All For Reef Dosing

10galtank · Sep 7, 2023

Hello, all

I have been on the journey of establishing my tank, it is around 8 months old now. I have it stocked with acans, mushrooms, leather tree, bowerbanki, zoas and a ricordea. My parameters, as a newer tank, have been fluctuating as expected. My corals have now started becoming happy and using alk, calcium, magnesium. I have chose Tropic Marin’s All For Reef simply for the simplicity of one dosing pump.

I have not yet dosed alk because I was fighting high alk for a while (peaked at 14.3) but since then, my alk has dropped to a low of 8.3dkh. I would prefer my alk to stay at the 8.5-8.6dkh range. I know this product has an alk supplement— I dosed 6ml at 8.3dkh (40 gallon tank) and my alk jumped to 8.9DKH. I was wondering if I should wait for my alk to drop even more before I dose again so I can slowly work up the alk to my desired, then keep and monitor that dose amount. What would be the best suggestion or course of action?

Spare time · Sep 7, 2023

You should not need to dose alk separately from the all for reef unless you only need to adjust it. The downside of all for reef is you can't control numbers independently compared to dosing individual elements. 8.9KH is not high so it shouldn't be something to be stressed about. I would adjust the dosage til it stops going up and down frequently.

Spare time · Sep 7, 2023

PS I'd be concerned about 0ppm phosphate and possibly the 50ppm nitrate (depending on the test kit for phosphate)

areefer01 · Sep 7, 2023

As noted above Tropic Marin recommends that before you start dosing All For Reef that you get the parameters/chemistry to your desired level. Then start dosing and make small adjustments to the daily amount using their guidelines below. TM AFR Alk may take hours to a day or two before showing the bump.

10galtank · Sep 8, 2023

Spare time said:
You should not need to dose alk separately from the all for reef unless you only need to adjust it. The downside of all for reef is you can't control numbers independently compared to dosing individual elements. 8.9KH is not high so it shouldn't be something to be stressed about. I would adjust the dosage til it stops going up and down frequently.

Should I wait for my alk to drop before I try to redose?

Aaron75 · Sep 8, 2023

10galtank said:
Should I wait for my alk to drop before I try to redose?

What do you want it to be at? You have to have a baseline. My baseline was 8.5. I tested daily and found it dropped .2 per day. I started with a dose of 1.25ml and it was actually perfect. If I test at the same time every day I am at the desired 8.5. In your case, if you want to maintain 8.3, obviously 6ml was way too much. So let it fall to 8.3 and try a much smaller dose like 1.25 and recheck.

Pistondog · Sep 8, 2023

Id wait until alk is 8.5 or less before resuming afr.
You want to find the amount of afr where alk stays constant, keeping up with demand. I just started afr a couple months ago.
1. Start with 6 ml
2. Dose for 3 days
3. Check alk and calcium using reliable kits
4. Adjust dose up 10% if alk is low, say 7.5, down if alk rising
5. Goto 2

If alk goes below 7, throw in a pinch, 1 teaspoon, of baking soda to raise it. Use the baking soda to raise the alk toward target; adjust dose to steady it to match demand.

After alk is steady, check calcium and adjust up if low with a calcium supplement weekly.
You can also adjust dose (steps 1 to 5 above) based on calcium level, then check alk after.
You may find your dosing needs low with a newer tank.

10galtank · Sep 8, 2023

Aaron75 said:
What do you want it to be at? You have to have a baseline. My baseline was 8.5. I tested daily and found it dropped .2 per day. I started with a dose of 1.25ml and it was actually perfect. If I test at the same time every day I am at the desired 8.5. In your case, if you want to maintain 8.3, obviously 6ml was way too much. So let it fall to 8.3 and try a much smaller dose like 1.25 and recheck.

Thank you for your knowledge. I would like to be at 8.5 as well, I dosed at 8.3 and it shot up to the 8.9 as listed. Currently waiting on dkh to fall. Should I wait until it’s at 8.5 beofre I dose, or a little lower?

10galtank · Sep 8, 2023

Aaron75 said:
What do you want it to be at? You have to have a baseline. My baseline was 8.5. I tested daily and found it dropped .2 per day. I started with a dose of 1.25ml and it was actually perfect. If I test at the same time every day I am at the desired 8.5. In your case, if you want to maintain 8.3, obviously 6ml was way too much. So let it fall to 8.3 and try a much smaller dose like 1.25 and recheck.

Thank you for your knowledge. I would like to be at 8.5 as well, I dosed at 8.3 and it shot up to the 8.9 as listed. Currently waiting on dkh to fall. Should I wait until it’s at 8.5 beofre I dose, or a little lower?

10galtank · Sep 8, 2023

Pistondog said:
Id wait until alk is 8.5 or less before resuming afr.
You want to find the amount of afr where alk stays constant, keeping up with demand. I just started afr a couple months ago.
1. Start with 6 ml
2. Dose for 3 days
3. Check alk and calcium using reliable kits
4. Adjust dose up 10% if alk is low, say 7.5, down if alk rising
5. Goto 2

If alk goes below 7, throw in a pinch, 1 teaspoon, of baking soda to raise it. Use the baking soda to raise the alk toward target; adjust dose to steady it to match demand.

After alk is steady, check calcium and adjust up if low with a calcium supplement weekly.
You can also adjust dose (steps 1 to 5 above) based on calcium level, then check alk after.
You may find your dosing needs low with a newer tank.

Thank you! I dosed initially 6ml when my alk was 8.3, shot it up to 8.9

Pistondog · Sep 8, 2023

10galtank said:
Thank you! I dosed initially 6ml when my alk was 8.3, shot it up to 8.9

Reduce it to 4ml, then proceed as outlined above.
Do not adjust daily. What test kit for alk, some test +/_ 0.3 dkh.

10galtank · Sep 8, 2023

Pistondog said:
Reduce it to 4ml, then proceed as outlined above.
Do not adjust daily. What test kit for alk, some test +/_ 0.3 dkh.

Roger that, I use Hanna Marine checkers.

Aaron75 · Sep 8, 2023

10galtank said:
Thank you for your knowledge. I would like to be at 8.5 as well, I dosed at 8.3 and it shot up to the 8.9 as listed. Currently waiting on dkh to fall. Should I wait until it’s at 8.5 beofre I dose, or a little lower?

Do you know what your daily consumption is? If yes, just try to essentially counter the drop with AFR. If no, then monitor and see how much it drops daily. You can start AFR again once you get down to 8.5, no reason to go lower if that's where you want it. Be sure to test around the same time every day

Spare time · Sep 8, 2023

10galtank said:
Should I wait for my alk to drop before I try to redose?

I think the level is fine but if you want to you can let it drop a little since everything else could take a drop without being an issue

10galtank · Sep 8, 2023

Aaron75 said:
Do you know what your daily consumption is? If yes, just try to essentially counter the drop with AFR. If no, then monitor and see how much it drops daily. You can start AFR again once you get down to 8.5, no reason to go lower if that's where you want it. Be sure to test around the same time every day

I’m not certain. I have my dkh params listed, fluctuates a little day by day.