All For Reef Or All-For-Reef Mix?

[Singspot]

What do you use for large aquarium - where you need good volume of dozing?

All For Reef liquid or All-for-Reef powder mix and make your liquid?

Pls. share your mixing, storing and dozing approach?

I use AFR Liquid today and REALLY do not want to go to other brands or multiple part alk dozers.

Pre-mix Liquid: https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/all-for-reef-tropic-marin.html
Mix: https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/all-for-reef-powder-mix-tropic-marin.html

The AFR powder is 5x cheaper and I am contemplating ... but I have heard the power made into mix "precipitates". Would like to learn from latest experience of those who are using/ have used in last 1-2 years.

 

[apb03]

I'm using the All-For-Reef powder. So far I haven't noticed any precipitate issues. It does take a bit of time to mix up, so I just turn on a magnetic stirrer for about 15 minutes or so and it clears up. The liquid has a slight yellowish hue to it, but that's about all I noticed.

It seems to store quite well and stays dissolved in my container. I use the Simplicity 2L dosing container. I mix the powder with about 1.7L of RODI and then top off to 2L once it's fully dissolved.

I too like the ease of a single-dosing solution. My tank is 110Gal and only 4 months old so I only add 20ml a day currently. Alk is pretty stable at 9 and calcium is in the 440 range. Still new to it, so I can't give you any long-term information, but so far, so good.

 

[Pntbll687]

I'm going to guess that those who have the mix "precipitate" are not using the correct amount of water, or they are using too much powder, making the concentration too high for the water, so they get "precipitation". I put precipitation in quotes, because it most likely not precip and just undissolved all for reef, Precipitation would mean it was in solution and then pulled out of solution by something.

If you're worried about this happening, you could use more water when mixing, you'll just have to increase the dose volume to get the same amount of alk delivered. I'm not sure what exactly AFR powder is, as it does not say on the BRS or Tropic Marin site, I'm guessing a calcium formate mix or hydroxide of some kind.

Even if you're dosing AFR, you still need to keep a regular alk/ca/mg mix on hand. Check out the Tropic Marin site. They have a chart listed at the bottom of what you should dose given certain situations. I'm guessing AFR works in ways similar to kalkwasser, where it is good at maintaining chemistry, but not so good for general adjustments.

Tropic Marin | Aquarium | Produktinformationen

Tropic Mairn - The aquatic life science company. Wir stellen hochwertige Salze, Additive und Wassertests vorwiegend für Meerwasseraquarien her. Korallen, Fische und Wirbellose in Ihrem Aquarium fühlen sich mit unseren Produkten wohl.

www.tropic-marin-smartinfo.com

If you like AFR, and are happy with the liquid but don't like the price, then go for the powder and try it out.

 

[fodsod]

I've been using AFR powder for a while now on my 90g mixed reef tank and currently dose 22ml daily. My Alk sits around 9.6 at that dose. I've seen no precipitation or other issues but I follow the directions for mixing exactly as described.

So far it's been an excellent resource for keeping Alk, CA and Mag on point.

 

[Wiskey]

My tank is 25 gallon with a 10 gallon sump, so not quite the size you are asking about, but I'm dosing 25 ML/Day of All for Reef since the tank is packed with LPS, with a handful of fast growing SPS so I think the experience will be useful here.

I started the tank from the day it was setup on the Liquid All For Reef, it worked well, but as corals grew I was ticking the amount I needed to dose up and up. Eventually the liquid stuff was not cost effective so I made the switch to the powder. I did find the powder to be less concentrated and I needed to increase my dosing a little bit, but that was simple, and other than that the conversion was straightforward. The corals didn't seem to mind at all.

This is a really old picture of the tank, it's viewable 3 sides:
IMG_5209 by Wiskey2727, on Flickr


Edit -- Sorry, this photo is a little bit more recent. It's from November. With all the work on the 300 I haven't been taking pictures of this one lately apperently.
IMG_5883 by Wiskey2727, on Flickr


Whiskey

 

[fodsod]

My tank is 25 gallon with a 10 gallon sump, so not quite the size you are asking about, but I'm dosing 25 ML/Day of All for Reef since the tank is packed with LPS, with a handful of fast growing SPS so I think the experience will be useful here.

I started the tank from the day it was setup on the Liquid All For Reef, it worked well, but as corals grew I was ticking the amount I needed to dose up and up. Eventually the liquid stuff was not cost effective so I made the switch to the powder. I did find the powder to be less concentrated and I needed to increase my dosing a little bit, but that was simple, and other than that the conversion was straightforward. The corals didn't seem to mind at all.

This is a really old picture of the tank, it's viewable 3 sides:
IMG_5209 by Wiskey2727, on Flickr

Whiskey

Your tank looks fantastic!

 

[Mperry622]

I have been running the all4reef power for almost 7 months. I am up to 4 tanks 615 gal combined dosing 95Ml nightly. i mix it in the dosing container and stays capped.. I left the cap off once and noticed a buildup around the mouth.. no issues if kept sealed. I mix up 1000ML weekly

 

[Wiskey]

Your tank looks fantastic!

Thank you!! I've really been happy with the All For Reef, I haven't done ICP tests or anything, but between that and Monthly or By Monthly 5G water changes this tank has been really stable.

Whiskey

 

[Sizzlingreef14]

Does anyone’s mixed A4R power get nasty looking junk in the bottom of the dosing container by the end of dosing. Mine leaves like a film slime and some kind of chunks.

 

[Wiskey]

Does anyone’s mixed A4R power get nasty looking junk in the bottom of the dosing container by the end of dosing. Mine leaves like a film slime and some kind of chunks.

Mine does the slime thing for sure, but it's a little hard to get the dosing container out so I don't worry about it. Someone told me it was normal once and I choose to continue believing it since it works.

Whiskey

 

[areefer01]

1600 gram purchase. I mix 3600 ml batches. Will be moving towards mixing 10 liter batch since it is able to be mixed, dosed, and stored without issues. It is the most economical of the solutions with larger displays or high daily dosing.

At least in my experience.

 

[Singspot]

Just 1 Vote for liquid (option 1) as of yet!

Surprising!

 

[areefer01]

Just 1 Vote for liquid (option 1) as of yet!

Surprising!

Maybe not a lot of people out voting. Or the liquid isn't "as" cost effective on larger dose numbers. Liquid is nice, convenient, and in small dosing amounts probably the easiest.

Honestly I think most of us using the product switched to powder after it came out and prior to that used the DIY product recipe they provided. Just too hard to pass up as it relates to cost and ease of making it.

 

[apb03]

I have been running the all4reef power for almost 7 months. I am up to 4 tanks 615 gal combined dosing 95Ml nightly. i mix it in the dosing container and stays capped.. I left the cap off once and noticed a buildup around the mouth.. no issues if kept sealed. I mix up 1000ML weekly

Thanks for sharing this. One thing I was worried about was how AFR would scale in my system over time. If you can keep a 615gal system going, I'll be just fine.

 

[Bruce Burnett]

I have been using all for reef powder for 15 months now. I mix with a magnetic stirrer. I dose 38 ml a day and am dosing 250 ml of kalk at night through a kalk stirrer. 90 gallon display, mixed. I made adjustments with calcium and magnesium from esv once and my numbers have stayed in line ever since. I need to get out my dsl camera and learn to take good pictures. Photo with my cell phone no filters or editing.
I have not done a water change in that time. No mechanical filtration, just skimmer, ats and granulated carbon.

 

[Bruce Burnett]

Does anyone’s mixed A4R power get nasty looking junk in the bottom of the dosing container by the end of dosing. Mine leaves like a film slime and some kind of chunks.

Bacterial build up as that is what converts the fromate. I rinse my container between refills.

 

[Singspot]

I'm using the All-For-Reef powder. So far I haven't noticed any precipitate issues. It does take a bit of time to mix up, so I just turn on a magnetic stirrer for about 15 minutes or so and it clears up. The liquid has a slight yellowish hue to it, but that's about all I noticed.

It seems to store quite well and stays dissolved in my container. I use the Simplicity 2L dosing container. I mix the powder with about 1.7L of RODI and then top off to 2L once it's fully dissolved.

I too like the ease of a single-dosing solution. My tank is 110Gal and only 4 months old so I only add 20ml a day currently. Alk is pretty stable at 9 and calcium is in the 440 range. Still new to it, so I can't give you any long-term information, but so far, so good.

Mind sharing what magnetic stirrer do you use?

This is what I found on Amazon:
Would love to know the stirrer make/ model, that you use.

 

[Singspot]

My tank is 25 gallon with a 10 gallon sump, so not quite the size you are asking about, but I'm dosing 25 ML/Day of All for Reef since the tank is packed with LPS, with a handful of fast growing SPS so I think the experience will be useful here.

I started the tank from the day it was setup on the Liquid All For Reef, it worked well, but as corals grew I was ticking the amount I needed to dose up and up. Eventually the liquid stuff was not cost effective so I made the switch to the powder. I did find the powder to be less concentrated and I needed to increase my dosing a little bit, but that was simple, and other than that the conversion was straightforward. The corals didn't seem to mind at all.

This is a really old picture of the tank, it's viewable 3 sides:
IMG_5209 by Wiskey2727, on Flickr


Edit -- Sorry, this photo is a little bit more recent. It's from November. With all the work on the 300 I haven't been taking pictures of this one lately apperently.
IMG_5883 by Wiskey2727, on Flickr


Whiskey

Picture is worth a 1000 words and it proves your point!

 

[Singspot]

I have been using all for reef powder for 15 months now. I mix with a magnetic stirrer. I dose 38 ml a day and am dosing 250 ml of kalk at night through a kalk stirrer. 90 gallon display, mixed. I made adjustments with calcium and magnesium from esv once and my numbers have stayed in line ever since. I need to get out my dsl camera and learn to take good pictures. Photo with my cell phone no filters or editing.
I have not done a water change in that time. No mechanical filtration, just skimmer, ats and granulated carbon.
View attachment 3151381

Wow, You have not changed water in 15 months?

 

[divewsharks]

I also mix A4R Powder with a magnetic stirrer. Makes it super simple. Except for the yellowish tint mentioned above, no other caveats. On my 150G, just to save on overall costs, I dose Kalk (via Kalk stirrer) and A4R. On my 40G, I only use A4R.