Aquaforest Guide

[Anirban]

Good night all. I have a 150g tank and a 36g sump but with my aquascape and equipment my total water volume is 148g-150g. I recently did a water change and tested my alk 24hr later and was 7.9dkh. I then continued to test my alk daily and i dropped to 7.8dkh exactly 1 week later. I recently bought a doser and the Aquaforest Components 123. What amount should i start to dose daily to maintain the 7.9 to 8.0dkh level? Any guidance is greatly appreciated. I just found an aquaforest calculator and that say 44ml a day. Is this correct?

You dont need to dose anything now. I think from your description its a new tank without any real consumption. 0.1dkh over a week is nothing. Actually it can be just measuring error. Even 0.1 dkh over a day is nothing. So, just sit back and wait. Simple weekly water change is good enough for you if needed.

 

[VJV]

Good night all. I have a 150g tank and a 36g sump but with my aquascape and equipment my total water volume is 148g-150g. I recently did a water change and tested my alk 24hr later and was 7.9dkh. I then continued to test my alk daily and i dropped to 7.8dkh exactly 1 week later. I recently bought a doser and the Aquaforest Components 123. What amount should i start to dose daily to maintain the 7.9 to 8.0dkh level? Any guidance is greatly appreciated. I just found an aquaforest calculator and that say 44ml a day. Is this correct?

The drop occurred during a week so the 44ml would need to be divided by 7 to get the daily dose, so 6ml per day. Keep measuring daily. Do you have any hard corals in your tank? Coralline growth?

 

[Bracka345]

You dont need to dose anything now. I think from your description its a new tank without any real consumption. 0.1dkh over a week is nothing. Actually it can be just measuring error. Even 0.1 dkh over a day is nothing. So, just sit back and wait. Simple weekly water change is good enough for you if needed.

Thanks. I currently do biweekly water changes of 15g.

 

[Bracka345]

The drop occurred during a week so the 44ml would need to be divided by 7 to get the daily dose, so 6ml per day. Keep measuring daily. Do you have any hard corals in your tank? Coralline growth?

Same thing i was thinking to do the 6ml a day since the drop was across 7 days. I have a dozen zoa frags and 3 ricordia frags and a piece of purple monti about 3". Will be adding some hammers and frogspawn in a few weeks. Thanks!!!

 

[Anirban]

Thanks. I currently do biweekly water changes of 15g.

That's good enough for you currently. Once your system start consuming o.5 or more dkh per day then use those components to balance it out. Wait till then.

 

[Bracka345]

That's good enough for you currently. Once your system start consuming o.5 or more dkh per day then use those components to balance it out. Wait till then.

Sounds good. Thanks for you help.

 

[VJV]

Well, Aquaforest has done so well for my tank that I am now thinking about... switching..?! [emoji4]

Let me explain: I have a 180g tank + 30g sump and started using Aquaforest Balling, Reef Salt and ABEV about 6 months ago. My coral growth exploded after that and I now have colonies that reach 20” across, namely one huge Seriatopora... [emoji15]

The result is that I am dosing 380ml of each component daily which is adding up to about 440€ per year in balling salts alone (yes, I am mixing my own components).

So for the first time I am considering using a calcium reactor which should pay for itself in about 1,5y. I will continue to use the Reef Salt and the additives.

It is almost a case of AF being too good [emoji4].

Let’s see if the CaRx does as good as the Aquaforest balling....

 

[waxhawreefer]

Well, Aquaforest has done so well for my tank that I am now thinking about... switching..?! [emoji4]

Let me explain: I have a 180g tank + 30g sump and started using Aquaforest Balling, Reef Salt and ABEV about 6 months ago. My coral growth exploded after that and I now have colonies that reach 20” across, namely one huge Seriatopora... [emoji15]

The result is that I am dosing 380ml of each component daily which is adding up to about 440€ per year in balling salts alone (yes, I am mixing my own components).

So for the first time I am considering using a calcium reactor which should pay for itself in about 1,5y. I will continue to use the Reef Salt and the additives.

It is almost a case of AF being too good [emoji4].

Let’s see if the CaRx does as good as the Aquaforest balling....

Wow, my 88 gallon, I was dosing 125ml of all of aquaforest components for alk, about 88 ml for cal, and 88ml for mag/salt, it was too expensive so I went back to EVS, now only dosing 30ml to keep the same DKH, 24 ml for cal, and haven’t dosed any mag in months and my level is still 1350!! Not sure what is exactly in component 3?????

 

[VJV]

My tank is consuming about 1,4dKH daily so even using other salts like fauna Marin which have higher concentration I would still be using about 266ml for Alk alone (though much less for calcium admittedly).

Aquaforest salts are not very concentrated but at the same time that helps making them very easy to mix, unlike other salts that are a pain to dissolve.

I do not know EVS and it is not available to me (Europe) so cant comment on that [emoji4].

 

[Anirban]

Great to hear this. Component 3 of AF line contains magnesium and all AF salts doesn't contain any caking agent so they are very easy to dissolve.

 

[Matevz Savarin]

Hi I am weekly manually dose 5ml o faquaforest a, b and c. I also dose Kalium 5 drops per week. I am using ca reactor for kh and calcium and all is good. My question is can I mix kalium with rodi and use dosing pump to dose it? I will do this with a,b,c each one 20ml in 1 L rodi. My daily consumption of kh is 0,4. So my calculation is that I need max 5ml each scomponent weekly, 20ml per month. Can I do mix kalium - rodi? Thank you!

 

[Anirban]

Hi I am weekly manually dose 5ml o faquaforest a, b and c. I also dose Kalium 5 drops per week. I am using ca reactor for kh and calcium and all is good. My question is can I mix kalium with rodi and use dosing pump to dose it? I will do this with a,b,c each one 20ml in 1 L rodi. My daily consumption of kh is 0,4. So my calculation is that I need max 5ml each scomponent weekly, 20ml per month. Can I do mix kalium - rodi? Thank you!

Hi you can. Its solution in water so you can dilute that and use dosing pump for it. Just keep checking the level of Potassium for first few weeks so that you know its stable.

 

[Matevz Savarin]

Ok, thanks for answear!

 

[Chris145G]

I have question regarding aquaforest magnesium. Do you have to dissolve 10g in 1000ml of water or can you make the mix stronger and do like 100g in 1000ml of water?? I need tl raise my mag by 150ppm which in my tank thats 670g of powder.

 

[Aquaforest]

I have question regarding aquaforest magnesium. Do you have to dissolve 10g in 1000ml of water or can you make the mix stronger and do like 100g in 1000ml of water?? I need tl raise my mag by 150ppm which in my tank thats 670g of powder.

Yes.
Answer is in guide, page 13:
https://aquaforest.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/AF_Products-Guide_EN_WEB_02.01.19.pdf

 

[StayGolden]

@Aquaforest if I’m just starting out dosing, and I’m using the the powder version (mix my own). Do I just dose ca/mg and kh until I reach my desired parameters, and only use the mineral salts for 123+ equal parts dosing? Or do I dose ca/mg and kh along with mineral salt individually, then add strong for 123+ equal parts dosing?

 

[Aquaforest]

Component 1+2+3+ should be dosed equally. If one or two parameters are still not balanced- we recommend to continue with administering equal doses of each component, and take advantage of one of our additives (Calcium, Magnesium, KH Buffer) of Ca Plus, Mg Plus and KH Plus to restore desired level(s).

 

[StayGolden]

Component 1+2+3+ should be dosed equally. If one or two parameters are still not balanced- we recommend to continue with administering equal doses of each component, and take advantage of one of our additives (Calcium, Magnesium, KH Buffer) of Ca Plus, Mg Plus and KH Plus to restore desired level(s).

So just to be clear....once I’m using component 1+2+3+, and any of the parameters are low/high, I use component 1+2+3+ in conjunction with the addditive (calcium, magnesium, kh buffer) at the same time to restore levels?

 

[Aquaforest]

Yes

 

[GodfathR]

I have been using 1+2+3+ for a few weeks now. The other day (dont ask) my component 3+ got knocked over and spilled out in my basement. Can I just continue to use 1+2+ and supplement mag with some BRS magnesium until component 1 and 2 are gone without any issues?