How To: Dosing 2 Part in Your Reef Tank

Maintaining calcium and alkalinity in your saltwater aquarium is essential to the health and growth of your corals. Corals use these elements to produce their skeletal structure and once they consume it, you will need to replenish it. Also, all the creatures in your reef tank require stable alkalinity and pH to thrive. Two part dosing is a great way to achieve this consistency.

Mixing the solutions is easy. Bulk Reef Supply has a 2 Part Calcium & Alkalinity total package with includes the dry materials as well as the jugs to do the mixing and storage. Follow the instructions in the video and always make sure the solutions are completely dissolved before starting your dosing regimen. Note: Never mix the calcium and alkalinity to dose one solution. As soon as you mix them, the would instantly precipitate out and the solution would be useless.

Most reefers keep the calcium of the tank around 420 ppm, alkalinity between 7-10 dKH and Magnesium at 1350 ppm. First determine the levels of your tank. Using the BRS Reef Calculator you can easily get directions on the proper dosage to increase your levels. Once your levels reach the desire amount, it is then essential to maintain those levels and that is where daily dosing comes in. You'll need to determine the amount your tank is consuming. First start by determining the volume of your tank and sump and whether your tank is high, medium or low demand. We recommend starting with a lower dose, testing and then raising the dose if necessary. It is always easier to add more than take away. Test and adjust, test and adjust, until you find the proper levels have stabled.

Once you figure out the amount to add, always add it to a high flow area of the tank. Make this part of your daily schedule like feeding - do it all at once. So the final step in all of this is Magnesium. Magnesium is not consumed at the same rapid rate as calcium and alkalinity. Magnesium is important because it is the presence of magnesium that allows us to maintain high levels of calcium and alkalinity in the first place. So after you have dosed all calcium and alkalinity solutions (1 gallon of each), it is time to dose 20 ounces or 2 1/2 cups of the magnesium solution. Again, do this in a high flow area of the tank or in smaller amounts over time (but this isn't necessary). You won't need to dose magnesium again until after you dose another full gallon of calcium and full gallon of alkalinity.

Making this process easier on yourself can be done by automating it with dosing pumps - one pump for each solution (calcium and alkalinity). Add an inexpensive outlet timer or control the function through an Apex or ReefKeeper. Bubble Magus, Vertex and Fauna Marin make dosers which can be programmed to your specific needs.

Are you dosing two part in your reef tank? What is your set up for two part dosing?

Thanks for watching BRStv.

[Cena_is_chinese]

Can't go wrong with the original BRS vids !

[ausreefguy]

Answered alot of my questions on the proper 2 part dosing method .. i suppose it helped by doing research beforehand and knowing the questions i needed answered .. really informative thanks ryan .. water change today then i can work on getting my dosing dialed in properly over the next week or two.

Keep up the good work BRS .. p.s. we need brs australia ! Come on guys !

[kevinjavellana]

Im running a 1month 20gal fowlr set up and just watching this video makes it less intimidating to learn reef tank care. Thank you!

[tism]

So informative! I could never get my head around dosing and thought it was a complicated process, but you've explained it really well, and I'm definitely going to start doing it.
Thank you.

[RRasco]

Great video.  I was recommending 2-part to someone and trying to explain how it works, thanks for doing all the work going through the details!  I like these video formats much better than the old ones too.

[aaronharris]

The videos just keep getting better! Thanks BRS!

[DanofEarth]

Hey there, i just want to say i love your videos. I've been in the hobby for about 2 years and i have learned a ton from watching so thanks for that. Since starting the hobby I've had a few different corals, all of which died over time. The only coral ive been able to maintain since the beginning is a bubble coral. Originally it had brown jelly which killed about 3/4 of it. However i was able to stop the spread and the bubble has since recovered to around the size of a baseball when fully inflated. But, its the only coral that thrives. Even a star polyp colony i have now is starting to die, and i know those are supposed to spread like wild fire under the right conditions. I've taken water samples to my local retailer for tests and they tell me my parameters are good. So i'm now convinced that my issue is due to not properly dosing, in fact i barley dose at all. I usually throw a cap full in when i remember every few weeks, This need to change ASAP as i want to start focusing on stocking my tank with more coral now that I've reached my limit for fish. I have a 65 gallon btw. So after watching many of you videos on dosing i'm trying to decide between the BRS 2 part system and the red sea coral package. Im sure both will give a drastic improvement with daily schedule. Where my confusion comes in is with the trace element aspect. I currently use instant ocean reef crystals with a 10% water change, usually every other week. What is your opinion on that salt? Does it contain the proper amount of trace element to where i don't need to dose them? There is so much to learn in this hobby and so many different opinions and methods, its very overwhelming. I like the BRS 2 part because it seems super easy to understand and put in to action, but the red sea comes all in one with the trace element dosing. Your guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[robertwolters]

You guys should make an app to do the same thing the website does. I know I would pay for it.

[ririemarilyn]

wow this is hard work . i didnt know keeping a reef would require me to be a chemist.. but ill learn. starting a salty tank in a few month

[ShekinaS]

great advice! I was so scared of manually dosing and killing all my fish and corals, Thank you BRS!!!

[Cycnoches]

Sorry to go off topic, but I really like that shimmer the lights give your tank/water.  I'll look to see if you have a vid on them.
thanks for the 2 part vid!

[GENISISTWENTYONE]

Great video and explanation of the whole process behind dosing 2 part

[BeaverKng]

Nice B&W speakers there Ryan.  The two hobbies mix well together....

[Manigrio]

420 calcium.. coincidence or not? Props to the stoner scientist. You are an inspiration, my friend

[detecthistory]

Another great video. Clear instruction and theory. Thanks!

[BuddySheroka]

Another great video great job bulk reef supply happy reefing

[JasonFolk]

Took me a while to understand the 2 part still kinda jugleing in my head like what wait 😄

[lisademayo]

hey guys. when Ryan starts discussing daily maintanence dose around the 7:00 minute mark, how did he come up with the 20 ml/day starting dose? I have 150 gallon, likely low demand for nutrients, as all my frags are small. He said this tank is about 70 gallons, and he was starting with 20 ml/day?

[jasepoag]

Just a note for everyone. Their alk calculator defaults to meq/l. Your test kit probably reads is dKh. Last night on my second day of dosing, this discrepancy caused me to dose 3x more than I was supposed to. Don't think I lost anything due to it, but alk did jump from 8.4 to 10.2.

[Gluluman]

how did I ended here, but I like this guy