Switching to All For Reef

[CodyF.]

Hello,

I made the switch from RedSea colors (4part) to All for Reef about 4 days ago. I know it takes a while for AFR to metabolize, but….. it’s been 4 days and I’m still having to supplement the ALK from RedSea. I was dosing 38mils of ALK a day in a 50 gallon tank. I started the AFR on about 25mls-to be safe- but my ALK dropped. In 4 days it went from 8.5 to 6.1. Today I made a correction dose of 15mils using RS ALK, which has my ALK now at 7.7. Over the past few days I increased the AFR from 25mils to 38mils. Do you guys know about how much AFR it would take to maintain my ALK at 7.7? I can’t find a chart to convert.

My tank is kinda acro dominated and I don’t want to loose corals due to lack of stability

 

[FishLvR]

I thought AFR was just trace?

 

[NanoSteam]

I thought AFR was just trace?

It's an all in one product, the big 3 + trace..... OP I would take it easy, first time I've read can even take up to 7 days to start to show up, you don't want to end up with a spike. The bacteria responsible to metabolize it can take some time to build up. This is my understanding of it.

 

[reefpanda]

Here’s a reference table for guidance. I’m dosing 26 ml on my 25 gal SPS dominated reef and I don’t measure Ca. Just adjust based on KH

 

[FishLvR]

I thought AFR was just trace?

It's an all in one product, the big 3 + trace..... OP I would take it easy, first time I've read can even take up to 7 days to start to show up, you don't want to end up with a spike. The bacteria responsible to metabolize it can take some time to build up. This is my understanding of it.

Ah shows you what I know. Im using their A and K for trace and their balling for all, ca, mag. Which works amazingly well.

 

[billyocean]

Ah shows you what I know. Im using their A and K for trace and their balling for all, ca, mag. Which works amazingly well.

Pretty sure the afr has a and k in it no?

 

[FishLvR]

Pretty sure the afr has a and k in it no?

Apparently so. I'm reading about it right now. The only difference between what I am doing and what All for Reef does is they are separate. For a small tank like mine I could for sure just dose all for reef. I think why I didn't is I thought it would be easier to keep my levels consistent with dosing the balling. Even with all my algae troubles my alk, ca, and mag have been consistent. Which is great. I am following this thread, to see if maybe in the future I should consider the switch, although TM's balling is very cost effective as well.

 

[CodyF.]

Ah shows you what I know. Im using their A and K for trace and their balling for all, ca, mag. Which works amazingly well.

Pretty sure the afr has a and k in it no?

It does.

 

[CodyF.]

I thought AFR was just trace?

It's an all in one product, the big 3 + trace..... OP I would take it easy, first time I've read can even take up to 7 days to start to show up, you don't want to end up with a spike. The bacteria responsible to metabolize it can take some time to build up. This is my understanding of it.

Thanks. I’m guessing I should back off the AFR? It’s wanting to hold at around it’s been hovering around 7.1-6.4. But….. again, I don’t want to loose anything. Everything I read said within 3 days it’s shouldn’t metabolized?

If made a switch from AFR on my 15gallon but never to AFR…. So, it has me kinda confused at the moment

 

[billyocean]

Apparently so. I'm reading about it right now. The only difference between what I am doing and what All for Reef does is they are separate. For a small tank like mine I could for sure just dose all for reef. I think why I didn't is I thought it would be easier to keep my levels consistent with dosing the balling. Even with all my algae troubles my alk, ca, and mag have been consistent. Which is great. I am following this thread, to see if maybe in the future I should consider the switch, although TM's balling is very cost effective as well.

Just keep it simple. Use the afr until you can't cover the tanks consumption with just afr....that should be quite a while.

 

[CodyF.]

At the recommendation of AFR I should be at like 10mils a day…. I don’t think that would be close to enough to keep up with the demand. But, I have super limited experience with AFR.

I’m guessing it takes a bit for the calcium to metabolize as well..? My calcium has always been low, like 380-420, but it was below 360. I did a correction to 360 but I’m trying to not cause harsh swings to the system

 

[billyocean]

Whats your tanks daily dkh consumption?

 

[billyocean]

Tropic Marin All for reef dosing calculations | Reef2Reef https://share.google/PCEARxnC6liWazAW5

 

[rowenaad]

Many tanks use more than the recommended amount. As long as you are testing with some reliable kit and adjusting accordingly it should be fine, but for my tank AFR cant supply enough trace element maybe just because i have a nano and i dont dose much AFR daily so also dose element A & K

 

[CodyF.]

Whats your tanks daily dkh consumption?

It’s about .6 DKH daily.

 

[CodyF.]

Many tanks use more than the recommended amount. As long as you are testing with some reliable kit and adjusting accordingly it should be fine, but for my tank AFR cant supply enough trace element maybe just because i have a nano and i dont dose much AFR daily so also dose element A & K

Thanks!! I’m using Salifert DKH test kits. Been using them for years without flaw.

 

[CodyF.]

Tropic Marin All for reef dosing calculations | Reef2Reef https://share.google/PCEARxnC6liWazAW5

Thanks Billy!!

 

[CodyF.]

Did some math…. Scary!

From what I get using the AFR calculator. 7.57 mils per day gives about .28DKH. (Assuming I have 40 gallons of water in my WaterBox 50.3, which holds 40.9 gallon.) To account for a .6 DKH daily drop, I would need 16.2 mils daily…? This sounds kinda low. I’m sure I’m not doing something correct.

 

[Danjoethepirate]

Just give it some time, also you can dose more than that without issue because nothing swings fast with AFR. If you put in 50 mils now you wouldn't see the alk go up for around 12 to 24 hours. Its the bacteria that are metabolizing the calcium formate into calcium and carbonate and it will take a while to find your level.

 

[rowenaad]

Did some math…. Scary!

From what I get using the AFR calculator. 7.57 mils per day gives about .28DKH. (Assuming I have 40 gallons of water in my WaterBox 50.3, which holds 40.9 gallon.) To account for a .6 DKH daily drop, I would need 16.2 mils daily…? This sounds kinda low. I’m sure I’m not doing something correct.

my 20 gallon takes 8ml daily. it is a highly concentrated solution. a bucket last me almost a year loll