Anyone has experience with reeflowers balling?

[A Young Reefer]

so I am searching for dosing options since my tanks demands are glowing and I need a permanent solution. Tank is a 60 gallon mixed reef.
Where I live these three are the best options available with their cons and pros.
Red sea:
Pros:
daily dosage is relatively low compared to other products.
cons:
No trace elements, except for red sea abcd that would require four more dosing heads. manual dosing is not an option since I am travelling soon.
Relatively expensive compared to other solutions.
Aquaforest:
Pros:
A More economical and budget friendly option.
component 3 covers a wide range of trace elements.
Cons:
Don't quiet understand the dosing, the calculator is giving me 400 ml for component 1, 1645 ml a day for component 3 and 67 ml per day for component 2 on a 60 gallon tank.
reeflowers:
pros:
Also an economical option, 4 solutions Solution D covers trace elements, however it doesn't specify what the trace elements are.
cons:
I don't know of many people using it.
No clue how the dosing would look like it only says that a maximum of 50 ml per day can be dosed per 100 liters of tank water.

I am well aware that most of these are only recommended doses and I wont be using the same amounts on my tank. however I need to have an insight before pulling the trigger on any of these.
so which of these would you recommend me to go with? does anyone have experience with reeflowers? Sorry its my first time stepping into dosing (besides all for reef) and it feels overwhelming, thank you in advance.

 

[homer1475]

Whats wrong with your current regime of All For Reef?

 

[A Young Reefer]

Whats wrong with your current regime of All For Reef?

I would really like to have control on individual components and supply issues, it has been cut from the market around here (I live outside the states) for two months no clue when restocks will happen. rn I am manually adjusting each component using seachem products until I find something permanent by this week.

 

[A Young Reefer]

any thoughts?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Why are these the only options?

If I were to pick, I'd be looking at kalkwasser, ESV or a DIY to part using Balling Part C from Tropic Marin.

Never heard of Reef Flowers and I do not recall seeing anyone report using it.

Aquaforest adds more trace elements than a two part needs for balance, but that's just their guess as to what is needed. I'd like to do my own guessing, if guessing is needed.

I do not see any reason to use the Red Sea product.

 

[A Young Reefer]

Why are these the only options?

If I were to pick, I'd be looking at kalkwasser, ESV or a DIY to part using Balling Part C from Tropic Marin.

Never heard of Reef Flowers and I do not recall seeing anyone report using it.

Aquaforest adds more trace elements than a two part needs for balance, but that's just their guess as to what is needed. I'd like to do my own guessing, if guessing is needed.

I do not see any reason to use the Red Sea product.

Hey thank you for your reply, I live in the uae and ESV is not available. Tropic Marin stocks around here are inconsistent. Kalk is a good option but I prefer a solution that I can dose via my dosing pump. I also don’t like the Red Sea products that much, I think they have quite some misleading and “clickbaity” claims.
I am not looking forward to importing products from other countries since it can be quite expensive and I would like something to be available at my local fish stores. Another option is triton but I am not a big fan of. I might go to a couple of other fish stores the coming weekend and see what other options they have.
Reef pro complete sounded like a great option but unfortunately they don’t ship nor it is available around here.

 

[A Young Reefer]

Can you please at least explain to me the aqua forest dosing please Randy?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Out of those choices, I'd go Aquaforest.

[:en]Aquaforest Component 1+2+3+ - Aquaforest Official Website[:pl]Aquaforest Component 1+2+3+ - oficjalna strona Aquaforest[:]

aquaforest.eu

" As a result we have composed 3 fluids that are intended for dosing in equal amounts on regular basis."

You make whatever corrections you need to get alk, calcium, and magnesium at roughly correct values, then dose all three in equal volume to maintain alkalinity.

Longer term (weeks) you can adjust the calcium part up or down from the alk part if calcium is getting too low or too high.

Very long term (weeks to months), you can consider adjusting the third part of magnesium gets out of whack.

 

[A Young Reefer]

Th

Out of those choices, I'd go Aquaforest.

[:en]Aquaforest Component 1+2+3+ - Aquaforest Official Website[:pl]Aquaforest Component 1+2+3+ - oficjalna strona Aquaforest[:]

aquaforest.eu

" As a result we have composed 3 fluids that are intended for dosing in equal amounts on regular basis."

You make whatever corrections you need to get alk, calcium, and magnesium at roughly correct values, then dose all three in equal volume to maintain alkalinity.

Longer term (weeks) you can adjust the calcium part up or down from the alk part if calcium is getting too low or too high.

Very long term (weeks to months), you can consider adjusting the third part of magnesium gets out of whack.

Thank you a lot Randy!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

You're welcome.

Happy reefing.

 

[A Young Reefer]

I ended up going with tropic Marin balling, found a reliable continuous source.
My questions are the following:
- can all three be dosed at the same time?
- part b is in lumps (chunks of powder) is that ok?
- is there a general recommendation on the initial dosing quantity?

 

[A Young Reefer]

@Randy Holmes-Farley

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

When you say dosed at the same time, you mean to the second? No, the alk part should be separated in time from the others.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Quantity should be to meet alk demand for the aquarium. Do you know the current alk and your target alk?

 

[jsbzcmcdaniel]

If you want a dosing option for trace elements I suggest you look at Reef moonshiners. You send in ICP tests and dose trace elements based on needs. The problem I see with other trace dosing products is your dosing for something you don’t know if you need. It’s been a complete game changer for me. Coloration and growth has been great since I started a couple years ago. https://www.reefmoonshiners.com

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

If you want a dosing option for trace elements I suggest you look at Reef moonshiners. You send in ICP tests and dose trace elements based on needs. The problem I see with other trace dosing products is your dosing for something you don’t know if you need. It’s been a complete game changer for me. Coloration and growth has been great since I started a couple years ago. https://www.reefmoonshiners.com

In theory I very much like the idea of dosing based on testing.

In practice I worry about several things:

1. Some ions are not quantifiable by ICP-OES at natural levels (e.g., iron)
2. Some ICP tests are not seemingly accurate enough to be useful
3. How does one set the target levels? That is, based on what or whose experience for which organisms? Does it apply to all organisms similarly? Thus, even with measurement there may still be a lot of trial and error evaluation of what organisms need what.
4. Some things deplete very fast (a few days). Setting dosing of these by measurement requires a number of measurements in quick succession after dosing. Assuming one even can get the values taken quickly enough so they are not changing in transit, it can be fairly costly.

 

[A Young Reefer]

Quantity should be to meet alk demand for the aquarium. Do you know the current alk and your target alk?

About 0.3 dkh per day

 

[A Young Reefer]

In theory I very much like the idea of dosing based on testing.

In practice I worry about several things:

1. Some ions are not quantifiable by ICP-OES at natural levels (e.g., iron)
2. Some ICP tests are not seemingly accurate enough to be useful
3. How does one set the target levels? That is, based on what or whose experience for which organisms? Does it apply to all organisms similarly? Thus, even with measurement there may still be a lot of trial and error evaluation of what organisms need what.
4. Some things deplete very fast (a few days). Setting dosing of these by measurement requires a number of measurements in quick succession after dosing. Assuming one even can get the values taken quickly enough so they are not changing in transit, it can be fairly costly.

I just sent an icp yesterday just to have a general knowledge on what my parameters look like. I am expecting stuff to be low since I haven’t been dosing or doing much water changes lately, until today when I got the balling.

 

[A Young Reefer]

Another question I have is; do I have to also dose at night?
My dosing is split throughout the day during the photoperiod.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Dosing alk during the day stabilizes alk more than dosing at night.

Dosing high pH additives at night stabilizes pH more.

what's best may depend on the tank.