All For Reef Dosing Questions

[skey44]

I find mag trends down over time with afr, I also dose dilute kalkwasser in my ato. I just dose an adjustment every 2-3 weeks. Usually adjust from 1260 up to around 1300 in one concentrated dose.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I find mag trends down over time with afr, I also dose dilute kalkwasser in my ato. I just dose an adjustment every 2-3 weeks. Usually adjust from 1260 up to around 1300 in one concentrated dose.

Certainly a reasonable course of action, but it doesn't say whether the AFR would meet your mag demand or not if you dosed enough AFR to meet the alk and calcium needs. :)

 

[skey44]

Certainly a reasonable course of action, but it doesn't say whether the AFR would meet your mag demand or not if you dosed enough AFR to meet the alk and calcium needs. :)

I had similar/same requirement for Mag adjustment before kalkwasser use, meeting all my ca/alk needs with afr FWIW. My growth/consumption increased when I started adding very dilute kalkwasser to my ato. 2.5 tsp/8gallons, has required me to increase my AFR daily dose by 5ml to maintain same alkalinity.

 

[twentyleagues]

I had similar results before kalkwasser, meeting all my needs with afr FWIW. My growt/consumption increased when I started adding very dilute kalkwasser to my ato. 2.5 tsp/8gallons, has required me to increase my AFR daily dose by 5ml to maintain same alkalinity.

So do you think its increased ph that is driving this? How much did the ph increase? Does not seem like the calculators say that amount of kalk in that amount of water does much.

 

[skey44]

Yes the small pH bump seems to do the trick. My pH probe is in the return chamber downstream from the ATO stream and you can see it on the hydros graph. This graph represents my pH for a really good stretch where my tank was looking peak and rapid growth was noticeable on most corals.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I had similar/same requirement for Mag adjustment before kalkwasser use, meeting all my ca/alk needs with afr FWIW. My growth/consumption increased when I started adding very dilute kalkwasser to my ato. 2.5 tsp/8gallons, has required me to increase my AFR daily dose by 5ml to maintain same alkalinity.

I don't doubt that AFR may not deliver enough mag for your system for the reasons I mentioned, or others (such as a salt mix not matching the tank). :)

My purpose in commenting was to correct the assertion earlier in this thread that AFR did not supplement magnesium. :)

For folks using a method such as RMM, I did not want folks to assume they need to add the full magnesium for the method. :)

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/just-say-no-to-magnesium-testing-rmm-is-born.1017528/

 

[skey44]

Aha gotya, important information. Definitely doses mag. Just not in the correct ratio for all systems.
My coralline algae growth is out of this world so that explains the drop I suppose.
With my WC schedule I really probably don’t need/have to dose Mag. I just like to keep it close to 1300 if I can to match what my salt mix tests at 1.0265 sg.

 

[gregrock68]

10ml is probably a bit much sir. The starting dose is 5ml per 100 liters (26 gallons). Are you checking your alk/cal levels?
Also, keep in mind, this does nothing for magnesium. You will need to dose magnesium to keep that in check as well.
@Randy Holmes-Farley has a great 2 Part DIY that includes magnesium if you want to go that route.

I agree, 10 ml is a lot. I dose 6.5 ml in a heavy SPS & LPS 40 gallon established tank and I only do micro adjustments as needed to maintain alk at 8.5 to 9. I love how the calcium hangs around 415 to 440 consistently, all from a single doser!

 

[Fish Fan]

I agree, 10 ml is a lot. I dose 6.5 ml in a heavy SPS & LPS 40 gallon established tank and I only do micro adjustments as needed to maintain alk at 8.5 to 9. I love how the calcium hangs around 415 to 440 consistently, all from a single doser!

I too agree that 10 mL is too much for my tank, I'm still trying to dial it in, and I'm starting to cut it back as of today. But the amount you dose is also dependent on the salt mix you're using, and where you want to hold your alk and calc. I'm using a "reef" blend salt mix with stated higher alk and calc, but so far I'm seeing less than advertised numbers in my freshly mixed saltwater, so admittedly I was trying to bump it up a little with the AFR.

Thank you for your reply!

 

[Troylee]

My mag has always ran 1100 ish.. I’ve bumped it up to 1300 and when I do a water change it drops way back down with reef crystals of all salts… currently it’s at 1200 and that’s after dosing tons of mag to get it there… I currently top off with 3-4 gallons of fully saturated kalk and dose 160ml of all for reef daily and my alk kept dropping.. all for reef is pricey so I just started dosing hydroxide also! I’m getting some trace but now the 3-4 gallons of kalk and 125ml of sodium hydroxide are doing the heavy work and it’s keeping my calcium stable and alk up while 160 ml of all for reef does the rest! Since the hydroxide addition my ph has been on point!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

My mag has always ran 1100 ish.. I’ve bumped it up to 1300 and when I do a water change it drops way back down with reef crystals of all salts… currently it’s at 1200 and that’s after dosing tons of mag to get it there… I currently top off with 3-4 gallons of fully saturated kalk and dose 160ml of all for reef daily and my alk kept dropping.. all for reef is pricey so I just started dosing hydroxide also! I’m getting some trace but now the 3-4 gallons of kalk and 125ml of sodium hydroxide are doing the heavy work and it’s keeping my calcium stable and alk up while 160 ml of all for reef does the rest! Since the hydroxide addition my ph has been on point!

I would not be sure that is accurate. It suggests a super low level in the RC.

That’s why I use and recommend RMM. :)

 

[pooootiqe]

I too agree that 10 mL is too much for my tank, I'm still trying to dial it in, and I'm starting to cut it back as of today. But the amount you dose is also dependent on the salt mix you're using, and where you want to hold your alk and calc. I'm using a "reef" blend salt mix with stated higher alk and calc, but so far I'm seeing less than advertised numbers in my freshly mixed saltwater, so admittedly I was trying to bump it up a little with the AFR.

Thank you for your reply!

I’m putting ~10mL AFR into my 10 gallon per day to keep it at 7.7 KH ish. Honestly not sure where all the alk is going! Coralline? Precipitation? Made the solution incorrectly? (3 scoops per 500mL) I don’t see no explosive growth other than the dumb milka stylo that I cut 3 times already!

 

[skey44]

Probably all going to that stylo!!! That’s good consumption though. Keep up the good work. I always see increased consumption as a win. It’s really cool to me when you go through another 2 liters of AFR and can look in the tank to see what it’s all going towards. It’s kind of a weird reward of a successful reef to have to mix more and buy a new powder bucket.

 

[BriDroid]

I’m putting ~10mL AFR into my 10 gallon per day to keep it at 7.7 KH ish. Honestly not sure where all the alk is going! Coralline? Precipitation? Made the solution incorrectly? (3 scoops per 500mL) I don’t see no explosive growth other than the dumb milka stylo that I cut 3 times already!

I hear you! I did the same recipe, 3 level scoops to make 500ml. I'm dosing 7ml in my 11 cube (8 gallons of water). I also have a weed milka stylo that I'm sure is sucking it up too. I think I'm going to have to increase the 7ml, since it's still slowly dropping A good problem to have, I guess?

 

[skey44]

I hear you! I did the same recipe, 3 level scoops to make 500ml. I'm dosing 7ml in my 11 cube (8 gallons of water). I also have a weed milka stylo that I'm sure is sucking it up too. I think I'm going to have to increase the 7ml, since it's still slowly dropping A good problem to have, I guess?

One nice thing about AFR I’ve learned over time is if your dosing is a little off and you’re slowly trending up or down the corals still do great. I usually wait until I’m seeing below 7.8 or above 8.3 dKH before I adjust my dosing because sometimes it evens out without intervention. I check my alk at least twice a week to monitor.

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

I have a 1 liter container on a cheap Jebao dosing pump that doses at 8 am every day. I think it is set to 31mL and my Alk stays at about 8.9-9.3. Based on what the experts here say, it is fine to bolus dose once a day.

 

[gregrock68]

I too agree that 10 mL is too much for my tank, I'm still trying to dial it in, and I'm starting to cut it back as of today. But the amount you dose is also dependent on the salt mix you're using, and where you want to hold your alk and calc. I'm using a "reef" blend salt mix with stated higher alk and calc, but so far I'm seeing less than advertised numbers in my freshly mixed saltwater, so admittedly I was trying to bump it up a little with the AFR.

Thank you for your reply!

Understand. Just trying to provide some insight. If I remember correctly all for Reef says to start out with 5 ml per 50 gallons as a suggested starting point. Even with my tank burning a good bit of calcium and alkalinity now he had to make an increase of 25% from their Baseline. Try to get an assessment of your tanks burn rate after starting with your Baseline and testing it every 2 to 3 days. Hope this helps!

 

[Fish Fan]

Understand. Just trying to provide some insight. If I remember correctly all for Reef says to start out with 5 ml per 50 gallons as a suggested starting point. Even with my tank burning a good bit of calcium and alkalinity now he had to make an increase of 25% from their Baseline. Try to get an assessment of your tanks burn rate after starting with your Baseline and testing it every 2 to 3 days. Hope this helps!

I believe it was 5 mL/26 gallons/day, is what All For Reef suggests as a starting point. Yep, I am testing frequently, and my parts to automate dosing AFR just came today, so I'd think I'd have it dialed in shortly. Thanks for your reply!

 

[Lou Ekus]

What are you trying to keep you alk at? Natural seawater is between 8-9dKh. Some reefers keep their tanks higher though, some of those ranges are 8-12dKh.

Natural reef sea water alkalinity is generally accepted as being 6.5 dkH. In closed reef systems we usually recommend slight higher around 7-9 dkH.

 

[Fish Fan]

Natural reef sea water alkalinity is generally accepted as being 6.5 dkH. In closed reef systems we usually recommend slight higher around 7-9 dkH.

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