Tropic Marine All for Reef Low Alkalinity

[Robin316us]

Hi.. is anyone using TM All for Reef? How much alkalinity do you get? Lost 2 torch... didn't realize at 1st why I was loosing... yesterday I checked the Alk... and it's 6.2dkh.. didn't check hw much cal or mag..
How to increase the alk when using All for Reef?

 

[TheDragonsReef]

Youre supposed to add as much as needed to maintain desired alk level. So just start upping your doseage slowly

 

[FishyFishFish]

The recommended method is to dose by Ca, but you said you haven't tested Ca. Alternatively you could dose by Alk but there are difficulties with doing this with AFR. If you've only just tested Alk (and not Ca), how did you decide how much to dose?

 

[Jekyl]

When keeping coral, especially fussy ones like torches you really need to manage parameters. You should have a pretty close idea of daily consumption of alk, cal, and magnesium and be dosing daily if needed. Nitrate and phosphate also need to be kept in check. There are calculators on the BRS site along with maximum that should be dosed daily for situations like this.

 

[areefer01]

What was your alk, ca, and mg parameters prior to starting TM AFR?
What did you dose prior to TM AFR?

Lastly - do you know how TM AFR works? There is a lag between dosing TMAFR and how ALK is represented. There are a couple threads with regards to low ALK measurements when using. Basically you calculate your initial dose and start slow. Over the course of days to a couple weeks ALK will start to balance out. If it is starts to decline because the balance isn't there yet you manually correct ALK by doing small doses manually to correct.

TL: DR - what was alk, ca, mg before starting, what did you dose, and you can manually correct until TM AFR balances. Hit up chem forum and search for TM AFR and see how it works.

 

[Robin316us]

I used to have two tank and share the dosing pump to both the tank...so the parameter were fine... then I changed the dosing of the small frag tank (20Gal) and started dosing TM All for Reef. It's all testing around. that's when I realized the Alk was low and I need to test Cal & Mag at the LFS.

The dosing instructions for Tropic Marin All For Reef "Start with a daily dose of 5 ml of All-For-Reef per 100 liters (26 US-gal) of aquarium system volume. Increase the daily dosage – by continuous control of the alkalinity – weekly by 2.5 ml per 100 liters (26 US-gal) of aquarium system volume, until a constant carbonate hardness of 7 to 9 °dH is reached."

And I've been dosing 5ml for 20gal tank... and still the Alk Level is low... so adding Kalkwasser in ATO makes it better?

 

[FishyFishFish]

Increase the daily dosage – by continuous control of the alkalinity – weekly by 2.5 ml per 100 liters (26 US-gal) of aquarium system volume, until a constant carbonate hardness of 7 to 9 °dH is reached."

^^ That is the important bit. The 5ml daily is a starting value (although I'm not a great fan of starting values as there are many variables that could affect that).

What I would do in your situation is to raise the Alk using Baking Soda or Soda Ash (Kalk isn't ideal for raising Alk, just maintaining it). Once you have your Alk back where you want it, increase the AFR dosing. Keep testing often enough so that you pick up the Alk drop before it gets too low and keep adjusting until you get it all balanced.

I'm a relative beginner myself, so take my advice for what it's worth, but that's what I would do (and am doing at the moment).

 

[CayeCaulker]

When keeping coral, especially fussy ones like torches you really need to manage parameters. You should have a pretty close idea of daily consumption of alk, cal, and magnesium and be dosing daily if needed. Nitrate and phosphate also need to be kept in check. There are calculators on the BRS site along with maximum that should be dosed daily for situations like this.

Monitoring consumption and adjusting is how I always did it. Keeping it in the zone.

 

[Robin316us]

^^ That is the important bit. The 5ml daily is a starting value (although I'm not a great fan of starting values as there are many variables that could affect that).

What I would do in your situation is to raise the Alk using Baking Soda or Soda Ash (Kalk isn't ideal for raising Alk, just maintaining it). Once you have your Alk back where you want it, increase the AFR dosing. Keep testing often enough so that you pick up the Alk drop before it gets too low and keep adjusting until you get it all balanced.

I'm a relative beginner myself, so take my advice for what it's worth, but that's what I would do (and am doing at the moment).

Baking Soda in ATO? How much to add ?

 

[FishyFishFish]

Baking Soda in ATO? How much to add ?

No, not in an ATO

See here for a calculator showing how much to add:

Reef Chemistry Calculator