Can I dose 1 week worth of AFR at once before going away ?

[Idech]

My petsitter isn’t available and I might not be able to get a doser before I leave. I know it’s not ideal, but can I dose 1 week worth of All For Reef just before I leave ?

I’m currently dosing 5 ml per day, which isn’t a lot. So I would dose 35 ml before I go.

This would be a « one of ». I’ll have the doser for next time.

Thanks

 

[J1a]

Maybe you can portion the afr and add it through your ato.

 

[LIreefguy]

I wouldn’t dose 5 times the amount of it In One day

now you never said the size of your tank so if it’s big 35 ml isn’t a big deal. But if it’s big and your only dosing 5ml your daily consumption isn’t much

so I would probably dose 10 ml the day you leave. Try to spread it out as much as possible then dose 10 the day you cone back
They test your water next day

 

[Miami Reef]

I took a screenshot of a post in your build thread:

If 8-9 mL was too high, then 35mL in one shot sounds like a bad idea.

 

[Hans-Werner]

I know it’s not ideal, but can I dose 1 week worth of All For Reef just before I leave ?

I think this is not necessary. Corals will better tolerate a drop in calcium and alkalinity than a high dose. You can dose for two days before you leave and dose for two days again after you have returned. Then check alkalinity. If you need another double dose to get back to your old level double dose the next day too. I guess then you should be back at your normal level or at least close to and you can continue dosing as usual.

 

[Idech]

now you never said the size of your tank so if it’s big 35 ml isn’t a big deal. But if it’s big and your only dosing 5ml your daily consumption isn’t much

The tank is 75 gallons. I’m not sure if it’s considered big, but medium, maybe ?

If 8-9 mL was too high, then 35mL in one shot sounds like a bad idea.

Yeah, you’re probably right !

I think this is not necessary. Corals will better tolerate a drop in calcium and alkalinity than a high dose. You can dose for two days before you leave and dose for two days again after you have returned. Then check alkalinity.

Thanks for the insight. I didn’t know that.

Maybe you can portion the afr and add it through your ato.

I hadn’t thought of that. I wouldn’t do it usually for fear of precipitations collecting in the tubing but probably just once would be okay.

 

[Dburr1014]

1/2 before and 1/2 after you come back

 

[arking_mark]

So the interesting thing with Calcium Formate (AFR's main component), is that the formate is a "gentle" form of carbon dosing. Bacteria break down the formate and this results in Alkalinity. Hence, overdosing won't immediately result in a Alk spike and as Ca is so abundant in the tank you typically never worry about it from a spiking issue. There is also some evidence according to TM that the coral can directly use the formate.

Having used AFR for quite a while, I have found that it takes about 6-8hrs for my tank to see an impact in Alk. I would guess that any overdose would take longer to see its full impact as the Bacteria colony would need to grow or more time to break down the additional formate.

My bet is that the Alk increase would not spike, but would, with increasing speed as the Bacteria grow, elevate over time. This would probably be slow enough as to not harm the tank.

You can experiment to see what your results may be...try dosing an additional 0.25dKH and seeing if/when you can see the results.