DIY All-For-Reef Recipe from Tropic Marin! Thanks Zack!

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br88dy

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You can buy stirrers for less than $30 from Amazon that still work great:

INTLLAB Magnetic Stirrer Stainless Steel Magnetic Mixer with stir bar (No Heating) Max Stirring Capacity: 3000ml

Oh awesome, I didn’t think Amazon would have anything reliable and affordable. Thanks for the recommendation
 

Silver14SS

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You can buy stirrers for less than $30 from Amazon that still work great:

INTLLAB Magnetic Stirrer Stainless Steel Magnetic Mixer with stir bar (No Heating) Max Stirring Capacity: 3000ml


That's the one I purchased :) Worked fine, I used it to make a 3L batch.
 

Kjames

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I am curious about those who are exceeding the labeled dosages - by how much and at what dose would you switch to something else? Also, thoughts on dosing once per day vs. multiple times per day - does it matter? I'm at 76ml per day in a 112gal tank spaced out over 12 doses.
 

Kjames

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That is easy to answer: From empirical recommendations for the maximum vodka dosage we have calculated the theoretical oxygen consumption. Then we have applied this to the theoretical oxygen consumption of Carbo-Calcium and All-For-Reef.

Of course, there is a big difference: The vodka dosage is independent of coral growth while the dosage of Carbo-Calcium and All-For-Reef are always connected to coral growth. Corals photosynthesize during the day and produce oxygen. Maybe corals even consume some of the formate directly. This balances most of the oxygen consumption of Carbo-Calcium or All-For-Reef and avoids any problems when exceeding the "Maximum Daily Dosage". Also the oxidation of every molecule of ethanol (vodka) produces two molecules of CO2 while the oxidation of formate produces only one bicarbonate-anion. Usually the oxygen consumption of Carbo-Calcium and All-For-Reef remains imperceptible, we have not observed nor got any reports on pumping fish or similar problems.

It was a precautionary measure.
Would you consider it a best practice to dose only during the lighting period where oxygen concentration in the water would possibly be higher? I understand that every system is different in terms of gas exchange via skimmers, surface agitation, etc.
 

Bpp124987

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I mixed some up last week. Made 4 liters in a two gallon bucket with a medium and a small power head.
Was pretty easy! All the powder didn’t dissolve until I added the liquid trace elements, unsurprisingly
 

jonny3979

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Any updates on this? I've been using 2 part and wanted to know if anyone has changed over and how sucessful have they been?
 

Kjames

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Any updates on this? I've been using 2 part and wanted to know if anyone has changed over and how sucessful have they been?
I just started my second liter. All good so far. Recommend picking up a $20 stir plate for easy mixing.
 

Charlie’s Frags

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I can’t get the carbo calcium to fully dissolve in the recommended 750 mls of RO. The only way I can get it to dissolve is in 1500mls. Which wouldn’t be a big deal but I’m getting an orangish sediment settling into the bottom. This is really disappointing and frustrating as I planned on hooking this product up to my new versa dosing pump.
 

jonny3979

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So amazingly Hans-Werner Baling emailed me today with my exact tank consumption after I explained my solutions and doses. and my 365l tank will need 50ml per day. which for me is about 42pence per day (about 54 c I think that converts to.
I'm really chuffed with getting a response from the man himself and as such I am just woking out my costs right now which work out at about 33 pence era day.

So the DIY is a bit more expensive but I think i'm going to try it.
 

chrishet

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I think this might have been asked already but, is it ok to leave out (or greatly reduce) the Mag portion of this recipe?

I haven't had the need to dose Mag yet, my tank is 1.5 years old and measure for Mag weekly, and now also have a Trident, and my levels are steady around 1350. I use TM Pro Reef Salts and exchange about 2% daily. It appears if I follow the recipe my Mag levels will go up. I just ordered my first DIY kit from BRS and will switch over next week. Thanks!
 

chrishet

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I started dosing the DIY solution today. I have 4 DOS pumps, I will have the AFR and Acropower running, along with supplemental Alk and Ca for a few weeks. I am following the directions and will be dosing 16mls per day in my 80 gal system to start. I also set my Trident to test 8 times per day for a few days to keep an eye on things...I'll manually adjust Alk and Ca as needed. I did an ICP test a few months back and have one in house to test in a month or so to see how things are going. Wish me luck!
 

br88dy

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I can’t get the carbo calcium to fully dissolve in the recommended 750 mls of RO. The only way I can get it to dissolve is in 1500mls. Which wouldn’t be a big deal but I’m getting an orangish sediment settling into the bottom. This is really disappointing and frustrating as I planned on hooking this product up to my new versa dosing pump.
Hey man, lots of us are seeing the same thing, but I haven't heard of anyone having poor results with All For Reef. Interpret that how you will, just thought you should know it seems to be common. I swirl my container a couple times a day, but I don't think that's necessary. My corals have loved the DIY recipe.
 

Charlie’s Frags

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Hey man, lots of us are seeing the same thing, but I haven't heard of anyone having poor results with All For Reef. Interpret that how you will, just thought you should know it seems to be common. I swirl my container a couple times a day, but I don't think that's necessary. My corals have loved the DIY recipe.
Thanks for the input. I have been using the off the shelf version for many months now and my corals absolutely love the stuff. I’m now 3 days into the diy and all seems fine. I just wish someone from tropic marin would chime in on how we can resolve this issue. Tropic marin obviously knows something we don’t.
 

br88dy

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Thanks for the input. I have been using the off the shelf version for many months now and my corals absolutely love the stuff. I’m now 3 days into the diy and all seems fine. I just wish someone from tropic marin would chime in on how we can resolve this issue. Tropic marin obviously knows something we don’t.
They likely do. I'm not typically the glass half full kind of person, but I do think they would've alerted us if there was a serious issue. I'm back in this thread tonight because I'm making another batch. 2 liters this time. I'm loving my single doser with a single solution for KH, Ca, Mg and trace elements.
 

chrishet

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I've also got a little bit of sediment, very little. I warmed my RO water to 90F before mixing. I let the solution settle for a few hours before pouring it into its storage container (leaving the smaller bits behind) and when I poured that solution into the dosing container there is even less if any in that container. I'm going to keep my batches in a larger storage container as to keep the sediment in there vs my dosing containers.

Its only been a few days since I started the DIY but my SPS and other corals seem to be happy. I'm seeing a lot of PE and colorization is good.
 

Charlie’s Frags

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I've also got a little bit of sediment, very little. I warmed my RO water to 90F before mixing. I let the solution settle for a few hours before pouring it into its storage container (leaving the smaller bits behind) and when I poured that solution into the dosing container there is even less if any in that container. I'm going to keep my batches in a larger storage container as to keep the sediment in there vs my dosing containers.

Its only been a few days since I started the DIY but my SPS and other corals seem to be happy. I'm seeing a lot of PE and colorization is good.
I heated the 750mls of RO to 175 F with a heated magnetic stirrer for 3+ hours and still couldn’t get the 140g of carbo calcium to fully dissolve. The only way I can get 140g to fully dissolve is with 1500 mls of RO
 

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