How to switch from 2 part to all for reef?

19Mateo83 · Nov 28, 2023

I am currently dosing brightwell code A&B. In the spirit of simplifying things I bought a single head dosing pump and all for reef powder. How do I go about transitioning from brightwell to AFR? Do I try to wean off one and slowly start the other or can I just stop dosing the 2 part and start the AFR? Will there be a shock to the system from the abrupt changes?

CasperOe · Nov 28, 2023

Make sure your independent parameters are as you want them to be- lower the dose on your two part and start dosing AFR.

Depending on how much you dose I'd change over over about a week but theres no right or wrong.

I adjusted accordingly on my nano tanks and changed over from one day to the next with no issues but afterwards I have been thinking I should have taken my time

legalizedreefer · Nov 28, 2023

Theres a slight lag in detectable Alk when you first start AFR.

I did the same thing as you, switched from 2 part to AFR (great decision btw)

Do you know your daily alk consumption? If not, you'll need to figure that out.

Here's what I did:

At the time of switching, my tank consumed 0.4 dKH per day.
i used the calculator here https://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html
Choose Randy's recipe #1 for alk.
I plugged in 8.0 as current and 8.4 as desired level.

The result was the amount of Randy's recipe #1 I would need daily for 0.4 dKH
multiply that result by 0.91 ( to adjust for potency of AFR)
That will give you your daily dose of AFR required to maintain your alk consumption.

Day 1 I would dose AFR and leave 2 part as-is
Test alk every day, and when it starts to climb thats a good indication that the AFR is supplying alk the way it is intended. THEN is a god time to reduce/remove your daily dose of 2 part.

I love AFR. I dose it based on Alk only. I test calcium about once a month or so and its always in acceptable range. Your results may very. Every couple of months I'll do a separate dose of magnesium as it tents to drop a little faster than AFR replaces it for me.

19Mateo83 · Nov 28, 2023

legalizedreefer said:
Theres a slight lag in detectable Alk when you first start AFR.

I did the same thing as you, switched from 2 part to AFR (great decision btw)

Do you know your daily alk consumption? If not, you'll need to figure that out.

Here's what I did:

At the time of switching, my tank consumed 0.4 dKH per day.
i used the calculator here https://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html
Choose Randy's recipe #1 for alk.
I plugged in 8.0 as current and 8.4 as desired level.

The result was the amount of Randy's recipe #1 I would need daily for 0.4 dKH
multiply that result by 0.91 ( to adjust for potency of AFR)
That will give you your daily dose of AFR required to maintain your alk consumption.

Day 1 I would dose AFR and leave 2 part as-is
Test alk every day, and when it starts to climb thats a good indication that the AFR is supplying alk the way it is intended. THEN is a god time to reduce/remove your daily dose of 2 part.

I love AFR. I dose it based on Alk only. I test calcium about once a month or so and it’s always in acceptable range. Your results may very. Every couple of months I'll do a separate dose of magnesium as it tents to drop a little faster than AFR replaces it for me.

Thank you for the link to Randy’s calculator. My system is 59g actual water volume and it consumes .3Dkh daily. According to your calculations I will need 11.46ml of AFR starting dose.