What are you dosing on top of All For Reef?

nicowboy

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Good afternoon guys,

I got a question, I recently bought All For Reef powder to make is simple with dosing and not have a bunch of bottles everywhere but my question is, do you dose something else on top of this amazing product? I’m looking to get my corals soon and want to provide everything they will need

thanks
 

areefer01

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I do not dose anything else in my 210 gallon mixed reef. I'm at 105 ml/day of TM AFR. Water changes and ATO top off is it for me. There have been a few times that I needed to manually dose ALK if it got too low but only a few small corrections over the last couple of years.

The 1600g powder has made the product more affordable for larger systems. To be honest my display more or less looks the same as when I was dosing ESV 2 part. TM AFR switch made it easier and only required a single dosing head so for me it was more of a quality of life improvement than anything else. Standard two part plus some trace elements. Seemed like a no brainer to me.

In my case - TM AFR is it. I currently do not need anything else. Or if I do need it I don't know about it nor is my display asking for it...
 
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nicowboy

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I do not dose anything else in my 210 gallon mixed reef. I'm at 105 ml/day of TM AFR. Water changes and ATO top off is it for me. There have been a few times that I needed to manually dose ALK if it got too low but only a few small corrections over the last couple of years.

The 1600g powder has made the product more affordable for larger systems. To be honest my display more or less looks the same as when I was dosing ESV 2 part. TM AFR switch made it easier and only required a single dosing head so for me it was more of a quality of life improvement than anything else. Standard two part plus some trace elements. Seemed like a no brainer to me.

In my case - TM AFR is it. I currently do not need anything else. Or if I do need it I don't know about it nor is my display asking for it...
Yes definitely, when I saw the cost of the 1600g powder, I did the math very quick and that will last me a loooooong time, I currently own a 26g so it’s perfect

do you check alk daily ? To see it reduced?
Also you mentioned you have a single dosing pump, which one do you use? I was thinking of getting the red sea double dosing pump but maybe you have a better option
 

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I dose nitrates (NeoNitro). Can’t stop nitrates from bottoming out with all for reef. I feed 4 times a day on a 25g nano and still can’t keep nitrates above 0. Overstocked my tank to have 5 fish, still no nitrates.

Will be moving to ESV 2 part soon in hopes of that fixing my nitrate issue.
 
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nicowboy

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I dose nitrates (NeoNitro). Can’t stop nitrates from bottoming out with all for reef. I feed 4 times a day on a 25g nano and still can’t keep nitrates above 0. Overstocked my tank to have 5 fish, still no nitrates.

Will be moving to ESV 2 part soon in hopes of that fixing my nitrate issue.
No way haha ! Well your tank consumes a lot of nitrates, good luck to raise it
 

exnisstech

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I dose nitrates (NeoNitro). Can’t stop nitrates from bottoming out with all for reef. I feed 4 times a day on a 25g nano and still can’t keep nitrates above 0. Overstocked my tank to have 5 fish, still no nitrates.

Will be moving to ESV 2 part soon in hopes of that fixing my nitrate issue.
I use bionic 2 part in one of my systems of 40g total. 4 fish and like you I feed several times a day. I still have to dose nitrates and am starting to dose phosphate today. Both stay barely detectable and some times not detectable. It was the same when I didn't dose 2 part so I don't think that will help with your low nitrates but I may be wrong.
 
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Acros

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No way haha ! Well your tank consumes a lot of nitrates, good luck to raise it
It did from the very beginning. Can’t keep nitrates detectable unless I dose 1ppm per day.


I use bionic 2 part in one of my systems of 40g total. 4 fish and like you I feed several times a day. I still have to dose nitrates and am starting to dose phosphate today. Both stay barely detectable and some times not detachable. It was the same when I didn't dose 2 part so I don't think that will help with your low nitrates but I may be wrong.
Hm. That gives me pause. Maybe I will stick with all for reef for a little longer. After all the nitrates issue might be totally unrelated to all for reef.
 

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Hm. That gives me pause. Maybe I will stick with all for reef for a little longer. After all the nitrates issue might be totally unrelated to all for reef.
I started dosing acro power more to see if it helps coral growth since I have all frags. I have been adding some reef roids mixed in with it and I have been dosing twice a week and have been able to at least maintain detectable P at 0.02 nitrates went from 12 to 8 so am still adding some sodium nitrate as I would like to keep them above 10. I ended up not dosing phosphates. As long as I can measure some when testing I'm holding off on that.
I find it strange as my only nutrient transport is chaeto and I only harvest that once a month or so. No skimmer and only change 4g water every 2 weeks. I turn off return pumps when I feed for a while and let the food blow all over for the corals as well as fish.
I just find it strange as this tank ran with barley detectable nitrates when I had mostly all LPS and a big nem for almost 3 years. I rescaped it and added a bunch of sps frags more fish and it still runs low nutrients. I guess it's just the way this particular tank is going to be :thinking-face:
 
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Acros

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I started dosing acro power more to see if it helps coral growth since I have all frags. I have been adding some reef roids mixed in with it and I have been dosing twice a week and have been able to at least maintain detectable P at 0.02 nitrates went from 12 to 8 so am still adding some sodium nitrate as I would like to keep them above 10. I ended up not dosing phosphates. As long as I can measure some when testing I'm holding off on that.
I find it strange as my only nutrient transport is chaeto and I only harvest that once a month or so. No skimmer and only change 4g water every 2 weeks. I turn off return pumps when I feed for a while and let the food blow all over for the corals as well as fish.
I just find it strange as this tank ran with barley detectable nitrates when I had mostly all LPS and a big nem for almost 3 years. I rescaped it and added a bunch of sps frags more fish and it still runs low nutrients. I guess it's just the way this particular tank is going to be :thinking-face:
I am not sure why my tank runs low nutrients either. My only nutrient export is using filter pads changed once a week (sometimes longer).

@Randy Holmes-Farley suggested that it is ok to mix nitrates with all for reef. I might do that to dose ~1ppm for every 1dkh of all for reef. The only down side is that I will loose my ability to control nitrate dosing individually.
Post in thread 'Nitrate Addition To All For Reef'
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/nitrate-addition-to-all-for-reef.897548/post-9988595


Do you see any issues with mixing nitrates with all for reef solution (in terms of bacteria growth in the solution)? I will use 2l solution in about 4-5 months. @Lou Ekus @Hans-Werner
 

exnisstech

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I am not sure why my tank runs low nutrients either. My only nutrient export is using filter pads changed once a week (sometimes longer).

@Randy Holmes-Farley suggested that it is ok to mix nitrates with all for reef. I might do that to dose ~1ppm for every 1dkh of all for reef. The only down side is that I will loose my ability to control nitrate dosing individually.
Post in thread 'Nitrate Addition To All For Reef'
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/nitrate-addition-to-all-for-reef.897548/post-9988595


Do you see any issues with mixing nitrates with all for reef solution (in terms of bacteria growth in the solution)? I will use 2l solution in about 4-5 months. @Lou Ekus @Hans-Werner
Bionic 2 part is all I have ever used so I can't really comment on all for reef. I do dose manually. I dump 15ml alk in the overflow and 15ml cal in the display and 10-15ml sodium nitrate also in the display. I do this every morning back to back and have been doing it that way for months with no I'll effects. I just can't see a dosing pump for such small amounts so one less point of failure is how I look at it.
 

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I currently dose 32ml AFR and 13ml TM carbo calcium in my sps dominant 60g. Was struggling to keep KH up with AFR on its own.
 
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nicowboy

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I am not sure why my tank runs low nutrients either. My only nutrient export is using filter pads changed once a week (sometimes longer).

@Randy Holmes-Farley suggested that it is ok to mix nitrates with all for reef. I might do that to dose ~1ppm for every 1dkh of all for reef. The only down side is that I will loose my ability to control nitrate dosing individually.
Post in thread 'Nitrate Addition To All For Reef'
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/nitrate-addition-to-all-for-reef.897548/post-9988595


Do you see any issues with mixing nitrates with all for reef solution (in terms of bacteria growth in the solution)? I will use 2l solution in about 4-5 months. @Lou Ekus @Hans-Werner
That’s very interesting ! So it shouldn’t be a risk to add the nitrate inside the same liquid with all for reef?
 

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Good afternoon guys,

I got a question, I recently bought All For Reef powder to make is simple with dosing and not have a bunch of bottles everywhere but my question is, do you dose something else on top of this amazing product? I’m looking to get my corals soon and want to provide everything they will need

thanks
I does klakwasser on top of all for reef for the ph boost. But all for reef is all you really need unless you have a ton of sps. I have a moderate amount of sps.
 

Lost in the Sauce

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I do not dose anything else in my 210 gallon mixed reef. I'm at 105 ml/day of TM AFR. Water changes and ATO top off is it for me. There have been a few times that I needed to manually dose ALK if it got too low but only a few small corrections over the last couple of years.

The 1600g powder has made the product more affordable for larger systems. To be honest my display more or less looks the same as when I was dosing ESV 2 part. TM AFR switch made it easier and only required a single dosing head so for me it was more of a quality of life improvement than anything else. Standard two part plus some trace elements. Seemed like a no brainer to me.

In my case - TM AFR is it. I currently do not need anything else. Or if I do need it I don't know about it nor is my display asking for it...
Same here on a ~200g system.
 
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nicowboy

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I does klakwasser on top of all for reef for the ph boost. But all for reef is all you really need unless you have a ton of sps. I have a moderate amount of sps.
So far I only have 1 hammer, 1 torch, 1 montipora, 1 alvepora, so I’m just dosing 5ml as recommended for a start, and will increase 2.5ml this Saturday, I will test again my parameters to see how much my corals are consuming
 

exnisstech

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To be honest my display more or less looks the same as when I was dosing ESV 2 part. TM AFR switch made it easier and only required a single dosing head so for me it was more of a quality of life improvement than anything else. Standard two part plus some trace elements. Seemed like a no brainer to me.

In my case - TM AFR is it. I currently do not need anything else. Or if I do need it I don't know about it nor is my display asking for it...
I've been really tempted to switch to AFR when I run out of ESV for simplicity. It would allow me to use a single dosing pump. I dose manually now because I think it would be silly to run 2 dosers for 15ml of additive. I would do a single pump though. But I dunno it's the old if it isn't broke don't try to fix it scenary. Maybe I'll cost them out against each other and if AFR is less $ maybe use that as an excuse to switch :thinking-face:
 

areefer01

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I've been really tempted to switch to AFR when I run out of ESV for simplicity. It would allow me to use a single dosing pump. I dose manually now because I think it would be silly to run 2 dosers for 15ml of additive. I would do a single pump though. But I dunno it's the old if it isn't broke don't try to fix it scenary. Maybe I'll cost them out against each other and if AFR is less $ maybe use that as an excuse to switch :thinking-face:

ESV is a great product. And I also agree - if it isn't broke no reason to fix it. Quality of life would be the only reason.

Hope your day is amazing!
 

Lou Ekus

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I am not sure why my tank runs low nutrients either. My only nutrient export is using filter pads changed once a week (sometimes longer).

@Randy Holmes-Farley suggested that it is ok to mix nitrates with all for reef. I might do that to dose ~1ppm for every 1dkh of all for reef. The only down side is that I will loose my ability to control nitrate dosing individually.
Post in thread 'Nitrate Addition To All For Reef'
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/nitrate-addition-to-all-for-reef.897548/post-9988595


Do you see any issues with mixing nitrates with all for reef solution (in terms of bacteria growth in the solution)? I will use 2l solution in about 4-5 months. @Lou Ekus @Hans-Werner
I have never added PO4 to the AFR. As I think about it, it most probably would not be a problem, in my opinion. But I will be interested to see what @Hans-Werner has to say about it. He is the developer of the product and certainly would know better than me if it would cause any precipitation or any other type of issue.
 

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