Aquaforest Guide

[jhatfield]

@landlubber if your interested or maybe you have seen it I don't know. Maybe not??

I did make a video on mixing up components 1,2,3 . It's pretty detailed and in it I use the 5 liter jugs.

Here it is.

Thanks for posting this... super helpful!

Have been using the pre mixed comp 123 but will start mixing my own this weekend. Just to confirm, the homemade mix is about twice as concentrated as the pre-mixed.(?) So I'll adjust my daily dosing by half to start, test and adjust, correct? Any other suggestions?

 

[Aquaforest]

You can make double concentrated of Ca, Mg and Reef Mineral Salt but this is impossible with KH.
That's why We recommend to use standard recipes.

Regards,
Aquaforest

 

[rob safron]

So I have been dosing vinegar, 35 mls per day, and now ready to fully switch to AF. I started dosing pro bio s a week ago. What speed and dosage should I switch the vinegar to np pro? 120 gallon tank. Any signs I should look for other than nitrate and phosphate levels, currently running phosphate at .02-.03 via Hanna and 2 nitrate.

 

[ShawnSaucier]

I have been using your product(1,2,3 & salt) for over a year now. I have had two batches of Comp 1 turn brown-is like stagnant water, while in its container....why?? Stored in a dark closet, 74*F.

 

[Anirban]

I have been using your product(1,2,3 & salt) for over a year now. I have had two batches of Comp 1 turn brown-is like stagnant water, while in its container....why?? Stored in a dark closet, 74*F.

Its the iron in component 1 which gets precipitated but there is no ill effect of that. If you want then just give it a shake.

 

[LDH]

Component1+2+3+ contains macroelements - Ca, KH, Mg and all microelements:

Component 1+ contains: Ca, Mg, Sr, Ba, Co, Mn, Cu, Fe, Zn, Ni, Cr ( 50ml raises of 9 mg Ca/100 l and 0,6 mg Mg/100l (27 US gal.) ).
Component 2+ contains: NaHCO3, F, I ( 50ml raises the KH of 1,3 dkh(Alk 0,46 meg/l) in 100L (27 US gal.).
Component 3+ contains: mineral salts and K, Bo.

Aquaforest

Hi there,

I am currently using all the aquaforest products on my tank. Love them. They are working very well. My current tank is 60 gallons ( jam packed with coral ) I am noticing that to keep up with the appropriate levels of calcium alk and mag that I have to use quite a bit of the component 123.

I am in the process of building a 350 gallon tank and would love to keep using aquaforest however, I am concerned that if my current tank is eating up a ton of this stuff that a tank more than 5 times the size is going to require me to get a second job just to keep up with dosing. ( I don't want a second job, it would take away from the time I get to sit in front of my tank )

I also should say I do not want a calcium reactor.

Do you recommend switching over to your calc, alk and mag powder in order to keep up with the demand but at a more reasonable ongoing price? What do you see people with large tanks and moderate budgets doing or what do you recommend?

Thanks so much for your help.

 

[SewerynAquaforest]

Here you Have video that explain how to make component 1,2,3+ from Powders and component Strong. You can buy Powders (Calcium , Kh buffer , Magnesium and mineral salt in 5kg buckets and it will be way more economical then buy component 1,2,3+. Unfortunately you should measure, mix yourself but it will be cheaper. Of course you should have a dosing pump to dose that.
Choice is yours If you don't want to mess with all RO water , measuring mixing etc you have ready to use "plug and play" solution or if you want to go DIY (more economical) you have second solution.

 

[rob safron]

Mixing my own AF solutions and all is going well, things are growing. My Alk runs between 7.0 and 7.3, Mg 1470 but my calcium has been running 490 and wont budge. Should I lower dosage of part 1 until Ca gets closer to 420 or leave alone? I am dosing 130 ml in at total water volume of 120. Mostly SPS.

 

[120reefkeeper]

Mixing my own AF solutions and all is going well, things are growing. My Alk runs between 7.0 and 7.3, Mg 1470 but my calcium has been running 490 and wont budge. Should I lower dosage of part 1 until Ca gets closer to 420 or leave alone? I am dosing 130 ml in at total water volume of 120. Mostly SPS.

If it ain’t broke

Tanks doing well... things are stable... ya I’d just leave it alone [emoji4]

 

[VJV]

@Aquaforest @Anirban, hi, I have been adopting Aquaforest products in my 700 litre system. First started using the salt and the ABVE, and have now finally moved from Fauna Marin Balling to Aquaforest Balling. I mixed the solutions according to the video above and am currently dosing 168ml of each. However, my Alkalinity is still going down while my Calcium oil increasing slightly and Magnesium increasing a lot. I have seen a number of times that the solutions should be dosed in equal amounts but I really do not want to have unbalanced parameters. Is it that bad if I dose different amounts of each component? And finally, what is the scientific justification for having to dose the same amount of each solution?

Thank you very much

Kind regards

Vasco

 

[waxhawreefer]

@Aquaforest @Anirban, hi, I have been adopting Aquaforest products in my 700 litre system. First started using the salt and the ABVE, and have now finally moved from Fauna Marin Balling to Aquaforest Balling. I mixed the solutions according to the video above and am currently dosing 168ml of each. However, my Alkalinity is still going down while my Calcium oil increasing slightly and Magnesium increasing a lot. I have seen a number of times that the solutions should be dosed in equal amounts but I really do not want to have unbalanced parameters. Is it that bad if I dose different amounts of each component? And finally, what is the scientific justification for having to dose the same amount of each solution?

Thank you very much

Kind regards

Vasco

I dose each differently to meet my needs, I don’t think I it hurts anything, the alk is weak!

 

[Perry]

@Aquaforest @Anirban, hi, I have been adopting Aquaforest products in my 700 litre system. First started using the salt and the ABVE, and have now finally moved from Fauna Marin Balling to Aquaforest Balling. I mixed the solutions according to the video above and am currently dosing 168ml of each. However, my Alkalinity is still going down while my Calcium oil increasing slightly and Magnesium increasing a lot. I have seen a number of times that the solutions should be dosed in equal amounts but I really do not want to have unbalanced parameters. Is it that bad if I dose different amounts of each component? And finally, what is the scientific justification for having to dose the same amount of each solution?

Thank you very much

Kind regards

Vasco

Hi Vasco,
If you are mixing yourself, you can adjust recipe to less of calcium and mag. In my experience, this is something that will eventually work itself out and balance over time. The liquids are intended to dose in equal amounts, so you could also manually add alk until this stabilizes. I found the exact same thing in the beginning using pre-mixed Comp 123. The higher calcium and magnesium caused no ill effects. Eventually, after a few months, I noticed calcium and mag falling into normal range. I switched to making myself and thought that this would be a much better route for my tank, given I could use less of calcium and mag powders. At this point, it was unnecessary as my tank settled in to AF's recipe. Some inhabitants use calcium, alk, and mag in different uptakes as they calcify, however, I believe the recipe to be as close to linear as I have worked with, after stabilization. Cheers

 

[VJV]

Thanks. How long have you been using the Aquaforest balling?

 

[VJV]

Thanks Perry, and congrats on your tank! Looking really good. I would just like to know the reason behind dosing in equal amounts... I guess it is related to the fact that the Micro elements (Components strong) are mixed in with the solutions and dosing more of one than the other might creat an imbalance of micro elements... but how serious would that be??? Also, my tank (especially torches snails) does not seem to like high Mag levels. Since I mixed the Mag with the Mineral Salts and not Calcium, I will be dosing lower Mag. Currently at 192ml of All, 168ml of Calcium and 144ml of MAg+Mineral Salts. By the way, how much are you dosing in your 50 gallon cube?

 

[Anirban]

Hi Vasco,
You can dose them in different amount but I will go with Perrys recommendation. If you are preparing your own components then just vary the amount of Ca and Mg according to the need. You are right if you change the dosing to different amount of each component the micro elements will be imbalanced.

 

[VJV]

Thanks. I will try that out. In the meantime I still have some 20 days worth of stock solution so will let that end and than mix to a lower concentration.

 

[120reefkeeper]

I would also concur with Perry’s suggestion. Through my personal experience when I began dosing I ran my components 1,2,3 at a lower amount and then hand dosed alkalinity. For me my calcium and magnesium ran higher and my Alkalinity uptake was much faster. After a month or so things seemed to settle in and I was dosing in equal amounts. From time to time I did have to hand dose individual solutions. I also mix my own components. [emoji4]

 

[rob safron]

I will agree with the above and offer my experience. Started with AF about 2 years ago. Seemed like I could not get things balanced out for the longest time. Would play the game of dosing extra this and skipping doses of that trying to balance. Finally gave up the game and kept dosing equally. Today everything is in balance, things worked out but took months. I will say mag does run high, 1450-1500 but that’s not an issue. Corals are now growing well.

 

[jordimex]

Hello guys, I have a red sea 350 tank that was changed from an established red sea 250 tank, it is roughly 90 gallons and with about 50 pounds of rock, I would say my water volume is about 70 total gallons.
I have 2 leather mushrooms, 3 mushrooms, and 4 sps frags that are not doing to good except for one of them.
I have been using the red sea blue bucket and doing bi weekly water changes of about 5-10%
My Current parameters are
Alkalinity at 5 (didnt noticed that my alkalinity wasnt dosing correctly)
Calcium 400 holding it steady dosing 5 ml of red sea calcium, wish it was a bit in the 430-440 range so will up the dossage
Nitrates 5
Phosphates undetectable
2 radion G4 XR30 Pro
1 octopus 110 skimmer
1 Sicce return pump
Full apex system.
I am waiting on the KH Director should be here friday not plan on using the dosing function but this way i can see if anything is out of sync
I am looking to have a sps only tank running a ULNS.
Been reading and investigating on the best way to change from one method to the other, but unfortunatly still not sure whats the best way to do it.
I am interesting in doing the 123 balling method is there any best way to start doing this?
What components should i buy? Or should i just buy the whole AF line from the get go
Thank you very much really eager to start the change and hope that my aquarium would look better than ever

Jordi

 

[Anirban]

Hello guys, I have a red sea 350 tank that was changed from an established red sea 250 tank, it is roughly 90 gallons and with about 50 pounds of rock, I would say my water volume is about 70 total gallons.
I have 2 leather mushrooms, 3 mushrooms, and 4 sps frags that are not doing to good except for one of them.
I have been using the red sea blue bucket and doing bi weekly water changes of about 5-10%
My Current parameters are
Alkalinity at 5 (didnt noticed that my alkalinity wasnt dosing correctly)
Calcium 400 holding it steady dosing 5 ml of red sea calcium, wish it was a bit in the 430-440 range so will up the dossage
Nitrates 5
Phosphates undetectable
2 radion G4 XR30 Pro
1 octopus 110 skimmer
1 Sicce return pump
Full apex system.
I am waiting on the KH Director should be here friday not plan on using the dosing function but this way i can see if anything is out of sync
I am looking to have a sps only tank running a ULNS.
Been reading and investigating on the best way to change from one method to the other, but unfortunatly still not sure whats the best way to do it.
I am interesting in doing the 123 balling method is there any best way to start doing this?
What components should i buy? Or should i just buy the whole AF line from the get go
Thank you very much really eager to start the change and hope that my aquarium would look better than ever

Jordi

Hi Jordi,

You can start using the balling method. You can either purchase the component 123+ or you can buy individual items and build your own components.Just bring all your major parameters Alk, Ca and Mg at desired level and then start dosing equal amount of each component. Keep an eye on your Alk and adjust dosing amount accordingly. If you have any issue then just let us know.
Once you establish the balance you can look into other probiotic based dosing. We can help you with that too.