Trouble with All For Reef

[youclowntoomuch]

Ive been dosing all for reef at roughly 20 ml of solution per day in my 15 gallon nano tank.1.7 ML per 2 hours. I have mostly LPS and soft corals. Ive had nothing but issues keeping my parameters in check. For instance when testing today my calcium(500) and alk(20.0) are sky high while my magnesium is bottomed out(1200). Since starting this ive noticed my alk and cal tend to swing or be at opposite ends while my magnesium constantly stays bottomed out. It seems like it has done absolutely nothing to help with magnesium, and ive had to get red sea magnesium to bring it up. Should I stop dosing it all together? It seems like its doing more harm than good. Also it was mixed at a LFS so im having doubts that the guy doing it did it correctly. Thanks in advance.

 

[BryanM]

Some of those numbers, especially alk, seem more like testing errors.

I would have your LFS test your water, but if things are that out of whack you need to do some water changes.

And I would recommend getting your water parameters in check, and then maintain with AFR.

 

[youclowntoomuch]

Some of those numbers, especially alk, seem more like testing errors.

I would have your LFS test your water, but if things are that out of whack you need to do some water changes.

And I would recommend getting your water parameters in check, and then maintain with AFR.

why would all for reef not be able to maintain magnesium? isnt it supposed to ?

 

[Dread Pirate Dave]

How much alk does your tank consume on a daily basis? With the high calc and alk I wonder if you're dosing to much.

 

[Idech]

I dose 20 ml per day in my 150 gallons tank… That seems like a lot.

 

[BryanM]

why would all for reef not be able to maintain magnesium? isnt it supposed to ?

I didn't say that.

I guess I should have asked what your maintenance routine, water changes, etc was before I responded.

 

[Lineman28]

I have a 40 breeder and dose all for reef I have sps and lps coral I only dose 5ml a day my alk stays around 9 calcium 440 and mag 1200 tanks been setup for 8 months so far and that’s all im dosing until something changes

 

[Salty_Northerner]

WB35.2 and dosing 14ml AFR at noon, dkh 9 cal 450 Mag 1380
Maybe try dosing all at once and 20ml is way to much imho. The LFS guy that mixed it up didn't do it properly If testing isn't an error.

 

[rishma]

20 ml per day is about 2dkH per day dose assuming you have a full 15 gallons of water volume. That is on the high end and I would not expect you to have that much consumption unless you had wall to wall SPS growing. Since you don’t, I think You have dosed too much which is why your alkalinity is sky high.

Magnesium tests are so commonly inaccurate there is a post nearly every day in the forum seeking help. Without exception (that I can think of) the low magnesium tests result is test error and/or low salinity.

Many of us don’t test for magnesium at all because of this. This thread provided good insights.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/just-say-no-to-magnesium-testing-rmm-is-born.1017528/
AFR provides magnesium. It’s possible that some tanks need to dose a little extra if they have a lot or coraline growth, but you first need to get your alkalinity back in range.

 

[rishma]

I suggest you stop dosing and start doing some water changes. Verify salinity

 

[Gone Reefin’]

20 ml per day is about 2dkH per day dose assuming you have a full 15 gallons of water volume. That is on the high end and I would not expect you to have that much consumption unless you had wall to wall SPS growing. Since you don’t, I think You have dosed too much which is why your alkalinity is sky high.

Magnesium tests are so commonly inaccurate there is a post nearly every day in the forum seeking help. Without exception (that I can think of) the low magnesium tests result is test error and/or low salinity.

Many of us don’t test for magnesium at all because of this. This thread provided good insights.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/just-say-no-to-magnesium-testing-rmm-is-born.1017528/
AFR provides magnesium. It’s possible that some tanks need to dose a little extra if they have a lot or coraline growth, but you first need to get your alkalinity back in range.

Exactly this. If you have built your AFR dosing calc off of a magnesium input, this is likely the problem. Many base it off of alk and cal and mag will follow. Some don’t even test them if alk is in line.

That is a significant daily dose for a small tank, and it may be throwing your alk (and other chemistry) out of whack.

 

[rishma]

20 ml per day is about 2dkH per day dose assuming you have a full 15 gallons of water volume. That is on the high end and I would not expect you to have that much consumption unless you had wall to wall SPS growing. Since you don’t, I think You have dosed too much which is why your alkalinity is sky high.

Magnesium tests are so commonly inaccurate there is a post nearly every day in the forum seeking help. Without exception (that I can think of) the low magnesium tests result is test error and/or low salinity.

Many of us don’t test for magnesium at all because of this. This thread provided good insights.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/just-say-no-to-magnesium-testing-rmm-is-born.1017528/
AFR provides magnesium. It’s possible that some tanks need to dose a little extra if they have a lot or coraline growth, but you first need to get your alkalinity back in range.

Exactly this. If you have built your AFR dosing calc off of a magnesium input, this is likely the problem. Many base it off of alk and cal and mag will follow. Some don’t even test them if alk is in line.

That is a significant daily dose for a small tank, and it may be throwing your alk (and other chemistry) out of whack.

Right, I only dose AFR based on alkalinity and recommend that approach.

Alkalinity tests are more reliable and precise than calcium. Magnesium tests are not worth the water sample.

 

[youclowntoomuch]

I dose 20 ml per day in my 150 gallons tank… That seems like a lot.

I used the calculator on tropic marins site. something must have been wrong.

 

[Idech]

I used the calculator on tropic marins site. something must have been wrong.

Oh, for sure ! This is not a starting dose for your tank at all.

 

[youclowntoomuch]

I suggest you stop dosing and start doing some water changes. Verify salinity

1.025

 

[youclowntoomuch]

Oh, for sure ! This is not a starting dose for your tank at all.

Im new to the hobby so I had no idea.... definitely sounds like ive been nuking my tank now..

 

[youclowntoomuch]

20 ml per day is about 2dkH per day dose assuming you have a full 15 gallons of water volume. That is on the high end and I would not expect you to have that much consumption unless you had wall to wall SPS growing. Since you don’t, I think You have dosed too much which is why your alkalinity is sky high.

Magnesium tests are so commonly inaccurate there is a post nearly every day in the forum seeking help. Without exception (that I can think of) the low magnesium tests result is test error and/or low salinity.

Many of us don’t test for magnesium at all because of this. This thread provided good insights.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/just-say-no-to-magnesium-testing-rmm-is-born.1017528/
AFR provides magnesium. It’s possible that some tanks need to dose a little extra if they have a lot or coraline growth, but you first need to get your alkalinity back in range.

I use the salifert mag test kit. Is it not accurate? It has always given me low numbers

 

[Idech]

Im new to the hobby so I had no idea.... definitely sounds like ive been nuking my tank now..

Good news is it’s fixable with water changes. Go slowly.

 

[rishma]

20 ml per day is about 2dkH per day dose assuming you have a full 15 gallons of water volume. That is on the high end and I would not expect you to have that much consumption unless you had wall to wall SPS growing. Since you don’t, I think You have dosed too much which is why your alkalinity is sky high.

Magnesium tests are so commonly inaccurate there is a post nearly every day in the forum seeking help. Without exception (that I can think of) the low magnesium tests result is test error and/or low salinity.

Many of us don’t test for magnesium at all because of this. This thread provided good insights.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/just-say-no-to-magnesium-testing-rmm-is-born.1017528/
AFR provides magnesium. It’s possible that some tanks need to dose a little extra if they have a lot or coraline growth, but you first need to get your alkalinity back in range.

I use the salifert mag test kit. Is it not accurate? It has always given me low numbers

Salifert is a good company. There are no at home magnesium tests I would consider reliable

 

[rishma]

Im new to the hobby so I had no idea.... definitely sounds like ive been nuking my tank now..

After you do some water changes and slowly reduce your alkalinity to below 11, then just test alkalinity once or twice a week until you see the steady consumption (no dosing). You can then determine your dosing rate to keep it stable. You can get some help here if you are not sure what AFR dose to use at that point. I expect it will be less than 5 ml per day. An alkalinity of 7-11 dKH is a good target. I like 8-9 dKH.

AFR plus regular water changes going forward will likely maintain all you need.