Switched From Kalk To Tropic Maine All For Reef

[PeterC99]

I Run a calcium reactor for a well stocked, mixed reef 90 gallon aquarium. Augmented the CaRX with dosing Kalk to raise pH, calcium & Alk. Found Kalk challenging to work with and at times inconsistent.

Switched dosing the Kalk with TM All For Reef. Simple change over. Now easy to mix and dose - and stable Alk, Calc, and Mg. Added benefits of constantly dosing trace elements, raise pH in CaRX which raises pH in aquarium, and use Apex/Trident to dose exact amounts to keep parameters exactly where I want. Corals are growing better and more colorful.

 

[Waynerock]

AFR is a game changer for me. I was using the DIY for the last year and with the powdered version out now life is good! I can set my watch to my alk and cal numbers when I test. This has been the #1 reason for the stability and success of my tank for the last 18 months. I tell ya the Germans got aquariums on lock down

 

[PeterC99]

AFR is a game changer for me. I was using the DIY for the last year and with the powdered version out now life is good! I can set my watch to my alk and cal numbers when I test. This has been the #1 reason for the stability and success of my tank for the last 18 months. I tell ya the Germans got aquariums on lock down

Spectacular aquarium!!!

 

[dantimdad]

AFR is a game changer for me. I was using the DIY for the last year and with the powdered version out now life is good! I can set my watch to my alk and cal numbers when I test. This has been the #1 reason for the stability and success of my tank for the last 18 months. I tell ya the Germans got aquariums on lock down

Is there even water in that tank? That is stunningly clean, clear and colorful! Fantastic job!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Switched dosing the Kalk with TM All For Reef. Simple change over. Now easy to mix and dose - and stable Alk, Calc, and Mg. Added benefits of constantly dosing trace elements, raise pH in CaRX which raises pH in aquarium, and use Apex/Trident to dose exact amounts to keep parameters exactly where I want. Corals are growing better and more colorful.

Are you claiming the pH rose overall with this change (it should have dropped), or that using AFR for part of the demand relative to using a CaCO3/CO2 reactor for all of the alk demand causes pH to be higher?

 

[LRT]

I'm curious what your daily mag consumption was before the switch to A4R? Is A4R maintaining mag on its own or are you supplementing mag separate? I've been dosing A4R for few weeks now and for the first cpl weeks A4R didn't touch my mag params. In fact mag continued to decline. Im wondering if it just takes awhile for it to catch up and keep mag stable or if others are experiencing same thing.

 

[PeterC99]

Are you claiming the pH rose overall with this change (it should have dropped), or that using AFR for part of the demand relative to using a CaCO3/CO2 reactor for all of the alk demand causes pH to be higher?

Not claiming pH rose but used the AFR dosing for part of the demand and that allowed me to dial back calcium reactor. Raised pH in CaRX which resulted in less potent effluent but higher pH returning to aquarium. Found I was able to keep same pH levels that I had before when dosing Kalk.

 

[PeterC99]

I'm curious what your daily mag consumption was before the switch to A4R? Is A4R maintaining mag on its own or are you supplementing mag separate? I've been dosing A4R for few weeks now and for the first cpl weeks A4R didn't touch my mag params. In fact mag continued to decline. Im wondering if it just takes awhile for it to catch up and keep mag stable or if others are experiencing same thing.

Only been dosing AFR for 2 weeks now and have found Mg levels to match what I was previously dosing separately. Was thinking that I might have to supplement Mg in the future but so far not needed. I also have some ReMag in my CaRX but never seemed to do much for me.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Not claiming pH rose but used the AFR dosing for part of the demand and that allowed me to dial back calcium reactor. Raised pH in CaRX which resulted in less potent effluent but higher pH returning to aquarium. Found I was able to keep same pH levels that I had before when dosing Kalk.

OK, that's a bit surprising unless you are dosing more alk by AFR than was by kalkwasser because the AFR tends to have the same pH effect as dosing bicarbonate.

 

[PeterC99]

OK, that's a bit surprising unless you are dosing more alk by AFR than was by kalkwasser because the AFR tends to have the same pH effect as dosing bicarbonate.

Great observation! Yes - am dosing more Alk by AFR than I was previously with the Kalk. Looking for the sweet spot balance between the CaRX and the AFR dosing.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Great observation! Yes - am dosing more Alk by AFR than I was previously with the Kalk. Looking for the sweet spot balance between the CaRX and the AFR dosing.

Nice, thanks.

 

[richiero]

I Run a calcium reactor for a well stocked, mixed reef 90 gallon aquarium. Augmented the CaRX with dosing Kalk to raise pH, calcium & Alk. Found Kalk challenging to work with and at times inconsistent.

Switched dosing the Kalk with TM All For Reef. Simple change over. Now easy to mix and dose - and stable Alk, Calc, and Mg. Added benefits of constantly dosing trace elements, raise pH in CaRX which raises pH in aquarium, and use Apex/Trident to dose exact amounts to keep parameters exactly where I want. Corals are growing better and more colorful.

Nice, thanks.

i've been thinking of doing something similar if i put a carx online to minimize the negative effects to the ph. how has it been working out for u over time?

 

[PeterC99]

i've been thinking of doing something similar if i put a carx online to minimize the negative effects to the ph. how has it been working out for u over time?

Definitely recommend calcium reactor for high demand reefs. Pretty much set and forget. This keeps a steady amount of Alk 24/7 but Alk still swings night to day. I dose A4R during the day to keep my Alk consistently around 9 dKh (as Alk consumption increases during the day).

I don’t miss the Kalkwasser. Found it difficult to keep slurry consistent. I use a recirculating CO2 scrubber to keep my pH between 8.3 and 8.5.

 

[richiero]

Definitely recommend calcium reactor for high demand reefs. Pretty much set and forget. This keeps a steady amount of Alk 24/7 but Alk still swings night to day. I dose A4R during the day to keep my Alk consistently around 9 dKh (as Alk consumption increases during the day).

I don’t miss the Kalkwasser. Found it difficult to keep slurry consistent. I use a recirculating CO2 scrubber to keep my pH between 8.3 and 8.5.

awesome looking corals. i have a dosetronic from focustronic that works with their alk tester whenever the alk drops below the set numbers it doses my 3 part. now im thinking i can do what you do and whenever the alk drops below that point or swings i can have it does the high ph alk to make up the diff and raise ph.