I decided to go with brs and tropic Marin trace elements.

[richiero]

I decided to go with brs dry alk,ca, mg with tropic Marin trace elements after BRS decided to screw me and not carry AF DRY goods anyone only the pre made over priced crap..

My tank has need rock solid for the last 7 yrs on AF . As of right now I'm using the balling method dosing 265 ml of each a day.. what would be my best bet to keeping the balance of my tank while switching to these new products. Thx for any help AF Was so simple 1000 ml of rodi, 80h of Ca and 5 ml of C done brs seems like a PITA 3/4 of gallon blah blah blah !!

 

[56longroof]

There are other places to buy supplies. BRS is usually my last choice.

 

[mmorrison55]

Why not dry tropic Marin AFR?

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/all-...=12539&indexName=brs_prod_m2_default_products

 

[richiero]

Not Aquaforest unless u know diff

There are other places to buy supplies. BRS is usually my last choice.

Why not dry tropic Marin AFR?

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/all-...=12539&indexName=brs_prod_m2_default_products

I think my reef is too mature for that 140 g 265 ml of each element ..

 

[richiero]

Why not dry tropic Marin AFR?

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/all-...=12539&indexName=brs_prod_m2_default_products

It's also not cost effective

 

[Danjoethepirate]

Not Aquaforest unless u know diff

There are other places to buy supplies. BRS is usually my last choice.

Why not dry tropic Marin AFR?

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/all-...=12539&indexName=brs_prod_m2_default_products

I think my reef is too mature for that 140 g 265 ml of each element ..

Are you saying you are using 265 mils of alk and calcium? Because the equivalent dose of AFR for those amounts is much lower. I add 130 mils to my 180ish gallon system and that gives me around 1.5ish dkh per day. The dry makes around 75 or 76 days worth, roughly. So not terribly expensive.

 

[richiero]

Are you saying you are using 265 mils of alk and calcium? Because the equivalent dose of AFR for those amounts is much lower. I add 130 mils to my 180ish gallon system and that gives me around 1.5ish dkh per day. The dry makes around 75 or 76 days worth, roughly. So not terribly expensive.

Yes I'm dosing 265 of alk ,ca and mg /day .. I'm also testing my alk with the Alkatronic which calls for a dose of my elements once it goes below the set values.. and also one of the drawbacks I see is u can't dial in the the alk , cal mg individually.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

So what are you asking? How much to dose to add the same alkalinity as the AF product?

Assuming so, let's be sure what you are actually dosing.

Is it one of these recipes?

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-balling-method-recipe.1098905/

 

[56longroof]

Not Aquaforest unless u know diff



I think my reef is too mature for that 140 g 265 ml of each element ..

Too mature? I know of alot of people here with mature tanks that use AFR. Myself included. I dose 236 mls of AFR and run kalk in my ATO. Been doing that over a year with great results.

 

[56longroof]

Not Aquaforest unless u know diff



I think my reef is too mature for that 140 g 265 ml of each element ..

I did a quick check on Google and Saltwater Aquarium.com has AF.

 

[richiero]

So what are you asking? How much to dose to add the same alkalinity as the AF product?

Assuming so, let's be sure what you are actually dosing.

Is it one of these recipes?

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-balling-method-recipe.1098905/

Yes, I was thinking about switching to the Brs pharmaceutical grade soda, ash, calcium, and magnesium in addition to the tropic marine trace elements and parts C I just wanna match my Acqua Forest bowling method as close as possible so I don't mess up the stability of my current setup, which has been running for the last seven years and is doing really well.

The only reason why I'm doing this is because I cannot get the Acqua Forest dry chemicals in bulk anymore here in the United States. Brs was the only distributor of those products..

As I'm right now, I'm dosing 265 mL/day of each element which includes all the trace elements for my reef .. alkalinity is controlled by my Alkatronic and all dosing is controlled by my dose Tronic based off of my alkalinity reading so the whole system is automated

I make 5 L containers of each component


Ty for your help

 

[richiero]

I did a quick check on Google and Saltwater Aquarium.com has AF.

They don't carry the dry additives in bulk. The only one that used to carry them. Was Brs up until this month.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

OK, I can calculate a similar total dose, but I'll need to see a link to the exact product you were using (or some measure of its potency).

 

[richiero]

I did a quick check on Google and Saltwater Aquarium.com has AF.

I just want to saltwateraquarium.com. The KH is out of stock and I don't even see magnesium or calcium, especially in the big bulk container

 

[richiero]

OK, I can calculate a similar total dose, but I'll need to see a link to the exact product you were using (or some measure of its potency).

265ml / day on each element. not sure if i would have to do 265 of TM's part C

https://aquaforest.eu/en/products/seawater/water-treatment/calcium/ 50G 1L RODI 5ML Strong A/B
https://aquaforest.eu/en/products/seawater/water-treatment/kh-buffer/ 80g 1LRODI 5ML Strong C
https://aquaforest.eu/en/products/seawater/water-treatment/magnesium/ 10g 1L RODI 5ML K
https://aquaforest.eu/en/products/seawater/water-treatment/reef-mineral-salt/ 25g I think this is like TM.s part C

the Mg and the reef mineral salts get mixed together

https://aquaforest.eu/en/products/seawater/water-treatment/components-strong/
these are the trace elements

I mix 3 different containers all 5L each would need a 4th for TM's part C

system is mointered by an Alkatronic that calls for a dose from the dosetronic when the system drops below set PH.
I'm so ticked BRS stopped carrying the dry products i hope the brs hybrid method with tropic marin works out.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I have tired of paying Triton $160 shipped for 3 months of chemicals that cost $5 to produce.

I ordered 50 pounds of bulk soda ash, calcium carbonate and mag each today. May or may not spend money on TM A K and C. They are quality but expensive, accounting for 70% of the cost and don’t come in bulk.

I wasn’t picky about source quality. I purchased technical grade, not NSF or Food Safe or Reagent or Pharma grade, etc.

We used to use Peladow and driveway heat, now known to have anti caking agents and contaminants. The gamble is that technical grade is fine. I have zero desire to bake my own baking soda, so $1.50 pound for carbonate is fine for me. I refuse to pay BRS or anybody else $5 per pound for material that can be made at home for $0.20 per pound. Therefore, $1.50 and no fuss works for me.

 

[Jimbo327]

Which brand/source did you get the soda ash and mag in technical grade? You must have found a local source as shipping cost is killer. I would be interested as I also bake my baking soda, but if there is a good source of comparable soda ash that is cost similar...I would jump on that as well.

 

[mcarroll]

I have zero desire to bake my own baking soda

I would be interested as I also bake my baking soda,

If you've never run a SPS tank on Randy's DIY Recipe 2 (just baking soda for alk) for a decade or more without problems, you should try it!

Baking the soda is so entirely over-rated.....the amount of CO2 from "raw" baking soda is practically infinitesimal so far as coral are concerned, and the pH change from it is both minuscule and fleeting.

Likewise for the baked baking soda.....such an insignificant pH boost for such an insignificant amount of time in the tank. Except as an experiment to see it work, I don't see how anyone could be bothered....

The "great part"....or at least the ironical part....of baking the soda, is that doing so just boosts the CO2 in your house which then boosts the CO2 impacting your tank which then lowers the pH of your tank.

After all is said and done you've just wasted time and oven heat.

 

[BeanAnimal]

My reason for using carbonate is not pH, but rather volume. I can saturate a carbonate solution and have roughly twice the dKH in the same volume as I would bicarbonate. That means less mixing. Otherwise, saturating calcium means using a lot of matching bicarbonate for a 1:1 dosing. Bigger containers and mixing more often.

One day I will write a book about being a lazy reef keeper.

 

[lowsreef]

My reason for using carbonate is not pH, but rather volume. I can saturate a carbonate solution and have roughly twice the dKH in the same volume as I would bicarbonate. That means less mixing. Otherwise saturating calcium means using a lot of matching bicarbonate for a 1:1 dosing. Bigger containers are mixing more often.

One day I will write a book about being a lazy reef keeper.

I would read that book.