second alk box.
10. Under product, scroll down until you get to Randy's 2 Part. If you used Recipe 1, choose Recipe one. Choose Recipe 2 If you used Recipe 2.
11. Look at the three buttons at the bottom that say Submit Ca, Submit Alk, and Submit Mg.
12. Click the one you just put your desired value into. In my case, click Alk. A pop up window will open.
13. On this window, you'll see a number of things. It will give you the required dosage of the product you selected to add to your tank. It should show ml, oz, and tsp. (Use google to convert any of those to cups if you want. google -> Convert _oz to cups).
14. You can then add this to your tank. At the bottom of the popup, it will give you a tip on dosing.
15. Before you close this useful popup, look on the right. It should give you a Ca Reading as well. In this case, 432ppm. This is the amount of Ca your tank can have dissolved in its water with a level of 10dKH. Its called being Balanced. See how the two are related? Remember the balanced number (Ca in this case)
16. Close the pop up window.
17. Remember that balanced number (Ca in my case)? Type it in the desired Ca box, with your current Ca level in the box above it. Pick your product (Randy's Recipe 1 or 2) and hit Submit (Ca, in this case). It will open another similar looking pop-up window with how much Ca Suppliment to Add.
18. Add this to your tank. Again, you can use the Google thing to convert.
19. Type your Mg level in the second to last box, and your desired level below it. I usually just do 1300ppm. Hit Submit Mg and Add the Required amount.
If any of your Suppliments are out of the Red box, it will tell you below what the causes are and how to fix the problem (i.e. add both Suppliments, Add just one, wait for them to come down, etc.)
After you get the hang of this, you'll find out that you know how much to add each day. Each tank is Different and requires different amounts of suppliments due to demand from corals, inverts, etc. This is why we have this calculator.
I hope this helps people understand how to make and add Randy's 2 Part Recipe. It's a LOT easier than it sounds folks.
Last edited:
