All for Reef question

[thomas_neil]

I have a quick question about all for reef. I have a 20-gallon cube with about 15-16 gallons of water.

I started another thread last week about my LPS corals being closed and found that my PO4 was elevated and my ALK was also elevated.

I use red sea coral pro salt, so the DKH is going to be around 11-12 right out of the bucket.

I was dosing 10ml of all for reef a day.

I've since stopped dosing and did a 10% water change on Saturday as well as added 4tbs of GFO and .7ml of Brightwell phos-e.

Ill list my parameters below from Saturday's tests as well as Mondays and Todays.

Saturday:
Sal. 35ppt
Alk 11.2
Calcium 420ppm
Mag 1440ppm
NO3 2.5ppm
PO4 .41ppm

Monday:
Sal 35ppt
Alk 10.3
Cal 400ppm
Mag 1410ppm
NO3 5-10ppm
PO4 .18

Today:
Sal 35ppt
Alk 9.7
Cal 380
Didn't test Mag
NO3 5-10
PO4 .08

I use hanna for PO4 and Alk and salifurt for everything else.

Any opinions on how much - if any all for reef I should dose throughout the day would be helpful.

Thanks!

 

[blaxsun]

You need to determine what your target alkalinity level will be.

 

[dedragon]

With blaxsun here. I would say to aim for 11.2 dkh because that I what it seems to give you after a water change but you should buy salt that also matches your target parameters so they dont swing back and forth

 

[thomas_neil]

I think im going to make the switch to tropic marin. They seem to have easier parameters to maintain. I like the coral pro because I feel it gives me better growth in my tank at home, but I also dose a tone of 2 part to sustain the elevated levels. I want to keep this tank simple which is why I chose to run all for reef in it.

I think I'll switch salts, continue to test levels and find where the sweet spot is before dosing.

 

[olonmv]

10ml a day sounds like a lot for that size tank. Looks like consumption is 1 ppm a day. 1 started with 1ml a day and tested daily. From there I tweaked the dosage and found my daily consumption was 1.2ml a day. I too run a nano.

 

[dedragon]

I think im going to make the switch to tropic marin. They seem to have easier parameters to maintain. I like the coral pro because I feel it gives me better growth in my tank at home, but I also dose a tone of 2 part to sustain the elevated levels. I want to keep this tank simple which is why I chose to run all for reef in it.

I think I'll switch salts, continue to test levels and find where the sweet spot is before dosing.

Check the red sea blue bucket as well instead of coral pro. I have used tropic marin salts and red sea but after a while I havent seen much difference between the two salts, so I would do whatever is more economical for you (in my case it is buying 2 red sea blue giant sacks during sales)

 

[Hooz]

They say 5ml for every 26g as a starting dose. Then add 2.5ml per 26g until you land around 8dkh for alkalinity.

Your starting dose based on 16g of actual water volume would be 3ml, then you can step up by 1.5ml increments (from 3ml to 4.5ml to 6ml to 7.5ml, etc, etc) until things stabilize and hold steady. Even though you CAN dose AFR once daily, I've found that my numbers stay a lot more even through the day if I split it up. I currently do 6 doses (once every 4 hours) through the entire day and night.

I'd agree with the salt change. I switched to hw-MarineMix Reefer salt because it has the numbers I try to keep in my tanks, but any mix with lower alkalinity would work.

 

[thomas_neil]

Thanks for all the advice! I'll look into the different salts and find something with parameters I want to hold.

 

[thomas_neil]

They say 5ml for every 26g as a starting dose. Then add 2.5ml per 26g until you land around 8dkh for alkalinity.

Your starting dose based on 16g of actual water volume would be 3ml, then you can step up by 1.5ml increments (from 3ml to 4.5ml to 6ml to 7.5ml, etc, etc) until things stabilize and hold steady. Even though you CAN dose AFR once daily, I've found that my numbers stay a lot more even through the day if I split it up. I currently do 6 doses (once every 4 hours) through the entire day and night.

I'd agree with the salt change. I switched to hw-MarineMix Reefer salt because it has the numbers I try to keep in my tanks, but any mix with lower alkalinity would work.

I have it on a Kamore doser that I break it up to 12 doses per day.

 

[Hooz]

I will add some tips I've learned from using AFR for over a year now.

1. Always test alk at the same time of the day. Doesn't have to be to the minute, but the same general time of the day. i.e. I always test alk right before lights on at 8:30am.

2. Always stick with a dose amount for 3 days (and testing each day) before making any changes. The way AFR works, the alkalinty takes a while to show up on a test. The "lag" decreases the longer you use it but, especially when first dialing things in, it can take 48 hours to really show up on a test.

 

[Natural_Reefer]

For the tank size, I would just switch to cheaper Salt and do weekly water changes. I am using Reef Crystal and have no issue so far. Cheap and easy to get.

 

[thomas_neil]

For the tank size, I would just switch to cheaper Salt and do weekly water changes. I am using Reef Crystal and have no issue so far. Cheap and easy to get.

The tank is in my office at work or else I would rely on weekly water changes. I try to do 10% weekly but sometimes it turns into 20% biweekly depending on if I'm out of the office.
I'm also doing everything possible to make the tank easy to care for, stable, and look good so my coworkers don't judge me for a dirty tank, or corals that arnt doing as good as they can be.

 

[Natural_Reefer]

The tank is in my office at work or else I would rely on weekly water changes. I try to do 10% weekly but sometimes it turns into 20% biweekly depending on if I'm out of the office.
I'm also doing everything possible to make the tank easy to care for, stable, and look good so my coworkers don't judge me for a dirty tank, or corals that arnt doing as good as they can be.

That made sense!
However, I think you are dealing with 2 different issues:
-Consumption. This could be dealt with by dosing or water changes. Again, I am in favor of water changes due to small volume.
- Nutrients. What do you have for Nutrients exports? Again, this could also be accomplished with water

 

[thomas_neil]

That made sense!
However, I think you are dealing with 2 different issues:
-Consumption. This could be dealt with by dosing or water changes. Again, I am in favor of water changes due to small volume.
- Nutrients. What do you have for Nutrients exports? Again, this could also be accomplished with water

I have a doser, just wasn't sure how to dial it in, once I get some new salt, I plan on dosing again. In case I can't do a water change every week.
For nutrients control I mainly use dosing, media, and mechanical filtration. I don't run a skimmer on the soul principal it's an office tank and skimmate it gross I do run a skimmer on my home tank, I'm not opposed to them, just not sure how my coworkers would feel cleaning out the cup in one of our sinks.
My nitrates are pretty stable, usually drop to around 2.5 on water change day and stay between 5-10 after.
Phosphates where high from feeding pellet food on an auto feeder. I've since stopped using the feeder and only use it if I know I'll be out of the office for a few days - like this coming 4-day weekend. I've switch to feeding rods food, fed once a day before I leave.

 

[olonmv]

I have a doser, just wasn't sure how to dial it in, once I get some new salt, I plan on dosing again. In case I can't do a water change every week.
For nutrients control I mainly use dosing, media, and mechanical filtration. I don't run a skimmer on the soul principal it's an office tank and skimmate it gross I do run a skimmer on my home tank, I'm not opposed to them, just not sure how my coworkers would feel cleaning out the cup in one of our sinks.
My nitrates are pretty stable, usually drop to around 2.5 on water change day and stay between 5-10 after.
Phosphates where high from feeding pellet food on an auto feeder. I've since stopped using the feeder and only use it if I know I'll be out of the office for a few days - like this coming 4-day weekend. I've switch to feeding rods food, fed once a day before I leave.

I dosed by hand up until I knew what my consumption was, then set the doser up when I knew that value.

 

[Natural_Reefer]

I dosed by hand up until I knew what my consumption was, then set the doser up when I knew that value.

Agree! This is how I also do when I am dosing anything; it is easier to know consumption prior to start dosing.

 

[Natural_Reefer]

I have a doser, just wasn't sure how to dial it in, once I get some new salt, I plan on dosing again. In case I can't do a water change every week.
For nutrients control I mainly use dosing, media, and mechanical filtration. I don't run a skimmer on the soul principal it's an office tank and skimmate it gross I do run a skimmer on my home tank, I'm not opposed to them, just not sure how my coworkers would feel cleaning out the cup in one of our sinks.
My nitrates are pretty stable, usually drop to around 2.5 on water change day and stay between 5-10 after.
Phosphates where high from feeding pellet food on an auto feeder. I've since stopped using the feeder and only use it if I know I'll be out of the office for a few days - like this coming 4-day weekend. I've switch to feeding rods food, fed once a day before I leave.

Hahaha...I know exactly what you are saying about skimmer cup. I had to wait for my wife to be out of the house when I cleaned the cup (have swabbie and skimmate locker now so haven't cleaned the cup in months).
Based in my previous experiences with NY 34gal Biocube, I just added Kalkwasser to Top of water and did 5gal water changes every 1-2 weeks. The tank was thriving without any additional dosing. I am a believer in KISS method of reefing.

 

[bud_rick]

Hey where does your ph land dosing 10ml/day? Also that seems like alot seeing I dose 1.2ml to maintain 8.5dkh in a 15 gal desktop tank with a decent amount of sps/lps frags.

 

[MrGisonni]

I am at 3.7 mls of AFR daily through 4 doses in my 30 gallon mixed reef. Alk is 8.6

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Hey where does your ph land dosing 10ml/day? Also that seems like alot seeing I dose 1.2ml to maintain 8.5dkh in a 15 gal desktop tank with a decent amount of sps/lps frags.

That answer will not be much different than not dosing anything, and will vary great from tank to tank.