Aquaforest 1+2+3

[RELLIK-REEF]

Hello friends, I wanted to start using this product but when I do the calculations the one I'm losing most is Ca and it shows 179ml a day. This product says I should dose all 3 components at equal amounts. My Mg and alk do not fluctuate very much. I do auto water changes 3 gallons every day. Mg stays at right around 1400 and Alk at 8.9
My thoughts are to dose them equally and see how high other numbers jump and go from there. But I'd like to see if anyone has just dosed what they needed or always following their directions for the product?
Thank you for any input.

 

[MikeyA]

I use AF 1,2,3 currently. I will say I don't think components 1,2 are very balanced cause I dose 180ml of alk a day and only 80ml of calcium, and 40ml of mag which keeps my parameters at 7.7alk, 418 Cal, 1430 mag. I only dose the amount needed to keep my parameters where I want them.

Before I was using Randy's 2 part recipe and that was always equal. I can't remember how much of Randy's recipe I was dosing daily though.

But my question is can I add baking soda to AF #2 (alk) to raise the concentration up to equal what I'm dosing in calcium?

 

[305]

theyr supposed to be “balanced”
Lou ekus has a great macna vid on the tube explaining as to why u always dose equal parts..
Idk why the calculators tell u to dose un equal amounts kinds confusing in my op

 

[RELLIK-REEF]

I've watched the videos too. What's confusing is If I dose the others the same as I'm going to dose Ca I feel they will go to high but we'll see as I'll be seeing all this up Saturday.

I use AF 1,2,3 currently. I will say I don't think components 1,2 are very balanced cause I dose 180ml of alk a day and only 80ml of calcium, and 40ml of mag which keeps my parameters at 7.7alk, 418 Cal, 1430 mag. I only dose the amount needed to keep my parameters where I want them.

Before I was using Randy's 2 part recipe and that was always equal. I can't remember how much of Randy's recipe I was dosing daily though.

But my question is can I add baking soda to AF #2 (alk) to raise the concentration up to equal what I'm dosing in calcium?

@Randy Holmes-Farley can you shed a little knowledge on this situation?

 

[MikeyA]

I'm not using a calculator my parameters are straight from hanna readings daily. I recently brought my kh director online and Im not fully trusting it yet even though it's been within +. 2 of my hanna checker since it was brought into service lol. So I've tested my alk and Cal everyday and i know I'm burning through over twice as much alk as I am calcium.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

There's really no way to consume calcium and not consume a balanced amount of alkalinity, unless alkalinity is somehow being added to the system.

Can you give what you believe the consumption numbers are, and list everything you are dosing?

 

[RELLIK-REEF]

According to the trident
Alk 9.0
Ca 444
Mg 1410

Refractometer
Salinity 35

Apex probes
Temp 78
Ph 8.25

Hanna
Ammonia 0
Nitrates 1
P04 .74 working on this issue

I just started doing automatic water changes and decided to go for 3 gallons a day. System is right at 115 total gallons. It looks like it is actually balancing our without the AF I was as

Alk 8
Ca 380
Mg 1350

I added mg before i started auto water changes and got it up to 1400 now everything seems to be climbing daily? I'll continue to monitor and see where it all comes to a stop.

 

[RELLIK-REEF]

Ok so 4 days
Ca says I should dose 286ml which turns out to be 71.5ml per day 2.96ml per hr to dose

Alk says I should dose 226ml which turns out to be 56.5 per day 2.35ml per hr to dose

Mg says i should dose 5205ml which turns out to be 1301ml per day 54.20ml per hr to dose

So with aquaforest I should dose all 3 at 2ml every hr, i would actually dose 2ml starting at 0000 but every 3 hrs I'd dose 3ml for a closer dose because of how it breaks down?
@Randy Holmes-Farley

Is what I'm trying to do here correct?
What would you suggest I dose to keep Ca, and Mg at my target levels?

 

[MikeyA]

Hold on, so your calculations say for daily dosing 71.5ml for Ca, 56.5ml for alk...but 1301ml for MG?!?! I'm not the expert for the balling merit, kinda learning myself but those numbers aren't balanced. From my knowledge you should be dosing equal amounts of 1,2,3 everyday.

My tank took a few weeks to balance out but now I'm dosing equal amounts and the track is doing well.

 

[RELLIK-REEF]

Hold on, so your calculations say for daily dosing 71.5ml for Ca, 56.5ml for alk...but 1301ml for MG?!?! I'm not the expert for the balling merit, kinda learning myself but those numbers aren't balanced. From my knowledge you should be dosing equal amounts of 1,2,3 everyday.

My tank took a few weeks to balance out but now I'm dosing equal amounts and the track is doing well.

These are all the doses to get the target numbers through the aquaforest calculator.

The Alk and CA are close so I'm trying to understand this process. I'm supposed to dose all three components at the lowest level then adjust mag from there.

 

[RELLIK-REEF]

Second New DIY Two Part Recipe with Higher pH Boost

@Randy Holmes-Farley
After reading through this artical I'd like to try.
Would it be more beneficial than the aquaforest? Or would you say I'd still need to dose it for the full trace elements solution?

 

[gbroadbridge]

Hello friends, I wanted to start using this product but when I do the calculations the one I'm losing most is Ca and it shows 179ml a day. This product says I should dose all 3 components at equal amounts. My Mg and alk do not fluctuate very much. I do auto water changes 3 gallons every day. Mg stays at right around 1400 and Alk at 8.9
My thoughts are to dose them equally and see how high other numbers jump and go from there. But I'd like to see if anyone has just dosed what they needed or always following their directions for the product?
Thank you for any input.

I think you will find that if you simply follow the directions and dose equally, things will all balance out.

I had similar concerns when I started Balling system 6 years ago, but just stuck with it and Ca did not increase noticably as it takes a lot of Ca to make any measurable difference

Regards
Graham

 

[RELLIK-REEF]

I'm trying to get my knowledge up on this because of our upcoming move and build. I would like to be able to keep everything as stable as possible.
We are going to build a 1400 gallon walk around DT mixed reef but I plan on having a lot of SPS.
The two DT tanks we have now are our grow out tanks.
180DT fish and softies
100DT SPS and LPS mostly and a few fish.

 

[RELLIK-REEF]

I think you will find that if you simply follow the directions and dose equally, things will all balance out.

I had similar concerns when I started Balling system 6 years ago, but just stuck with it and Ca did not increase noticably as it takes a lot of Ca to make any measurable difference

Regards
Graham

Thank you.
Are you still using the same methods?

 

[gbroadbridge]

Thank you.
Are you still using the same methods?

Yes. My automatic dosing is always equal amounts.

If I need to make an adjustment, for example if my Alk drops from 8 to 7.8, i calculate the Alk dosage to correct it (which may be 30ml) and dose all 3 components equally 30ml.

Over time everything balanced out for me.

There are some situations where there can be imbalances where manual correction may be needed. Randy has an article about those, but I've not experienced them.

Regards

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

These are all the doses to get the target numbers through the aquaforest calculator.

The Alk and CA are close so I'm trying to understand this process. I'm supposed to dose all three components at the lowest level then adjust mag from there.

Those are correction doses, not daily doses.

You will have to either pick a dose and adjust by trial and error (base all dosing changes off the alk changes, at least for a week or so), or dose nothing for a few days and determine the daily alk decline, and dose all three equally to match that daily decline in alk.

Do not adjust calcium or magnesium based on a one day decline. Do not adjust magnesium from even a 1 week decline. There's too small of a drop to properly detect.

 

[RELLIK-REEF]

Those are correction doses, not daily doses.

You will have to either pick a dose and adjust by trial and error (base all dosing changes off the alk changes, at least for a week or so), or dose nothing for a few days and determine the daily alk decline, and dose all three equally to match that daily decline in alk.

Do not adjust calcium or magnesium based on a one day decline. Do not adjust magnesium from even a 1 week decline. There's too small of a drop to properly detect.

Those numbers are from my trident 4 days apart at the same time.

 

[RELLIK-REEF]

Wouldn't that mean I broke it down for the daily dose? There I should dose what is says for alk and dose them all the same and use a different solution for magnesium, even if checking it over a couple week period of time?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Those numbers are from my trident 4 days apart at the same time.

The magnesium decline in 4 days is far too small to accurately quantify.

I'd initially dose them all equally based on the alk decline for a while.

Then over time adjust the calcium dose up or down (if needed). Do not calculate the dose, just adjust it slightly up or down.

Magnesium adjustments should not be needed for much longer. Weeks.

Do not try to interpret small changes in test values. They are likely not accurate.

 

[RELLIK-REEF]

Got it thank you.
To the other question if I try to use your diy method and can be successful at it, would I still need the aquaforest for the other trace elements or no?