All for reef dosing

[ssster2020]

Hi Randy, I have an All for Reef question for you.
6 weeks ago I changed to AFR. Working really good and so simple but I have an issue, I dose 80 mls to maintain a KH if 8.8 and Ca of 425. The problem is I have a an oscillation in alkalinity of .5 dKH
I now dose 80 mls in 6 increments from 8 AM to 8 PM.
Sorry if this is long winded but how do I dose this to minimize the swing? Or am I overthinking it?

 

[painter1982]

I dose AFR 12 times a day. Mine stays pretty stable. I spread the night ones further by a half hour and daylight ones closer.

 

[twentyleagues]

That .5dkh is not an issue. I dont need to dose that much but seeing how it works in my reef 35ml 1 time a day keeps me pretty stable with about a .5dkh swing none of my corals seem to mind. If/when I were to need to dose that much I may split it in 2 doses. It would depend on what I was showing on my tests though. I dont think there is any benefit to splitting up the dose or not splitting up the dose tbh.

 

[BriDroid]

I dose mine once a day, just before lights on. This was recommended by TM, they said there is no need to split up the dose. I dose just shy of the recommended maximum dose. My dKH swings a bit, but nothing seems to mind. The main reason they recommend dosing all at once before lights on is so that the trace elements are all available when photosynthesis starts.

 

[areefer01]

I dose mine once a day, just before lights on. This was recommended by TM, they said there is no need to split up the dose. I dose just shy of the recommended maximum dose. My dKH swings a bit, but nothing seems to mind. The main reason they recommend dosing all at once before lights on is so that the trace elements are all available when photosynthesis starts.

Do you have a source for their recommendation? I've not heard that one before.

Not saying you are wrong btw just curious as to why they suggested that.

 

[Euphyllia098]

I dose mine once a day, just before lights on. This was recommended by TM, they said there is no need to split up the dose. I dose just shy of the recommended maximum dose. My dKH swings a bit, but nothing seems to mind. The main reason they recommend dosing all at once before lights on is so that the trace elements are all available when photosynthesis starts.

^^^^^I've been doing this for going on 5 years without issue. KH will naturally fluctuate throughout the day. If you want to go crazy chasing it you can, but AFR is not going to be what you want to use then because there's a delay in it affecting your alk.

I only check KH every few weeks. Once you dial in the AFR dose there's no need to monitor so closely imo. But this comes down to what you want from the hobby. I prefer to enjoy my tank, and that comes from looking at it, not chasing numbers, especially not testing, that's probably my least favorite thing to do.

I really need a automated tester, but they are crazy expensive.. sorry I digress.

 

[BriDroid]

Do you have a source for their recommendation? I've not heard that one before.

Not saying you are wrong btw just curious as to why they suggested that.

Off their Facebook page when asked.

 

[painter1982]

Do you have a source for their recommendation? I've not heard that one before.

Not saying you are wrong btw just curious as to why they suggested that.

Off their Facebook page when asked.

Doesn’t really say all at once or is that further down?

 

[56longroof]

I dose 110 ml every morning at once. Seems to work so far.

 

[areefer01]

Doesn’t really say all at once or is that further down?

Not sure. I see the message is on FB I was half expecting it to be from Hanz or Lou. I'm sure it is fine either way I was just asking as I don't remember hearing that recommendation before. I dose 100 ml over a couple of hours about an hour after lights on for no other reason than that is how I've always done it.

 

[BriDroid]

Not sure. I see the message is on FB I was half expecting it to be from Hanz or Lou. I'm sure it is fine either way I was just asking as I don't remember hearing that recommendation before. I dose 100 ml over a couple of hours about an hour after lights on for no other reason than that is how I've always done it.

He’s a FB moderator and employee of TM. I didn’t include the expanded posts below, but he says all or at least half of the dose before lights on.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I dose AFR once in the morning and the alk will slowly become available during some time after dosing. I don’t think spreading it out is needed, but it’s fine to do so. I don’t think a 0.5 dKH alk change is a concern.

I would not dose AFR at night due to it consuming O2.

 

[Troylee]

Off their Facebook page when asked.

That seems crazy to me lol.. I dose 200ml daily and a single shot seems over board but hey Samuel knows what he’s talking about.. mine is dosed evenly over 24 hours currently with a Neptune dos.

 

[BriDroid]

That seems crazy to me lol.. I dose 200ml daily and a single shot seems over board but hey Samuel knows what he’s talking about.. mine is dosed evenly over 24 hours currently with a Neptune dos.

He says to dose at least 1/2 of it before lights on if you want to split it up. I just didn’t include those messages in my pic.

 

[exnisstech]

Currently dosing 52ml between 1p and 5p. lights come on at noon. The low levels at the bottom are when I was dialing in a new amount because consumption increased after I raised my pH and had to increase my amount dosed to compensate. I never test more that once a day and I wait at least 2 days between changing the amount and retesting.

 

[areefer01]

That seems crazy to me lol.. I dose 200ml daily and a single shot seems over board but hey Samuel knows what he’s talking about.. mine is dosed evenly over 24 hours currently with a Neptune dos.

I was thinking maybe someone was trying to make it bolus lite... Mine is spread out over 4 hours. I don't want to hear my doser dump 100 ml in a couple of minutes. Even with the newer Neptune QDOS :)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I was thinking maybe someone was trying to make it bolus lite... Mine is spread out over 4 hours. I don't want to hear my doser dump 100 ml in a couple of minutes. Even with the newer Neptune QDOS :)

I suspect the alk is spread out over a time frame like that even with all at once dosing. :)

 

[Troylee]

I was thinking maybe someone was trying to make it bolus lite... Mine is spread out over 4 hours. I don't want to hear my doser dump 100 ml in a couple of minutes. Even with the newer Neptune QDOS :)

Here’s the full talk. I know Sunny x doses it all in a single shot in the morning also.

 

[areefer01]

I suspect the alk is spread out over a time frame like that even with all at once dosing. :)

Probably right. I honestly have no opinion on it either way other than as I noted not heard TM recommend it that way. Not like I scour the net looking for that though :)

I have tried mine spread out using both wider and shorter timeframes and noticed nothing different.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I’m not sure I agree with dosing before
Lights on. Since it lowers O2, that is the worst time from that aspect.