I understand from this post by Tropic Marin that All-In-One Ca-Alk-Mg supplements contain organic compounds that will eventually supply corals with Alk and Ca.
For our purposes, this means you cannot detect an increase in Alkalinity using conventional test kits.
At the moment I think, there are 3 similar products on the market.
So, my repurposed dosing pumps and I will be forever grateful, if someone could please explain how to deal with dropping Alkalinity in the period when I'm increasing my All-For-Reef dose every week.
Thank you very much, and sorry for the long post!
For our purposes, this means you cannot detect an increase in Alkalinity using conventional test kits.
At the moment I think, there are 3 similar products on the market.
- Tropic Marin All-For-Reef (Ca-Alk-Mg + Trace)
- PolypLab One (Ca-Alk-Mg)
- Salifert All-in-One (Ca-Alk-Str + Trace Soft + Trace Hard + Amino Acids)
- Are there any All-In-One Ca-Alk-Mg supplements that allow to detect an increase in alkalinity after dosing them?
I suppose that'd mean formulating them without organic compounds tho. I emailed ATI about their 2-part supplement (2-part isn't as good as All-In-One, but is better than 3-part!), and they said:
If you want a 2-Part ready to use solution, that contains no organic compounds, you need to wait until the end of the year. - I thought Alkalinity was the number one thing to test in a reef tank, once you have NO3 and PO4 under control, how come these products are so popular if you don't actually know how much Alk is in your system, and what your buffer against low pH is? What if you accidentally overdose them?
- Maybe I'm just a bit daft, but I've watched a couple of videos on the All-For-Reef, especially this one, and I still don't understand how you should go about dosing All-In-One organic supplements, during the transition period from another mineral supplementation method, and when you increase the stony coral population.
- You dose 5 ml of ALL-FOR-REEF per 100 litres / 26G daily, while also testing Alk.
- Daily, when Alk drops, you raise it back to your desired level in a detectable way using Sodium carbonate/sodium bicarbonate or Kalkwasser.
- Once per week, you increase your All-For-Reef daily dose by 2.5 ml per 100 litres/26G, until your Alk is stable and you can stop using Sodium carbonate/sodium bicarbonate or Kalkwasser to raise it back to your desired level.
- When you add more corals, and your Alk starts dropping again, you repeat this process again.
So, my repurposed dosing pumps and I will be forever grateful, if someone could please explain how to deal with dropping Alkalinity in the period when I'm increasing my All-For-Reef dose every week.
Thank you very much, and sorry for the long post!