Tropic Marine All For Reef - Who has stable kh using it?

[kilnakorr]

Hi

Shifted from 3 part to AFR, about 6 months ago and find the kh value to be very unstable.
I'm dosing same amount every hour, but the kh value is jumping more than I'd like.

I have the KH director testing every 6 hrs (4 times a day. I have done several test in between with a 7.5 kh reference solution, that reads 7.3 every time.

Below are the measuring the past few days.
Note the increase to 8.9, and 6 hrs later ir's 8.1.
Slowly increasing again afterwards.

Is anyone using AFR and having stable kh?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I cannot see the time scale well, but demand may happen more during the day than at night. Do you see lower alk at, say, 5 pm than at 7 AM?

 

[kilnakorr]

I cannot see the time scale well, but demand may happen more during the day than at night. Do you see lower alk at, say, 5 pm than at 7 AM?

A better picture with time.
Each test/point is at 6,12,18,24(00).
The huge drop is between 12 and 18(6 pm).

However, it takes 72 hours after to go back to my targeted 8.5 dkh.

My main issue here is, it can run a few days within 0.1dkh and then start dropping or increasing without any changes.

 

[wakejumper22]

I use AFR alongside Kalk… and it seems to work well.. my alk is pinned at 8.1 consistently. Also, it takes time for the AFR to show up on a test. When first starting out I dosed the same amount of afr for a week or two and adjusted to the trend and not daily.

 

[rishma]

I also dose AFR and kalk. My alkalinity is stable but I never test more than 2x per day, and sometimes only 1x per week.

There is a guy who uses AFR and a trident in here. I’ll see if I can find his name.

are you using the kH director to control the dose of AFR? If so, I’m not sure how that works given the delayed alkalinity release.

 

[twentyleagues]

I dont think afr and multiple daily test devices really work well together. Just by how afr works. I am sure there are ways to make it work better like spreading out the dosing to hopefully see the rise in afr during peak lighting when the majority of consumption may be happening. I dont think every tank is going to process afr at the same rate though. Mine is pretty stable but at most I test every 24hrs and typically dont do that more like every 3-4 days. I am currently dosing 20ml of afr at 6pm that is right in the middle of my "day" system is about 120g of actual water. I try to shoot for 8.8 dkh. When I test between 5-6pm after 24hrs its 8.8. If its not 8.8 then either consumption has increased (like it did a couple weeks ago I went from 15ml to 20ml) or I forgot to dose. Rarely have I seen my alk rise above my target with my "dialed in" dose.

 

[exnisstech]

It has been pretty steady for me for the last several months but like some others I test occasionally but do not monitor.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

are you using the kH director to control the dose of AFR? If so, I’m not sure how that works given the delayed alkalinity release.

I agree, i do not know how one avoids overcorrection in that scenario.

 

[jmcdona6]

I have had a similar pattern in my past use with a Trident, AFR and automatic dosing.

I guess I challenge your assertion...is it really that bad? I had mine set to stay between 8.5 and 9.5. it drifted between those two points often over time, but the tank didn't show any ill effects. To the day I broke that tank down, I was routinely having to prune things out to keep coral from taking over.

I know everyone has their mind set on stability, but define stability. A true variance of 0.5 dKH over the course of a week isn't that bad. I say true variance, because no matter how much you calibrate there will always be testing error.

Randy is way more knowledgeable than I ever would be, so defer to him 100%. But to my knowledge, there are a lot of factors that affect dKH throughout time and varying factors that dictate how AFR is taken in by your system. There are factors that will cause corals to increase or decrease uptake. If your definition of stability is a straight line...good luck! I have seen people achieve it...just don't know if that should be your ultimate objective.

 

[Pistondog]

Hi

Shifted from 3 part to AFR, about 6 months ago and find the kh value to be very unstable.
I'm dosing same amount every hour, but the kh value is jumping more than I'd like.

I have the KH director testing every 6 hrs (4 times a day. I have done several test in between with a 7.5 kh reference solution, that reads 7.3 every time.

Below are the measuring the past few days.
Note the increase to 8.9, and 6 hrs later ir's 8.1.
Slowly increasing again afterwards.

Is anyone using AFR and having stable kh?

+1 @twentyleagues
The alk component of afr requires more than a day to get processed into a measureable effect, unlike other additives. Trying to measure and correct an afr addition in less than 24 hours will not work.
We have used afr for over a year and require only minor tweaks, as measured weekly or so
Of course, since we dont test for it, we might (are probably) having alk swings during the day due to changes in demand.

 

[rishma]

I also dose AFR in a single dose, early in lighting period.

 

[scotty333]

Recently my steady 10.2 went to 11.7 in 8 days , I was messing around with the doser and may have dumped the 1.5kh by mistake and reef facrtory will do a kh test for me tomorrow to confirm the decreased uptake or a dump

 

[kilnakorr]

are you using the kH director to control the dose of AFR? If so, I’m not sure how that works given the delayed alkalinity release.

I agree, i do not know how one avoids overcorrection in that scenario.

No. I tried that at first, but this really had it bouncing due to the delay of kh.

I dose 4 ml every hour 24/7.
The increase and decrease in kh happens at all hours, not just day/night swings.

 

[BryanM]

I just started using a KHGuardian and am dosing AFR, but its far too early for me to give feedback.... Following along.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I just started using a KHGuardian and am dosing AFR, but its far too early for me to give feedback.... Following along.

How does it know when to stop dosing?

 

[BryanM]

How does it know when to stop dosing?

It doesn’t, so I figure I need to monitor and adjust the dosage to fit my tanks consumption.

Weird to me that afr takes quite a while to see all changes

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It doesn’t, so I figure I need to monitor and adjust the dosage to fit my tanks consumption.

Weird to me that afr takes quite a while to see all changes

Ok, thanks.

 

[exnisstech]

Weird to me that afr takes quite a while to see all changes

I think this is why it may not be a good choice for a product to auto dose based on auto testing

 

[BryanM]

I think this is why it may not be a good choice for a product to auto dose based on auto testing

I’ll likely switch back to dosing with the apex and just use the khguardian for automated testing.

 

[exnisstech]

I’ll likely switch back to dosing with the apex and just use the khguardian for automated testing.

It will be interesting to see if the auto test results are similar to the OPs dosing with apex or if they will be more consistent.