Should I dose all for reef or BRS 2 part?

[FishPureLuck]

All-for-reef. The extra cost is going to be negligible for the tank volume, considering you need only one doser and container. It’s very easy to dial in (use alk gain after 24hrs of dosing to dial in your dose).

Only down side is that you won’t get the higher ph boost. However on the plus side, you can dose it in a lower flow area or dose all of it at once unlike a 2 part solution.

Yeah, I though of tank size and if it's worth the extra cost after I started the thread/poll. So far I'm leaning towards A4F. I already bought 7 lb bags of the BRS stuff Calc, Alk and Mag, but I haven't opened it and I'm assuming that I could sell it for a little loss just to get rid of it.

 

[robo_reef]

I liked the idea of All-for-Reef for Nano tanks since the cost is low (low volume + powder version) and it's convenient. With two part, you would be missing the added trace elements and potentially deal with dosing pump accuracy - when I used to dose two part, I would notice that one container will drop faster than the other (even though I'm dosing equal parts), evidence of dosing pump accuracy issues.

With A4R, however, you would have to deal with a delay effect and wait a few days after adjusting before you'll see a result. So it's a potentially much longer period of adjustments.

 

[FishPureLuck]

I liked the idea of All-for-Reef for Nano tanks since the cost is low (low volume + powder version) and it's convenient. With two part, you would be missing the added trace elements and potentially deal with dosing pump accuracy - when I used to dose two part, I would notice that one container will drop faster than the other (even though I'm dosing equal parts), evidence of dosing pump accuracy issues.

With A4R, however, you would have to deal with a delay effect and wait a few days after adjusting before you'll see a result. So it's a potentially much longer period of adjustments.

So it's probably good that this is a new setup with just frags then. I'll probably start dosing the minimum and just watch it. I'll use the 1.1ml per minute brs doser and just run it for a minute. Does that sound right? There is 30 gallons of water in the tank. the rocks and sand took up the other 4 gallons space.

 

[Acros]

So it's probably good that this is a new setup with just frags then. I'll probably start dosing the minimum and just watch it. I'll use the 1.1ml per minute brs doser and just run it for a minute. Does that sound right? There is 30 gallons of water in the tank. the rocks and sand took up the other 4 gallons space.

The 1.1ml dosers never does that exact amount ever. Run it for 10 min, check how much it dispensed during that time. That divided by 10 is how much it actually dispense in a min.

 

[NotoriousDMC]

All for Reef is an all in one additive. Major,minor , and trace in 1 solution. You'll lose the higher PH with using 2 part but gain simplicity with All for Reef

Agree completely. I run AFR (mix my own from the powder) and really like it and so do corals. Trident numbers are incredibly stable. I get a PH bump from also supplementing low amount of Red Sea Alk to keep Alk around 8.5

 

[Tamberav]

I like ESV better then either

gives me a nice steady pH boost and has a little trace and the mag in it.

 

[Acros]

I like ESV better then either

gives me a nice steady pH boost and has a little trace and the mag in it.

Sorry to derail the thread a little bit. How much ph boost can we expect from dosing 1dkh equivalent of EVS B-Ionic 2 part spread over 12 hours or so?

I dose about 1dkh equivalent of all-for-reef, my ph drops as low as 7.76 at night and tops out at 7.95 during the day (mostly acros, some frags and some mini colonies). Will switching to ESV bring up the ph significantly and by how much? Otherwise, I really do not have any complaints about all-for-reef.

 

[Tamberav]

Sorry to derail the thread a little bit. How much ph boost can we expect from dosing 1dkh equivalent of EVS B-Ionic 2 part spread over 12 hours or so?

I dose about 1dkh equivalent of all-for-reef, my ph drops as low as 7.76 at night and tops out at 7.95 during the day (mostly acros, some frags and some mini colonies). Will switching to ESV bring up the ph significantly and by how much? Otherwise, I really do not have any complaints about all-for-reef.

I don't think I can speak to your personal tank. I used to run around 7.8-7.9 before I had to dose and now I am 8.2-8.4. I run my doser so the majority is spread at night when pH is lowest.

I think you would have to try it out to know.

 

[Acros]

I don't think I can speak to your personal tank. I used to run around 7.8-7.9 before I had to dose and now I am 8.2-8.4. I run my doser so the majority is spread at night when pH is lowest.

I think you would have to try it out to know.

Was that with just 2 part dosing or did you add a refugium or co2 scrubber?

 

[Dav2996]

I set up a 34 gallon cube as a mostly SPS tank. On my 300 gallon SPS, I used to dose BRS 2 part and everything thrived. That tank has been converted to a peacock cichlid tank, but I still have the Apex Neptune and BRS dosers. I'm running the AN on the new tank, and I was planning on using 2 part, but then I saw All for Reef. Is it better to use AFR or the 2 part? I do a weekly 5 gallon water change and use Fritz RPM for salt. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I had all for reef it eventually became too unbalanced dosing it alone. Calcium and alkalinity were wack all the time I prefer ionic part a and part b

 

[Spare time]

I set up a 34 gallon cube as a mostly SPS tank. On my 300 gallon SPS, I used to dose BRS 2 part and everything thrived. That tank has been converted to a peacock cichlid tank, but I still have the Apex Neptune and BRS dosers. I'm running the AN on the new tank, and I was planning on using 2 part, but then I saw All for Reef. Is it better to use AFR or the 2 part? I do a weekly 5 gallon water change and use Fritz RPM for salt. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

This just depends on how many bottles you want, the frequency of water changes (for minor and trace elements), trace/minor element consumption (and some major), and the pH. I use all for reef because I am in a situation where it works best but the low pH bothers me.

 

[Reef.]

So it's probably good that this is a new setup with just frags then. I'll probably start dosing the minimum and just watch it. I'll use the 1.1ml per minute brs doser and just run it for a minute. Does that sound right? There is 30 gallons of water in the tank. the rocks and sand took up the other 4 gallons space.

If I understand you correctly, that dose would be a lot under the min for your size tank, check the AFR calculator, probably nearer 6ml a day, and that would still only add 0.2dkh alk.

 

[Tamberav]

Was that with just 2 part dosing or did you add a refugium or co2 scrubber?

I had a fuge before 2 part so that isn't really changed. No CO2 scrubber.

I can't think of any downside to ESV except needing two doser heads which seems negligible to me.

 

[FishPureLuck]

If I understand you correctly, that dose would be a lot under the min for your size tank, check the AFR calculator, probably nearer 6ml a day, and that would still only add 0.2dkh alk.

I meant run it for 5 minutes, that should put me at the min dose.

 

[Acros]

I had a fuge before 2 part so that isn't really changed. No CO2 scrubber.

I can't think of any downside to ESV except needing two doser heads which seems negligible to me.

Thank you for the reply. I might try that once I run out of all-for-reef.

 

[Hooz]

I've been running AFR in my nanos going on 2 years now. I have ZERO complaints. It's been working wonderfully for me.

 

[knockout]

after converting from 2 parts to AFR, I can say I am happy with the results of AFR, I just posted my most recent ICP test in my conversion thread, and without dosing anything else AFR has kept all major and minor elements in the green zone, not going back