All for Reef Dosing Question

[Poseidon83]

Question for those using AFR. I’ve been using the product for several months now. I have a 105 gallon tank that’s lightly stocked (few SPS frags) and several LPS corals and softies.

I use the powder AFR mix and mix according to instructions. Right now, I dose 47mL around 6am. My calcium is hovering around 390-400. My Alk is 7.4-8.1 depending on time of day.

Personally, I’d prefer my calcium to be around 410 and Alk in the 8+ range consistently. Should I increase the dose of AFR? Should I manually dose to increase the individual comments? Any recommendations are greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

 

[jrill]

I dose more if I want to raise alk.

 

[Poseidon83]

I dose more if I want to raise alk.

I guess I’m just concerned about the overall amount. That amount doesn’t seem excessive?

Is it better to dose based on the calcium or alkalinity? I know the alkalinity release is delayed with AFR.

 

[jrill]

I guess I’m just concerned about the overall amount. That amount doesn’t seem excessive?

Is it better to dose based on the calcium or alkalinity? I know the alkalinity release is delayed with AFR.

I'm not sure which is best but I dose based on alk. Calcium has always stayed within range.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It is not clear that talk is an appropriate measure (or at least doesn't have the same meaning) when dosing AFR, since much of it may be used by corals directly inside (according to TM) and never shows as alk.

 

[Poseidon83]

It is not clear that talk is an appropriate measure (or at least doesn't have the same meaning) when dosing AFR, since much of it may be used by corals directly inside (according to TM) and never shows as alk.

So I should increase my dose and monitor the calcium level?

With AFR, is the calcium rise immediate or would it be delayed like the Alk?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

So I should increase my dose and monitor the calcium level?

With AFR, is the calcium rise immediate or would it be delayed like the Alk?

The calcium rise is immediate.

If you want to experiment with higher doses, that's certainly fine. Just watch the tank for organism benefits or detriments, and monitor alk.

 

[mvbrandt]

67ml a day is a fair amount. I dose 26 a day to my CADE 1500 and things remain stable.

 

[GARRIGA]

Not a user but my approach is going to be to dose based on calcium consumption then supplement with soda ash or baking soda dependent on PH needs. However, need to better understand the uptake of alkalinity based AFR. As stated by others it might be taken immediately and not registering. Not sure exactly what that means or how one is to interpret the readings when testing alk as it trusted to achieving desired goals. Not having to supplement would be preferable.

 

[Jonify]

That seems a pretty standard amount. According to AFR instructions, max dose would be 105 ml for your 105 gal tank. So you have some room (and you can even go above, but they don't have data on that yet, though BRS tanks have reported consistently good results going far above Tropic Marin's max dose). Nail your uptake to calcium and get that stable to the level you want (this was Tropic Marin's instructions early on, but then they changed it to pegging it to Alk ... not sure why, and it doesn't make sense, cuz Alk consumption can vary quite a bit, but meh). Then dose Alk as needed. If you get too high on Alk, here's a quick reset: drop your dose until you hit the Alk you want, then dose up Ca to the level you want, and resume your normal AFR dose.