- In this video, I'm gonna show you guys
how to take advantage
of the Hanna Instruments Checker colorimeters
to dial in your dosing regimen using one
of the most popular two part solutions, ESV-B ionic.
(upbeat music)
Hello folks, Robert from Marine Depot here,
and thanks for tuning in.
Maintaining proper water chemistry is arguably
one of the hardest parts of keeping a reef tank.
It is especially difficult for those of you
that are just starting out, but thankfully
we have some powerful tools and quality supplements
that can really help us out on our journey
to create a beautiful, thriving reef tank at home.
Your first step in getting your water right
for corals is deciding whether or not
your tank needs extra supplementation with additives.
The demand for elements is all based
on the corals inside of your tank,
and how much they use.
In tanks with minimal coral,
a regular water exchange schedule may suffice
for replenishing the necessary elements that corals need.
In most cases, once the coral bug has bit,
you will quickly start collecting corals
and packing your tank with frags that will begin to grow
and deplete the necessary elements from your tank.
This will result in chemistry swings
in-between your water exchanges
that can really stress out your corals
and the other animals inside of your tank.
In order to identify these swings
and prevent them, you need to test your water.
Calcium and alkalinity are the two major parameters
that reef keepers watch to ensure the corals
have what they need to grow.
Calcium and carbonates combine to create calcium carbonate,
which is then deposited by the coral to build a skeleton.
There are other elements involved in the process,
but these are the major players that corals use the most.
Without them, reef building stony corals cannot survive.
Henna Instruments Checker colorimeters
are a very popular choice for water testing at home,
because they can eliminate some of the human error
and discrepancies that come along
with titration and color comparison type test kits.
They are small, quick, and convenient.
After getting your Hanna calcium and alkalinity checkers,
you're going to need to test your tank water daily
for the first couple of weeks.
This will help you determine
how much ESV-B ionic your tank will need.
You want to run a few practice tests using the checkers.
You can find some great instructional videos
right here on YouTube, and our technical support team
is also happy to answer your questions.
The goal here is to perform the test procedures correctly
to ensure that you're getting accurate test results.
You will need to also create a testing log
for you aquarium test results.
A little notebook will work just fine,
but you can also download
pre-formatted aquarium logs online.
You can also take advantage of one
of the various aquarium maintenance and tracking apps,
which are really becoming quite powerful.
Aquarium controllers, such as the Neptune Systems Apex,
lets you manually log these measurements,
and create a graph in order to see the trends
and daily changes, which can be very handy,
especially when dialing in a dosing regimen.
The critical part here is to record your test results,
it really doesn't matter how you do it,
just be sure that you write them down
so you can reference them in the future.
I recommend starting your dosing and testing
24 hours after a water change.
You really want to start dosing the ESV-B ionic
with balanced water parameters to begin with,
because the product is designed
to maintain these parameters, not make drastic adjustments.
If your parameters are not balanced to begin with,
a few water exchanges with some high quality salt mix
will get you back on track.
Next up, acquire yourself some ESV-B ionic,
which has long been our best selling two part solution,
because it works, and it works well.
The solutions are completely ionically balanced,
which means that not only are you getting calcium
and carbonates, but also all of the major,
minor, and trace elements, in the proper ratio,
that your corals need to grow and thrive.
B-ionic is a two part solution.
Each liquid component is intended
to be dosed in equal amounts daily.
The smaller 32 oz bottles come filled
with solution and will not require
that you dilute them with RODI water.
The larger one gal bottles, however,
are partially filled with concentrate,
and will require dilution with RODI water before use.
Something to take note
about the one gal alkalinity supplement
is that it can take some time to dissolve,
up to 72 hours or more.
Submerging the container inside of a bag
in warm water and storing it in a warm place
will help with dissolving the solution.
Do not use the solution until the concentrate
is completely dissolved.
Next, start by adding the minimum recommended dosage,
which is one ml of each B-ionic solution
per four gals of aquarium water,
The solutions should not be dosed at the same time.
It is best to wait about 30 minutes
in-between dosing each solution
so they will not precipitate.
If the solutions come in contact with each other,
a chemical reaction will occur
and the solutions will be useless.
Administering the solutions daily can be done manually,
but you will quickly learn the value
of automating the process with a dosing pump.
We have some great dosing pump options
here at MD, including Kamoer, Aqua Medic,
Neptune Systems, ATI, Bubble-Magus, and GHL.
24 hours after your first dose,
test your water and record it.
Do this daily for the first five to seven days,
all the while maintaining the daily dosage of B-ionic.
At the end of the week, sit down
and look at your test results.
Did your levels rise, fall, or stay the same?
If the calcium and alkalinity levels stayed the same,
continue dosing the same amount daily.
At this point, you can reduce testing the tank water
to once per week, because this means
you are meeting your tank's demand.
If your levels increased, you will likely want
to discontinue the dosage of ESV B-ionic,
because your tank simply does not need it.
A regular water exchange is perfectly suitable
for replenishing any elements that your corals need.
This will be common in tanks with only soft corals,
or smaller tanks with minimal coral.
Do a water change right away
to get your parameters back in line, and continue
with your regular scheduled water change thereafter.
If the calcium and alkalinity levels dropped,
increase the daily dosage by one ml per four gal
of tank water, and repeat the daily testing process
over the next five to seven days.
You want to keep repeating this process
of increasing your dosage in small increments weekly,
until you see that your daily tests
are maintaining your parameters.
Once you have your daily dosing amounts set,
you can likely reduce the frequency of water testing.
I know that testing daily is gonna be quite demanding
on your time, but the outcome will be
a precision dosing regimen that's perfectly tailored
to the animals in your tank.
This is the hardest part of reefing,
knowing what your tank needs.
Every tank is different, and by following
this strict procedure, you will ensure
you're only adding what you need,
and not get you into too much trouble when dialing it in.
Be sure that you check out our water parameter guidelines
for an outline of the minimum
and maximum reef tank parameters.
The exact numbers that you keep
will be based on your tank, but remember,
stability is the ticket.
You want to pick a number
within the guidelines and stick with it.
Here are some helpful notes
for using the Hanna Checker colorimeters at home.
Wash your hands before testing, and dry them well.
Always rinse your testing vials
with RODI water before and after use.
Be sure to acquire and use a microfiber cloth
to clean the vials during testing.
This procedure of daily testing
and dialing in your dosing amounts
can really be applied to any brand
of test kit and two part solution.
The only difference will be the starting dosing amount.
Learning how to maintain calcium and alkalinity
is really only the beginning,
but will be your in understanding
what happens inside of your reef tank.
I appreciate all of you for watching,
be sure to hit that subscribe button to stay up to date
with all of the latest Marine Depot videos.
Until next time, take care, and happy reef keeping.
(upbeat music)