Controlling alk with AFR while dosing kalk?

[BAMatter]

I’ll be putting an AvastMarine K1 on my WaterBox 60.2 and plan on dosing 24/7. Never had much luck with overnight. Anyways, kalk will likely be the bulk of the alk/cal consumption but I also have a Kamoer KH Carer to do alk monitoring. Question- is All For Reef a good product to do the light lifting and dynamic dosing to dial in alk, or no? I’ve read it has a bit of a delayed alk response, and I’m thinking that would not be ideal. If that’s the case, am I better to do fine tuning with some soda ash being dosed by the KH Carer based on last alk test?

 

[Troylee]

My opinion for what it’s worth and how I run my tank… if I could afford to run straight all for reef I would but my alk demand is very high with tons of sps! I love that stuff and I swear by it now after dosing it for about 8 months.. so I top off with fully saturated kalk for the ph boost and to keep my alk levels up and dose 80ml daily of all for reef and I’ve never had a tank run smoother or have better results!

 

[BAMatter]

My opinion for what it’s worth and how I run my tank… if I could afford to run straight all for reef I would but my alk demand is very high with tons of sps! I love that stuff and I swear by it now after dosing it for about 8 months.. so I top off with fully saturated kalk for the ph boost and to keep my alk levels up and dose 80ml daily of all for reef and I’ve never had a tank run smoother or have better results!

Do you dose AFR 24/7 or is it on a controller?

 

[Troylee]

Do you dose AFR 24/7 or is it on a controller?

It’s dosed 24/7 on a Neptune dos… I don’t have it configured with my apex to adjust, I just manually set it up after watching my trident and kept watching the trends.. it’s time released so I’m not sure how you would set up a program to have it automatically dose and adjust to your all target.

 

[dthom]

I also try to use kalk for the bulk of my evaporation replacement and then use AFR on top of that. Works great.

It does have a delayed response, so not sure how that will work with a monitor.

 

[BAMatter]

It’s dosed 24/7 on a Neptune dos… I don’t have it configured with my apex to adjust, I just manually set it up after watching my trident and kept watching the trends.. it’s time released so I’m not sure how you would set up a program to have it automatically dose and adjust to your all target.

I also try to use kalk for the bulk of my evaporation replacement and then use AFR on top of that. Works great.

It does have a delayed response, so not sure how that will work with a monitor.

Ok so there is some sort of time release with AFR. I may need to work a new plan out. I’ll likely run kalk 24/7 and use some soda ash to keep alk in range with my KH Carer

 

[dthom]

Forgot… I dose AFR throughout the day via doses, but in measured amounts that are manually adjusted from time to time.

 

[BAMatter]

Forgot… I dose AFR throughout the day via doses, but in measured amounts that are manually adjusted from time to time.

How are you dosing it and how frequently are they adjusted?

 

[PocketGoose]

I dose kalk and A4R as well. After awhile the kalk wouldn't maintain my alk.

Roughly 200mL of kalk and 5mL of A4R currently.

 

[areefer01]

@Troylee 's post has the right idea if you want use KALK with AFR. You do not use AFR with controlled dosing of ALK due to how it works. In fact Tropic Marin state when using AFR that you get the water chemistry to your desired levels, calculate the daily dose, and start. Manually adjust as needed.

Edit: I dose 80 ml/ AFR only when lights are on. Also I do not use KALK with AFR although I've considered it a few times for the ph boost.

 

[BAMatter]

@Troylee 's post has the right idea if you want use KALK with AFR. You do not use AFR with controlled dosing of ALK due to how it works. In fact Tropic Marin state when using AFR that you get the water chemistry to your desired levels, calculate the daily dose, and start. Manually adjust as needed.

Edit: I dose 80 ml/ AFR only when lights are on. Also I do not use KALK with AFR although I've considered it a few times for the ph boost.

My system has been running on AFR since I set up, however not a very long time. I do think I’m going to find an alternative to put on my controller, likely soda ash.

 

[Doctorgori]

My opinion for what it’s worth and how I run my tank… if I could afford to run straight all for reef I would but my alk demand is very high with tons of sps! I love that stuff and I swear by it now after dosing it for about 8 months.. so I top off with fully saturated kalk for the ph boost and to keep my alk levels up and dose 80ml daily of all for reef and I’ve never had a tank run smoother or have better results!

I also try to use kalk for the bulk of my evaporation replacement and then use AFR on top of that. Works great.

It does have a delayed response, so not sure how that will work with a monitor.

yeah same here, but admittedly adjusting has been tricky as it seems there is a lil measurement latency with the AFR

Ultimate combo “might” be a 4pt: Kalk, Randy’s high pH & partC but Ido like the way AFR addresses the trace elements

 

[BAMatter]

as it seems there is a lil measurement latency with the AFR

Yea, that’s the issue I’m trying to confirm here. Looks like I’m going plan B

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Yea, that’s the issue I’m trying to confirm here. Looks like I’m going plan B

Yes, that makes AFR unsuitable for automated alk control and dosing, at least in the normally used fashion.

 

[BAMatter]

Yes, that makes AFR unsuitable for automated alk control and dosing, at least in the normally used fashion.

Would soda ash be a good way to go in conjunction with kalk, or better to use one of your recipes? I’ve read/heard somewhere along the line that soda ash by itself is usually not ideal (I don’t know if there’s any merit to that so if anyone is reading this place don’t regurgitate it thinking it’s a fact) I’d just like to confirm that and find the best way to control alk at the moment t

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Would soda ash be a good way to go in conjunction with kalk, or better to use one of your recipes? I’ve read/heard somewhere along the line that soda ash by itself is usually not ideal (I don’t know if there’s any merit to that so if anyone is reading this place don’t regurgitate it thinking it’s a fact) I’d just like to confirm that and find the best way to control alk at the moment t

BRS took my diy to make their soda ash recipe so there’s nothing wrong with adequately pure soda ash aka sodium carbonate aka baked baking soda.

The best way to use it is as part of a diy 2/3 part with calcium from calcium chloride and the third part being Balling Part C. There are much cheaper ways to go, but that one is the most ionically balanced.

 

[BAMatter]

BRS took my diy to make their soda ash recipe so there’s nothing wrong with adequately pure soda ash aka sodium carbonate aka baked baking soda.

The best way to use it is as part of a diy 2/3 part with calcium from calcium chloride and the third part being Balling Part C. There are much cheaper ways to go, but that one is the most ionically balanced.

Since I won’t be using AFR for alk control, is there a calculation to use to try to figure out soda ash? Say I’m dosing 10ml’s AFR for about a .5dkh drop in a 45 gallon total system, what would that translate to for soda ash?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Since I won’t be using AFR for alk control, is there a calculation to use to try to figure out soda ash? Say I’m dosing 10ml’s AFR for about a .5dkh drop in a 45 gallon total system, what would that translate to for soda ash?

This calculator has it dry and in my diy recipe 1.

Reef Chemistry Calculator

 

[BAMatter]

This calculator has it dry and in my diy recipe 1.

Reef Chemistry Calculator

Am I overlooking it? I didn’t see AFR…

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Am I overlooking it? I didn’t see AFR…

You asked about soda ash. I thought that was all you needed.

In any case, AFR is quite similar in alk and calcium to my diy #1. AFR is just a bit more potent than it.