i have a question about all for reef. pls help.

[BiggF!sh]

Hello guys, i have a question about dosing all for reef. lets say your calcium is good abut ur magnesium is not, and then you dose all for reef. Your magnesium will go up, but what about the calcium? Will the calcium just stay the same?? or will it get too high? Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Cell]

It's one of the drawbacks to AFR. I just keep Alk stable and let Ca and Mg follow.

 

[CBonito]

Everything goes up proportionately. Before you start using AFR, you should have your parameters in the ballpark of where they need to be. The premise of using AFR is when those conditions are met and you can make 2-3 doses of AFR before checking again to make sure you're ok. In my eyes, AFR is a convenience item, but not an end-all.

 

[areefer01]

As mentioned above, Tropic Marin recommends setting the values to what you want your water chemistry to be before use of ARF. Manually adjust using whatever you want such as ESV, or BRS products. Depending on what your Mag is it may, or may not, be necessary to manually correct.

Application & dosage info below from their page for reference:

In my eyes, AFR is a convenience item, but not an end-all.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by not an end-all. It is perfectly fine to use as a single dose solution that doesn't require anything else. Many use it this way across various reef types and sizes. Is it the most economical or best that is up to the individual.

 

[CBonito]

As mentioned above, Tropic Marin recommends setting the values to what you want your water chemistry to be before use of ARF. Manually adjust using whatever you want such as ESV, or BRS products. Depending on what your Mag is it may, or may not, be necessary to manually correct.

Application & dosage info below from their page for reference:

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by not an end-all. It is perfectly fine to use as a single dose solution that doesn't require anything else. Many use it this way across various reef types and sizes. Is it the most economical or best that is up to the individual.

What I mean, is just like the instructions convey, that even once you get your water parameters in line and start using it, you still have to make adjustments periodically to other things. If you have a smaller tank though, water changes may put things back in order. It's not like a magic potion that keeps everything perfect.

But it's close!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Hello guys, i have a question about dosing all for reef. lets say your calcium is good abut ur magnesium is not, and then you dose all for reef. Your magnesium will go up, but what about the calcium? Will the calcium just stay the same?? or will it get too high? Thanks in advance for your help.

Like any properly balanced additive system, I recommend that you only worry about alkalinity. Calcium and magnesium will follow along better than you can measure them for quite a while. Very long term, AFR raises calcium a bit relative to alkalinity, but that should not concern you until calcium starts to top 500 ppm (if it ever does).

If you add 1 dKH, calcium will only rise by 7 ppm and any magnesium change will be lower than 1 ppm and undetectable.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Everything goes up proportionately. Before you start using AFR, you should have your parameters in the ballpark of where they need to be. The premise of using AFR is when those conditions are met and you can make 2-3 doses of AFR before checking again to make sure you're ok. In my eyes, AFR is a convenience item, but not an end-all.

I know that is often stated, but it really only applies to calcium and magnesium corrections. Never use AFR or any balanced additive method to boost calcium or magnesium, but it is fine to correct alk with it because the rise in calcium and magnesium will be unimportantly small.

If you do the reverse, trying to correct calcium or much worse, magnesium, alk will rise too much.

 

[BiggF!sh]

I know that is often stated, but it really only applies to calcium and magnesium corrections. Never use AFR or any balanced additive method to boost calcium or magnesium, but it is fine to correct alk with it because the rise in calcium and magnesium will be unimportantly small.

If you do the reverse, trying to correct calcium or much worse, magnesium, alk will rise too much.

OHHH ok, makes sense. Thank alot for your help!

 

[reefteaser]

My experience after using it for about a year has been good. I add magnesium to my water changes to keep it above 1300. Otherwise it tends to drop, but not below 1200. Alk has been stable 8.4-8.7, calcium runs 420-460 (Hannah checkers), medium bio load in a 115 gal mixed reef.
I used to use ESV and it was great, but the convenience and cost of AFR powder wins me over.
There was a transition period at first, with some trial and error to get just the right dose, but nothing crazy. My dosing container accumulates some brownish “stuff” over time, but it hasn’t seemed to cause any trouble.