Recent Switch to All for Reef

[attiland]

Yesterday I made the switch to AFR in my Waterbox 105.4

I’m following the directions of 5mL for every 26 gallons so approximately 16mL in my tank. I’m supposed to maintain that amount for 1 week then slowly increase by 2.5mL per 26 gallons a week

Yesterday morning before switching my values were: 7.51 ALK, 418 Ca, 1427 Mg

Today just over 24 hours after starting my values are : 6.53 Alk, 399 Ca (stable) and 1418 Mg.

My question is should I continue dosing alkalinity to maintain stability temporarily or just let things settle out then increase per the directions?

Any advice is much appreciated.

You need to up your dosage and your measuring point is calcium. Once that set you will see if you need supplement either mg or alk. (Just as AFR’s website suggests)

 

[Shirak]

Well, thanks for your calculations and information. I dissolved 160g of the AFR powder in 900ml as stated on the manual. They say this will give you 1Litres of solution.

So maybe it is because I used 900ml and not 1 Litre?

Still, Id need more then 4ml to raise Alk by 1 dKH…

I will just stop dosing for 24hrs and then re-test the alk with salifer and hanna.

Yes, I stopped everything else.. hopefully I didnt pump my old dKH liquid into the tank by emptying the siphon hose when adding AFR….Because I remember that I did into a glass..

I am using Tropic Marin Pro Reef Salt..

If my Alk still is high today after 24hrs I will do a WC

There was a discussion recently and I think the consensus was correct to just add the AFR to 900ml which should come up to about 1L after adding. I have the AFR powder but I am still going through some of the DIY mix so I haven't tried it yet. Even if you went with 1000ml H2O it shouldn't matter as you are going to dial in your dosing for your situation and as long as you mix it up the same each time it will be fine. I would look to getting some Mg supplement and bumping that up. Although a couple water changes with the TM Pro could fix that.

 

[chipchipbro]

There was a discussion recently and I think the consensus was correct to just add the AFR to 900ml which should come up to about 1L after adding. I have the AFR powder but I am still going through some of the DIY mix so I haven't tried it yet. Even if you went with 1000ml H2O it shouldn't matter as you are going to dial in your dosing for your situation and as long as you mix it up the same each time it will be fine. I would look to getting some Mg supplement and bumping that up. Although a couple water changes with the TM Pro could fix that.

Thanks for your feedback!
This is so weird I just measured KH again with salifert and it was 9.9.. So still rising without dosing.. thats so weird.. i dont get it..

Will dose Mag and do some WC

 

[Shirak]

Thanks for your feedback!
This is so weird I just measured KH again with salifert and it was 9.9.. So still rising without dosing.. thats so weird.. i dont get it..

Will dose Mag and do some WC

Sorry got nothing on the alk still going up. Check salinity? Can try doing a couple consecutive tests to make sure your getting the same number and it's not something going on with the kit? If you have another kit or can take a sample somewhere to confirm?

 

[chipchipbro]

Sorry got nothing on the alk still going up. Check salinity? Can try doing a couple consecutive tests to make sure your getting the same number and it's not something going on with the kit? If you have another kit or can take a sample somewhere to confirm?

yeah will do a 20% WC now..
and I did check with salifert and Hanna - both the same results.. Thats weird.. really weird tbh..

 

[chipchipbro]

Well, I did my WC and now i am back to 8.9 dKH.. Might just not dose anything and tomorrow measure Ca and Mag and dose them seperately.

 

[Poseidon83]

Update. My AFR dosage settled about a week ago. I dose 38mL every morning which so far has kept my parameters pretty stable. I’m already in love with is product. It’s soooo much easier than dosing and chasing numbers.

 

[attiland]

Update. My AFR dosage settled about a week ago. I dose 38mL every morning which so far has kept my parameters pretty stable. I’m already in love with is product. It’s soooo much easier than dosing and chasing numbers.

Looks like you can go even higher but glad you are getting success already

 

[Hooz]

In my 30L (holds an actual 20 gallons of water), I dose 7.8ml/day. I split it into six 1.3ml doses per day (every 4 hours). I used to dose it manually once a day in the morning, but I noticed that my alk was way high in the afternoon when I did it that way. Since putting it on the dosing pump, my numbers stay very level all day.

 

[chipchipbro]

In my 30L (holds an actual 20 gallons of water), I dose 7.8ml/day. I split it into six 1.3ml doses per day (every 4 hours). I used to dose it manually once a day in the morning, but I noticed that my alk was way high in the afternoon when I did it that way. Since putting it on the dosing pump, my numbers stay very level all day.

Nice to know!
I also did dose it with a doser with 1ml dosages every 5hrs

Still my Alk sky rocket….

Dont know the reason yet tbh

 

[Lyss]

Nice to know!
I also did dose it with a doser with 1ml dosages every 5hrs

Still my Alk sky rocket….

Dont know the reason yet tbh

I have this issue, where alk goes up much more than anything else. All was good until I added some Halimeda that is growing like a weed and taking up calcium like crazy. I’ve just been supplementing additional calcium and magnesium when necessary and only increasing the AFR dose in small increments.

 

[chipchipbro]

I have this issue, where alk goes up much more than anything else. All was good until I added some Halimeda that is growing like a weed and taking up calcium like crazy. I’ve just been supplementing additional calcium and magnesium when necessary and only increasing the AFR dose in small increments.

the thing is I didnt add anything!
I dont understand that..

Was dosing 2-part from ATI and then I changed to AFR and my Alk went up like crazy when my Calcium stayed where it was..

Well gonna up my Mag a bit since its only 1200.. but still.. Scary stuff…

 

[Lyss]

the thing is I didnt add anything!
I dont understand that..

Was dosing 2-part from ATI and then I changed to AFR and my Alk went up like crazy when my Calcium stayed where it was..

Well gonna up my Mag a bit since its only 1200.. but still.. Scary stuff…

Mag could be at least part of it. But in any case I’ve noticed for me that AFR makes my alk go up too high if I target calcium to be steady where I want it w/only AFR.

 

[attiland]

the thing is I didnt add anything!
I dont understand that..

Was dosing 2-part from ATI and then I changed to AFR and my Alk went up like crazy when my Calcium stayed where it was..

Well gonna up my Mag a bit since its only 1200.. but still.. Scary stuff…

I think o have said this before but AFT website is stating you may need to supplement individual elements depends on your tank’s demand.