Tropic Marin - All-For-Reef, where to start?

[BBestvin]

I've been doing some research for a few weeks now and I've decided to try All-For-Reef on my 13.5g Fluval EVO. I think I have too many corals in the tank for the water changes to keep parameters where they need to be. Currently my ALK is sitting around 5-6. My question is, when using All-For-Reef, should I try to get the tank parameters where I want them to be before dosing (ie, dosing will keep parameters where they should be) or do I use the product to help raise my low ALK?

Thanks in advance!

 

[CasperOe]

BRS has a really good guide on how to start on All For Reef- give this a look!

SIMPLIFY Reef Tank Dosing With Tropic Marin All-for-Reef!

Get the full rundown of Tropic Marin's all-in-one additive solution for reef aquariums, All-For-Reef.

www.bulkreefsupply.com

 

[BBestvin]

BRS has a really good guide on how to start on All For Reef- give this a look!

SIMPLIFY Reef Tank Dosing With Tropic Marin All-for-Reef!

Get the full rundown of Tropic Marin's all-in-one additive solution for reef aquariums, All-For-Reef.

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Appreciate the information...I did check out the BRS video about this which was helpful. Still not sure about where my parameters should be when I start dosing? Also, I'm assuming I should have my alkalinity close to that of my "clean" saltwater mixed with Reef Crystals. That way water changes maintain the ALK levels. This sound correct?

Thanks,
Brian

 

[nothing_fancy]

I haven't found AFR to be useful in raising ALK. You'll wanna be testing for Mag and Cal while using the product and give it some time to work. Your AFR dose will be very small probably starting at 2-4 ml per day. For alkalinity on a tank that size I would do something simple like Brightwell alkalin8.3 to get your alk up and test daily and go slowly. The bottle will say to dose once per day and test in 24 hrs. Follow that guideline at first and then measure your consumption. Just my opinion there are other methods. Just be aware that Alkalin8.3 will also raise your ph a bit. In the meantime as you probably already know you can do a few water changes to get your alk up to 7 or so but I would advise against any big leaps... Once you have all of this sorted out and your comfortable a simple auto dose like Kamoer can be set on a schedule to dose the AFR into the tank in the morning and at night.

 

[BBestvin]

I haven't found AFR to be useful in raising ALK. You'll wanna be testing for Mag and Cal while using the product and give it some time to work. Your AFR dose will be very small probably starting at 2-4 ml per day. For alkalinity on a tank that size I would do something simple like Brightwell alkalin8.3 to get your alk up and test daily and go slowly. The bottle will say to dose once per day and test in 24 hrs. Follow that guideline at first and then measure your consumption. Just my opinion there are other methods. Just be aware that Alkalin8.3 will also raise your ph a bit. In the meantime as you probably already know you can do a few water changes to get your alk up to 7 or so but I would advise against any big leaps... Once you have all of this sorted out and your comfortable a simple auto dose like Kamoer can be set on a schedule to dose the AFR into the tank in the morning and at night.

This is very helpful...thank you! So you said AFR doesn't help much in raising ALK, but does it help in maintaining it? I guess the reason I'm asking is because I was hoping AFR would be a solo product I could dose without other products.

 

[nothing_fancy]

This is very helpful...thank you! So you said AFR doesn't help much in raising ALK, but does it help in maintaining it? I guess the reason I'm asking is because I was hoping AFR would be a solo product I could dose without other products.

In my experience with AFR which I dose twice daily, it can maintain alk until the demand for alk becomes greater at which point you will have to dose a supplement to bring the alk back up if thats something you're after. So with that in mind, raising your dose of AFR to chase a dkH reading is in my experience not going to work because you would be increasing the dosage of everything else that AFR brings to the table at the same time. In short I don't believe AFR is a solo product its more of a balancing supplement imo for trace, cal, mag, alk, etc. If your demand is high you will likely be looking into long term options of dosing something to maintain alk constantly. For me with my current dose of AFR which is relatively low my alk consumption is an everyday thing and has to be dosed separately.

 

[Reef_Curiosity]

You can do both. All-For-Reef can for sure raise elements. If you look at the Tropic Marin website, most products have a calculator to them.
On your Fluval 13.5, a dose of 2.5 ml All-For-Reef will add 0.3 dKH.

Now if your corals only use 0.2 a day, you will gain 0.1 dKH a day. Thus increasing it.

If you start at your target alkalinity, you would then decrease dosage to only add 0.2 dKH.
But if you start lower you keep overdosing it to increase it to your target.

Hope this helps.