How much All for Reef

[MUTiger]

Aquarium: Red Sea Reefer 250 (54 gallon display, 11 gallon sump)
Mixed reef with LPS and SPS
10 gallon water change weekly using Red Sea Coral Pro Salt

I was previously dosing with Red Sea alkalinity and Red Sea calcium, but no trace elements. I was able to maintain a dkh of 9 and calcium of 400-420 with these two products. I recently switched to All for Reef. I started dosing 12 cc daily as per the instructions. I am now up to 20 cc daily and my alkalinity today was 6.8. I use a Hanna Alkalinity checker. Calcium is 400 using the Red Sea test.

How much All for Reef are people generally dosing to maintain a dkh of > 8.0?

 

[hoffmeyerz]

You need to find the consumption rate of your ALK, how much does it drop in a day. At this point I would dose some baking soda to get the ALK back up. Then see how much it drops in a day. Then keep checking and adjust the AFR dose as needed.
I dose 25ml per/day in my 75gal to keep a dkh of 9 and it says rock solid.

 

[Hats_]

I just started dosing when i dwitched to it. Testing every other day until alk and calcium were stable. Currently dosing 80ml in a 90 gallon tank and its rock solid

 

[MUTiger]

You need to find the consumption rate of your ALK, how much does it drop in a day. At this point I would dose some baking soda to get the ALK back up. Then see how much it drops in a day. Then keep checking and adjust the AFR dose as needed.
I dose 25ml per/day in my 75gal to keep a dkh of 9 and it says rock solid.

Straight baking soda?

I just supplemented with some Red Sea alkalinity and increased the dose amount of All for Reef

 

[Pod_01]

If Red Sea Alk supplements is baking soda the ratio is 2:1, you need to dose 1/2 AFR compared to baking soda.

If soda ash / baked baking soda the ratio is 1:1. I suspect the Red Sea is this, but I am not sure.

With AFR you need to give it a day so bacteria can digest it before you know the new Alk value. There is a delay.

Good luck,

 

[hoffmeyerz]

Straight baking soda?

I just supplemented with some Red Sea alkalinity and increased the dose amount of All for Reef

I use Randy's recipe for alk using baked baking soda, I like it for the small ph boost that goes with it. I need to dose 15ml for a about .3 dkh boost in my tank.
Look to get your alk up where you want it with whichever supplement you want then keep your AFR dose steady for 2-3 days and re-test then adjust and repeat if necessary.
Happy reefing!

 

[BryanM]

Aquarium: Red Sea Reefer 250 (54 gallon display, 11 gallon sump)
Mixed reef with LPS and SPS
10 gallon water change weekly using Red Sea Coral Pro Salt

I was previously dosing with Red Sea alkalinity and Red Sea calcium, but no trace elements. I was able to maintain a dkh of 9 and calcium of 400-420 with these two products. I recently switched to All for Reef. I started dosing 12 cc daily as per the instructions. I am now up to 20 cc daily and my alkalinity today was 6.8. I use a Hanna Alkalinity checker. Calcium is 400 using the Red Sea test.

How much All for Reef are people generally dosing to maintain a dkh of > 8.0?

I'll be honest here .... I do dose AFR. I tried going thru the instructions, I read...

heres what I settled on: Maintaining ALK is key. It is clear from reading there's a delay in increasing alk with AFR...

I would simply pick a setting, test, and then test two days later. See what the difference is. Adjust accordingly.

I do not have a heavily stocked tank right now, and I dose 7ml 6x a day, if that helps... trying to maintain 9dkh on a 220 gallon tank, and that is working fairly well.

 

[winxp_man]

A link I saw posted a few times here on the forum. Might help….

https://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

 

[MUTiger]

A link I saw posted a few times here on the forum. Might help….

https://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

I looked at that calculator and unfortunately it doses calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium separately. It does not include All for Reef as an option.

 

[skey44]

Adjust with your old 2 part to get the numbers you want. Then find a dose that maintains your alkalinity. I’m dosing 0.5 ml/gallon/day in a young tank with a lot of frags (I roughly estimated my Infinia frag 125.4 as 80 gallons so I’m doing 40 ml a day via doser) and it’s maintaining very stable parameters at this point. It just takes a little trial and error but once you’re dialed in it’s been a great product in my experience.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I would suggest to stop dosing anything for a few days to let your tank return to base line level. Then start testing every day for 3-4 days, this will tell you how much alk is consumed daily, then you can figure out the amount of AFR to dose daily. I just used the trial and error method which took me about 3 weeks of testing and dialing in daily the amount of AFR to dose daily. It takes time and daily testing, I'm not sure you will find a simple answer of "dose this much per day".

 

[Rhetoric]

I think people are making this more complicated then needed. Increase your AFR daily dosing until it maintains the desired level. Like others have said it takes time to register the changes (day or two) make small adjustments.

Like Mr Mojo said it took me a couple weeks.

 

[Shanephillips27]

Hello all I’ve been dosing afr for quite some time now. But what I notice that will happen every so often is for a weeks alkalinity will be stabilized at said dose then randomly one day it increases almost skyrockets over night. Any idea why this happens?


I’ve been wondering if dosing a 2 part like b- ionic would be more stable

 

[IceNein]

For me I went from no dosing to dosing AFR, so I dosed a small amount manually daily, tested at the end of the week, and then upped the amount I dosed every week until the level was where I wanted it to be.

My thought is that if you're starting from not dosing, then just slowly work up to the correct dose by trial and error.

 

[Patx]

Hello all I’ve been dosing afr for quite some time now. But what I notice that will happen every so often is for a weeks alkalinity will be stabilized at said dose then randomly one day it increases almost skyrockets over night. Any idea why this happens?


I’ve been wondering if dosing a 2 part like b- ionic would be more stable

Consumption rate change for X reasons.
At least that's what i see here.

 

[Patx]

I read somewhere in the forum.
AFR: 1ml in 100 gallons us ≈ +0.0148 dkh
1ml in 50 gallons us ≈ +0.0296 dkh

 

[Shanephillips27]

Consumption rate change for X reasons.
At least that's what i see here.

What I mean is the I will be dosing the same dose but alkalinity that let’s say has been stable at 25 ml a day at 8 dkh all of a sudden went to 9 or 9.5 off of same dose is this because corals stopped consuming or what?

 

[Patx]

Could be yes.
If i play to much in my tank (hand in water can play a roll if i remember right), change coral placement, even maybe changing flow patern and of course change light schedule etc...
Coral can take a break while adjusting or explode in consumption.

 

[areefer01]

I think people are making this more complicated then needed. Increase your AFR daily dosing until it maintains the desired level. Like others have said it takes time to register the changes (day or two) make small adjustments.

Like Mr Mojo said it took me a couple weeks.

This is more or less it - you nailed it.

OP - The instructions recommend to get your parameters to your desired levels, adjust with whatever solution you want if needed before starting. Once they are at your desired levels calculate AFR dose based on their instructions. Now you are ready to switch. Start the dose, test alk 24 hours later, make small adjustments using their flow chart.

Basically you are setting parameters to desired levels, calculate the dose, start, test alk, adjust, wait another 24 hours, test, adjust until stable.

Slow process but one that works.

 

[skiergd011013]

So, if my alk consumption is 0.7 dkh per day in my 20 gallon, what dose of all for reef should i start with?