Redsea vs all for reef.

[Notsolostfish]

Good afternoon.


My tank is currently 1 year and 4 months old. Doing great. Decently stocked with corals. I use all for reef 1000ml bottle, on a redsea doser. However the cost has been a bit tight to buy a bottle every 14 days. And i personally dont like to use powder, or mix powder. I just want your opinion on the redsea package. Vs all for reef in terms of cost etc.

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/4-part-complete-reef-care-dosing-system-red-sea.html

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

AFR comes as a liquid as well.

 

[twentyleagues]

I dont know how much you dose but the powdered all4reef seems a lot cheaper not to mention easier. Again dont know how much you are using but the liquid also seems more cost effective.

 

[BryanM]

I didn't want to mix either, but the cost reduction for powdered AFR is insane.

 

[exnisstech]

How is your tank doing on AFR? Why do you object to mixing powder? I have no experience with redseas 4 part but I do use AFR on two tanks. I would never consider switching to a 4 part method unless I felt AFR was not working out for me. I use the powder AFR and am very happy with the results.

 

[Notsolostfish]

AFR comes as a liquid as well.

I use the liquid version, and im using 53ml a day, and its 14 days of use only. And its been a bit tight on the wallet. I see the powder cheaper, but i hate mixing powder. What do you think about the redsea 4 part program?

 

[Notsolostfish]

How is your tank doing on AFR? Why do you object to mixing powder? I have no experience with redseas 4 part but I do use AFR on two tanks. I would never consider switching to a 4 part method unless I felt AFR was not working out for me. I use the powder AFR and am very happy with the results.

Its doing amazing. I hate mixing powder thats why i use afr liquod.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I use AFR liquid in my tank and could not be happier!

 

[exnisstech]

Its doing amazing. I hate mixing powder thats why i use afr liquod.

Do you use a magnetic stirrer?

 

[Notsolostfish]

I use AFR liquid in my tank and could not be happier!

How big is your daily dose

 

[twentyleagues]

I dont see why so many have issues mixing afr powder. I have only mixed 5 batches of it but it has mixed with very little issue every time. The only issue I have is my wrist and hand get a little tired.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

How big is your daily dose

I have a 20g with a relatively low bioload. I usually dose 2-3ml a day just as a maintenance dose, and adjust accordingly if my numbers are too high or too low

 

[twentyleagues]

I have not used the red sea stuff but lack of info on brs makes me not want to buy it. Dose 2x bottle 1 dose 1/2 of what you dosed of bottle 1 how much of bottle 1 do you dose? How much is in bottle 1? how do they know your coral load? per the small medium large tank sizes. I guess if I went to red sea I might get answers to these questions but brs isnt selling me on it and they are using red sea advertising info.

 

[areefer01]

AFR powder 1600 g container makes up 10 liters and is $75.00 USD pre tax, shipping. Calculate your daily dose, do some quick math, and see how long that will last you.

Quick example hoping my math is ok. I dose 95 ml/day on my 210 gallon mixed reef. 10 liters is 10,000 milliliters. 10,000 / 95 = 105 days give or take. That works out to what, 71 cents a day or so?

Probably cheaper solutions out there with 2 part or 3 depending on the product used. However I like AFR's ease of use, single dosing head, and storage. My display doesn't seem to care one way or another so I continue to use it.

 

[RoanokeReef]

I think 1 Dosing Head vs 4 Heads would make me mix powder. Also, Redseas is based on Calcium which seems silly and more cumbersome than basing dosing of ALK.

 

[Noodles_Jefferson]

Good afternoon.


My tank is currently 1 year and 4 months old. Doing great. Decently stocked with corals. I use all for reef 1000ml bottle, on a redsea doser. However the cost has been a bit tight to buy a bottle every 14 days. And i personally dont like to use powder, or mix powder. I just want your opinion on the redsea package. Vs all for reef in terms of cost etc.

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/4-part-complete-reef-care-dosing-system-red-sea.html

I was using AFR for a few month but switched back to the Bionic two part system. I like having the control over dosing alk and calcium separately. for my tank, i need to dose a bit less of the alk than the calcium and mag. It also has essential elements and my ph is staying at 8 now when it used to dip down to 7.6

 

[exnisstech]

I dont see why so many have issues mixing afr powder. I have only mixed 5 batches of it but it has mixed with very little issue every time. The only issue I have is my wrist and hand get a little tired.

These make life so much easier.

I hate mixing stuff enough I even have a little autoaqua smart stirrer to mix my hanna tests. Saves me twelve minutes of shaking vials when I test my 3 tanks.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I was using AFR for a few month but switched back to the Bionic two part system. I like having the control over dosing alk and calcium separately. for my tank, i need to dose a bit less of the alk than the calcium and mag. It also has essential elements and my ph is staying at 8 now when it used to dip down to 7.6

Just an fyi, B-ionic is a great product, but it provides no elements to offset consumption except calcium and alk. All the other elements there simply offset accumulation of sodium and chloride that raises salinity. When salinity is corrected back, these added elements prevent those elements from dropping purely due to the salinity change.

I discuss that sort of issue here:

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/how-a...-calcium-system-works-and-why-it-matters.958/

 

[buruskeee]

I dose 100ml a day of AFR and need to make 1L every 10 days. It takes literally 5 minutes with no actual work. I just have my beaker and magnet stirrer and I walk away for a few minutes.

Once I’m at 150ml per day I’ll probably supplement kalk or something, but the powder AFR makes it so easy.

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

Its doing amazing. I hate mixing powder thats why i use afr liquod.

I was hesitant about this too but just get a cheap stirrer, a 1L beaker, and a 1 liter container with screw on lid from amazon. It's really easy. Saves you a good deal of money and make sure you get the 1600g AFR.