Reef Buffer needed with All For Reef?

[The.Seabeast]

I am currently adding Seachem Reef Buffer to my ATO water to keep my PH stable. I just switched my dosing to Tropic Marin All For Reef yesterday. Will I still need to add Reef Buffer to my ATO RO/DI water?

 

[Troylee]

I run kalk in my ato and use very little a4r to keep it all stable.. works great to keep my ph up, and cal, alk in-line and it’s cheap!

 

[X-37B]

You will need to adjust alk until the A4R kicks in. I use esv alk but any will do.
It took 9 days for mine to kick in.
I would dose alk daily by hand so you have control of your alk.
Make sure your Ca and Mag levels are where you want before starting A4R.
After almost 7 weeks in my 20g im at 32ml a day of A4R and dose nothing else. Everything looks good.
This is above the max dose of 25ml per 25g's.
So far everything is growing well and color is improving.
My 20g is 5 months old and A4R is doing the job well.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I am currently adding Seachem Reef Buffer to my ATO water to keep my PH stable. I just switched my dosing to Tropic Marin All For Reef yesterday. Will I still need to add Reef Buffer to my ATO RO/DI water?

You we’re adding reef buffer to maintain pH, not based on alk demand?

 

[The.Seabeast]

I was adding Reef Buffer to my RO/DI ATO water for PH and dosing Redsea A,B and C as needed. Now I switched to All For Reef so I don’t have to dose all three separately.

 

[The.Seabeast]

I was using Reef Builder to maintain Alk, but then I switched to Redsea A, B and C when water changes weren’t quite maintaining the other two.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I was adding Reef Buffer to my RO/DI ATO water for PH and dosing Redsea A,B and C as needed. Now I switched to All For Reef so I don’t have to dose all three separately.

Expect the pH to be lower when using all for reef then higher pH alk supplements.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I was using Reef Builder to maintain Alk, but then I switched to Redsea A, B and C when water changes weren’t quite maintaining the other two.

Reef Buffer is also an alk supplement. Anything that raises pH is an alk supplement.

 

[The.Seabeast]

Would you recommend I stop adding reef buffer to my ATO water since I am dosing AFR?

 

[areefer01]

Would you recommend I stop adding reef buffer to my ATO water since I am dosing AFR?

What exactly are you trying to accomplish? What is your ph currently at? How are you measuring ph and how does it look over time (manual test or auto va controller). Lastly what leads you to believe you need to add the buffer or raise it. I was also going to ask how old / mature and size of display.

As RHF noted above TM AFR will not boost your ph like other products (kalk, buffers, etc). There are better tools for the job if one is needed.

 

[The.Seabeast]

My tank is an Innovative Marine Nuvo 20 AIO and it’s up and running for about a year and a half. When I first started it, my PH kept dropping and my LFS recommended adding Reef Buffer to my ATO water to maintain it. I started adding it and PH remained stable, so I’ve been using it ever since. I use a Hanna PH tester to check about once a month. I’m always stable at 8.1 to 8.2.

I’m definitely open to trying something different, but I just didn’t know what you would recommend adding with the AFR.

 

[X-37B]

My tank is an Innovative Marine Nuvo 20 AIO and it’s up and running for about a year and a half. When I first started it, my PH kept dropping and my LFS recommended adding Reef Buffer to my ATO water to maintain it. I started adding it and PH remained stable, so I’ve been using it ever since. I use a Hanna PH tester to check about once a month. I’m always stable at 8.1 to 8.2.

I’m definitely open to trying something different, but I just didn’t know what you would recommend adding with the AFR.

Ph kept dropping to what number.
You dont need to dose anything with A4R.
You will need ca, alk, to adjust if needed. I have only had to dose alk and now nothing.

How long have you run A4R and what is your current dose?
My ph is 7.8 night 8.2 day.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Would you recommend I stop adding reef buffer to my ATO water since I am dosing AFR?

I dont see any reason to use reef buffer. If AFR is added in sufficient quantity, it will meet all of your alk needs, and if the pH is lower then you like, you can back off on the AFR dose and replace some of it with a high pH alk supplement.

 

[Seansea]

Are you checking your alk? Might be sending your alk thru the roof. All for reef is great for keeping alk steady but does not affect ph in the positive or negative. My ph stays 8.1 all the time since i started tank 7 months ago. Attribute it to algae scrubber i started day 1 but would like it to be higher. Ph is important but is not the only factor.

 

[The.Seabeast]

I check my Alk and Cal a couple times a week and my Mag every other week or so. I try to keep Alk around 8.5. It will go down but doesn’t ever seem to go up without dosing.

 

[The.Seabeast]

I use Hanna checkers for all three.

 

[Seansea]

Ok. Sounds pretty good. AFR IS great and i put 25 ml in my tank a day and holds alk steady. I hand dose by putting it in an upside down water bottle that has a small hole in cap and it drips in. Upside no way to over dose. Downside i have to this every morning. Not sure how you will do both the buffer which is probably sodium carbonate or soda ash and the AFr if you put in top off bucket. If you hand dose you could alternate everyday i would think. Which is something i am considering to try to achieve an 8.3 ph

 

[X-37B]

Ok. Sounds pretty good. AFR IS great and i put 25 ml in my tank a day and holds alk steady. I hand dose by putting it in an upside down water bottle that has a small hole in cap and it drips in. Upside no way to over dose. Downside i have to this every morning. Not sure how you will do both the buffer which is probably sodium carbonate or soda ash and the AFr if you put in top off bucket. If you hand dose you could alternate everyday i would think. Which is something i am considering to try to achieve an 8.3 ph

For reference I dose 32ml A4R all at once in the morning in my 20 and alk will just stay at 7. So its like dosing 2 part throughout the day without a doser.
This has been my experience going on week 7 of the A4R.
If alk drops you up the A4R.

 

[Adamsbrou]

My tank is an Innovative Marine Nuvo 20 AIO and it’s up and running for about a year and a half. When I first started it, my PH kept dropping and my LFS recommended adding Reef Buffer to my ATO water to maintain it. I started adding it and PH remained stable, so I’ve been using it ever since. I use a Hanna PH tester to check about once a month. I’m always stable at 8.1 to 8.2.

I’m definitely open to trying something different, but I just didn’t know what you would recommend adding with the AFR.

How much buffer were you adding to the ATO? Im asking because I manually dose reef buffer a couple times a week to maintain 8-8.2. I average 3 tsp a week, so I’m thinking I will start with that amount in my ATO?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Im asking because I manually dose reef buffer a couple times a week to maintain 8-8.2.

Is that a pH or alkalinity?