all for reef

[jose hernandez]

thinking of switching to all for reef instead of dosing alk cal mag and trace elements will this be a good choice and will it keep my parameters in stable

 

[Spare time]

It's nice. The downsides are the cost and that it doesn't raise your pH. I have to dose potassium too since it doesn't contain it and my refugium is (likely) what is draining it from my tank.

 

[areefer01]

thinking of switching to all for reef instead of dosing alk cal mag and trace elements will this be a good choice and will it keep my parameters in stable

• What product are you using today and how are you adding trace elements?
• What are you spending and are you trying to lower the cost?
• Yes, it will keep parameters stable just like 2 part or 3 part or combinations. They all may, or may not, require slight manual corrections.
• All For Reef recommends that you start at the parameters you want to keep.
• Ideally you would also want to use a salt that is close to your parameters (but this is just a personal preference).
• Some will say it is also a carbon dose - it will vary by system. I personally do not see any carbon dosing side effects
• It does not boost pH nor is it intended to. It is a single dose solution.

Many here and elsewhere use it on small to large systems without issues. It keeps parameters stable but some as noted above may make slight manual corrections by dosing one of the single components. I've also had to do that with 2 part.

It's nice. The downsides are the cost and that it doesn't raise your pH. I have to dose potassium too since it doesn't contain it and my refugium is (likely) what is draining it from my tank.

We are hearing the cost issue come up a lot. How are you calculating it and what are you comparing it to? Does the product have similar trace elements?

Someone feel free to check math but high level:

• 1600 g powder = $75.00 (product only)
• 1600 g makes 10 liters
• Per liter price = $0.01 per milliliter
• RL example - I dose 85 ml / TM AFR so roughly $0.85 / day
• 30 days average month = $25.50 for me
• 1600 g powder container lasts for me an estimated 3 months (I've not actually tried to verify that but seems close)

Probably cheaper solutions but vs ease of use or adding up cost of products to reach similar spread I don't know. This is only how I look at it. Not saying anyway is best or better or cheaper or what have you.

 

[jose hernandez]

system is a 200 gallon mixed reef as far as dosing was using esv alk cal mag dosing acropower plus trace a n k as for nutrient control tropic Marin bacto balance stopped dosing all had a crash lost a lot of corals it was my fault should have kept it simple I do weekly water changes 30 gallons using Aquaforest reef salt I was using tropic Marin pro reef b4 Aquaforest I like it so do my corals

 

[jose hernandez]

as far as cost not worrying that much this hobby alone is expensive already I would love a calcium reactor but don’t understand them I’ve done so much research and still it scares me tank is not fully stocked so taking it slow water changes are keeping things up to par but it’s time consuming so figure dosing the all for reef will help me get away with weekly water changes

 

[shnapper20]

• What product are you using today and how are you adding trace elements?
• What are you spending and are you trying to lower the cost?
• Yes, it will keep parameters stable just like 2 part or 3 part or combinations. They all may, or may not, require slight manual corrections.
• All For Reef recommends that you start at the parameters you want to keep.
• Ideally you would also want to use a salt that is close to your parameters (but this is just a personal preference).
• Some will say it is also a carbon dose - it will vary by system. I personally do not see any carbon dosing side effects
• It does not boost pH nor is it intended to. It is a single dose solution.

Many here and elsewhere use it on small to large systems without issues. It keeps parameters stable but some as noted above may make slight manual corrections by dosing one of the single components. I've also had to do that with 2 part.



We are hearing the cost issue come up a lot. How are you calculating it and what are you comparing it to? Does the product have similar trace elements?

Someone feel free to check math but high level:

• 1600 g powder = $75.00 (product only)
• 1600 g makes 10 liters
• Per liter price = $0.01 per milliliter
• RL example - I dose 85 ml / TM AFR so roughly $0.85 / day
• 30 days average month = $25.50 for me
• 1600 g powder container lasts for me an estimated 3 months (I've not actually tried to verify that but seems close)

Probably cheaper solutions but vs ease of use or adding up cost of products to reach similar spread I don't know. This is only how I look at it. Not saying anyway is best or better or cheaper or what have you.

what size and type of tank please

 

[jose hernandez]

Mixed reef 200 gallons

 

[shnapper20]

Thanks

 

[Fernthereefer]

Been dosing all for reef and red sea trace colors (iodine, potassium, iron and what they call bioactive ingredients) for the past 3 years. Happy with it. I buy the powder form of all for reef which helps a little with cost. I have a 55 gal. For a big system like yours, however, I don't know if it is worth it vs other options.

 

[mrpontiac80]

I use AFR in my 180 gallon tank and love it. My parameters are almost always exactly the same as last tests.. when my alk and calcium start to lower I just bump a few more ml of dose into the program.
Personally I use the powder and a kamoer f1 doser. For what it’s worth I’m at 55 ml per day on a mixed reef heavier towards acro. But for the most part, most of the acros are not that mature so I’m sure the dose will continually have to be adjusted.

 

[areefer01]

what size and type of tank please

My display is 210 gallons. Mixed reef although not many soft corals today as my Pyramid and Zosters Butterflies eat them. Hammer, torch, frogspawn, sps is mostly acropora and montipora, maxima clam, and a few rose bubble tips.

I think as already mentioned once you get your consumption rate figured out the rest will fall into place as to which solution makes dollars and sense for you. For me I like the single solution but I've had similar success when using 2 part (ESV 2 part).

 

[Salty_Northerner]

I use AFR in my 180 gallon tank and love it. My parameters are almost always exactly the same as last tests.. when my alk and calcium start to lower I just bump a few more ml of dose into the program.
Personally I use the powder and a kamoer f1 doser. For what it’s worth I’m at 55 ml per day on a mixed reef heavier towards acro. But for the most part, most of the acros are not that mature so I’m sure the dose will continually have to be adjusted.

out of curiosity how has you magnesium been doing?

 

[peterhos]

thinking of switching to all for reef instead of dosing alk cal mag and trace elements will this be a good choice and will it keep my parameters in stable

Hi There I have been using it for 6 months. The powder version cuts the cost and mixes easily. I use 10 ml a day, just poured into the return pump flow. My dKH is steady at 9.5.

 

[mrpontiac80]

out of curiosity how has you magnesium been doing?

I use Fritz RPM blue salt mix and my magnesium stays right between 1400-1440

 

[Seansea]

I use it with a bubble magnus doser. 32 ml a day. I icp test every 4 months. It does a rock solid job on alk and calcium bit i find some of the traces come back low still. I have an algae scrubber that chews up alot of traces so afr has hard time keepin up. I put a little captiv8 trace as well as manganese in my top off bucket.

The #1 problem i have with it is no ph boost. My ph stays 8.1 all the time. Need to try to get it to 8.3. Think coral growth would be better