Reef Deal B-ionic two part solution

[Joe Rice]

Sadly the sale is over and it's back to it's normal price: $38.99
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Best price ($33.14) I've found recently for the 2-gallon kit of B-ionic two part:

B-Ionic Calcium Buffer System (2 Gallon) Concentrated Refill - ESV

Shop The Best Saltwater Aquarium Equipment & Supplies at Saltwater Aquarium. We Carry Everything you will Need for your Fish Tank.

www.saltwateraquarium.com

The 8-gallon kit is out-of-stock almost everywhere and no cheaper when I have found it:

ESV B-Ionic 8gal Set

B-Ionic Calcium Buffer is the original, unique, easy to use, two-component liquid supplement system. When using equal volumes of each component, the aquarist can easily maintain calcium and alkalinity levels.

www.championlighting.com

 

[GobyWanKenobie]

Have you found a place that sells just the alkalinity? I use more Alk than Ca, and I end up with spare gallons of Ca.

 

[MarkSzy]

Have you found a place that sells just the alkalinity? I use more Alk than Ca, and I end up with spare gallons of Ca.

You can just mix RO water and baking soda for your ALK mix

 

[wdebenedettojr]

Best price ($33.14) I've found recently for the 2-gallon kit of B-ionic two part:

B-Ionic Calcium Buffer System (2 Gallon) Concentrated Refill - ESV

Shop The Best Saltwater Aquarium Equipment & Supplies at Saltwater Aquarium. We Carry Everything you will Need for your Fish Tank.

www.saltwateraquarium.com

The 8-gallon kit is out-of-stock almost everywhere and no cheaper when I have found it:

ESV B-Ionic 8gal Set

B-Ionic Calcium Buffer is the original, unique, easy to use, two-component liquid supplement system. When using equal volumes of each component, the aquarist can easily maintain calcium and alkalinity levels.

www.championlighting.com

Thanks for sharing! I needed some too! Just bought 3 jugs. Great deal

 

[GobyWanKenobie]

You can just mix RO water and baking soda for your ALK mix

I used to do that in the past, but ESV says that it includes trace elements to keep it balanced.

 

[wdebenedettojr]

Have you found a place that sells just the alkalinity? I use more Alk than Ca, and I end up with spare gallons of Ca.

Sometimes Amazon will have it separate but it’s usually expensive

 

[Casino]

Have you found a place that sells just the alkalinity? I use more Alk than Ca, and I end up with spare gallons of Ca.

Sea Creature in North Providence sells them separately.

 

[cilyjr]

I used to do that in the past, but ESV says that it includes trace elements to keep it balanced.

I have read that, and even used it for a bit. I think you could be fine with just diy 2 part and regular water changes for trace elements.

Not to mention the debate as to whether or not trace elements are even a requirement. There are lots of things in the air none of us use as humans. Meaning just because it's there doesn't necessarily mean it's beneficial.

 

[Joe Rice]

I used to do that in the past, but ESV says that it includes trace elements to keep it balanced.

I use ESV 2 part and I finally figure out what they mean by "balanced". They do add trace elements but not very much.

Imagine you had a tank, never did water changes, and you dosed simple two-part: calcium chloride and sodium carbonate. The calcium and the carbonate get used by the corals, leaving the sodium and the chloride in the water. Sodium chloride, of course, is salt. So over time the salinity of your water will rise and you will have to remove some tank water and replace it with RO/DI water in order to maintain salinity at 35ppt. But when you remove the tank water you are removing some trace elements as well.

ESV includes just enough trace elements to make up for the trace elements you remove in order to maintain the salinity. They do NOT claim to add sufficient trace elements to replenish what is consumed by the fish and corals in our tanks.

 

[GobyWanKenobie]

I use ESV 2 part and I finally figure out what they mean by "balanced". They do add trace elements but not very much.

Imagine you had a tank, never did water changes, and you dosed simple two-part: calcium chloride and sodium carbonate. The calcium and the carbonate get used by the corals, leaving the sodium and the chloride in the water. Sodium chloride, of course, is salt. So over time the salinity of your water will rise and you will have to remove some tank water and replace it with RO/DI water in order to maintain salinity at 35ppt. But when you remove the tank water you are removing some trace elements as well.

ESV includes just enough trace elements to make up for the trace elements you remove in order to maintain the salinity. They do NOT claim to add sufficient trace elements to replenish what is consumed by the fish and corals in our tanks.

What do you use in addition to the ESV? I've tried Julian Sprung's Sea Elements, but I don't know if it really does anything.

 

[Joe Rice]

What do you use in addition to the ESV? I've tried Julian Sprung's Sea Elements, but I don't know if it really does anything.

Hard to know if any of them really do anything but I occasionally add a splash of Sprung's "Iron Concentrate (with Manganese)", Red Sea Trace-colors D, and Isol-MT. I chose these particular ones because I probably saw a YouTube video of someone with a beautiful tank who said they used one or the other of these and I figured "what the heck, it can't hurt".

 

[GobyWanKenobie]

Hard to know if any of them really do anything but I occasionally add a splash of Sprung's "Iron Concentrate (with Manganese)", Red Sea Trace-colors D, and Isol-MT. I chose these particular ones because I probably saw a YouTube video of someone with a beautiful tank who said they used one or the other of these and I figured "what the heck, it can't hurt".

LOL That's what happens to me. I bought the Red Sea Trace colors too, but I never used them.

 

[FishieBusiness]

Hard to know if any of them really do anything but I occasionally add a splash of Sprung's "Iron Concentrate (with Manganese)", Red Sea Trace-colors D, and Isol-MT. I chose these particular ones because I probably saw a YouTube video of someone with a beautiful tank who said they used one or the other of these and I figured "what the heck, it can't hurt".

Don't we all do this

 

[cilyjr]

I think iron is one of the few trace elements that's worth adding. We know most organisms require at least some iron and we know it's almost immediately depleted from salt mixes after a water change.

I dunno, it's pretty cheap to grind up a Ferrous gluconate pill and squirt it in.