Plan for switching from Kalk to All for Reef

[Jetfixr]

I have been running Kalk and it has been really great, gives me a PH bump and it is a single part solution that is pretty easy to maintain. Problem is my I am starting to get to the point where I need to add more then kalk then is needed with my evaporations rate. Tank level rises and the ATO starts to scream at me. I am looking at switching to All-for-Reef for ease of maintenance. I do some business travel and I need the tank to be a little hands-off from time to time (simple). Has anyone made the switch? What has worked for you? I am trying make it as seamless as possible. I would like to not have my Alkalinity to take an immediate nose dive when I switch over. Right now my tank seams to consume around 0.8 -0.9 Dkh daily and is 33 gallons. All for Reef sounds like it is tough to test for. I don't want to grossly over-shoot my target Dkh of 9, or end up below 7 dkh while I am trying to make this transition.

 

[Spare time]

All for reef is best dosed according to calcium, as it can take a day for the alk to be noticeable from my experience. I still dose according to alk though as I simply just wait the next day to see how much is dropped or went up from the previous day. They have a calculator on their webstie that, with a little bit of math on your end, will tell you how much to dose

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It won't give you a pH boost (it can technically slightly lower it), so if that is a big concern, then a 2-part would be better.

 

[Dennis Cartier]

Do you know know how much kalkwasser you dose on a daily basis?

Full saturated kalk is 808 ppm calcium, so adding 1L of saturated Kalk to a 100L tank, would raise the calcium by 8.08 ppm.

Using the TM calculator, adding 5ml of AFR to a 100L tank raises calcium by 2 ppm.

So that means 250 ml of kalk in the same 100L would raise ca by 2.02 ppm. Taking your daily dose of fully saturated kalk, and dividing by 50, should give you the equal AFR dose to match your kalk (give or take).

Compare the result with the TM calculator just to sanity test it.

 

[dthom]

I would keep it easy and dose both.
I dose kalk and AFR.

In your case I would keep dosing kalk the same as you are and just dose AFR to pick up from there.

 

[Jetfixr]

Cool, thanks all. At the rate I am burning thru Kalk I knew TM's starting dose wouldn't cut it. And they want you to dose 5ml per 100 liters for a week and then bump it by 2.5ml the following week. In a weeks time their starting dosage would have my alkalinity bottoming out. I think I will cut my kalk in half and dose All for reef at 2.5 and move up as needed.

 

[dthom]

No problem! I think that will work really well.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Do you know that you are currently dosing saturated limewater (kalkwasser)?

 

[Jetfixr]

Do you know that you are currently dosing saturated limewater (kalkwasser)?

I run 2 tsp. of kent kalkwasser mix to a gallon of ro/di water on a stir-plate for 15-20 min.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I run 2 tsp. of kent kalkwasser mix to a gallon of ro/di water on a stir-plate for 15-20 min.

OK, then you dose that from a closed reservoir?

Reason I ask is that many folks mistakenly assume their kalk stirrers are delivering saturated kalkwasser.

 

[Jetfixr]

I only use the stir plate for 20 minutes initially to make sure I have a saturated solution. The container is closed, I have drilled a small hole in top so I can fit a piece of rigid line thru it. Enough air can get in so as not to cause a vacuum.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

OK, that sounds good.

 

[Jeffbear]

Cool, thanks all. At the rate I am burning thru Kalk I knew TM's starting dose wouldn't cut it. And they want you to dose 5ml per 100 liters for a week and then bump it by 2.5ml the following week. In a weeks time their starting dosage would have my alkalinity bottoming out. I think I will cut my kalk in half and dose All for reef at 2.5 and move up as needed.

This was my opinion as well. I just started dosing AFR coming from Red Sea Foundation B. I'm finding AFR to be a much more gentle approach to Alk and CA. I started at 5ml and have noticed my ALK dropping every night that I test. So, I am adjusting my doser accordingly. As long as the swing stays where it is (about .5dkh lower as of now) I should have my Alk adjusted to where I want it by the end of the week. I'm burning through my Hanna reagent this week, but it's worth it lol

 

[dthom]

This was my opinion as well. I just started dosing AFR coming from Red Sea Foundation B. I'm finding AFR to be a much more gentle approach to Alk and CA. I started at 5ml and have noticed my ALK dropping every night that I test. So, I am adjusting my doser accordingly. As long as the swing stays where it is (about .5dkh lower as of now) I should have my Alk adjusted to where I want it by the end of the week. I'm burning through my Hanna reagent this week, but it's worth it lol

Awesome! I hear ya on burning through the Hanna reagent. It is worth it!