Mixing TM Balling Part B directly with All For Reef

[joshbd]

I switched from ATI Essential Pro to All for Reef a few month ago. While All for Reef has done a great job keeping my alk steady at around 7.8dkh, my calcium has slowly been climbing from ~420 to now close to 500. I believe I remember reading that @Randy Holmes-Farley suggested AFR wasn't perfectly balanced, and was slightly heavy on the calcium side. So, maybe that's what I'm seeing, or maybe my tank just uses more ALK for whatever reason. In any case, to help correct for this, can I adjust the alk/calcium ratio by mixing a calculated amount of Balling Part B directly with the AFR solution, or would that be a bad idea due to precipitation or other reactions? I would very much prefer not to use another dosing head, since that's a large part of why I switched to AFR in the first place. Thanks!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

No, you cannot add alkalinity to the AFR unless you add a protected form, such as sodium formate or sodium acetate. You will precipitate calcium carbonate.

 

[joshbd]

Figured as much, thanks! Will likely let it ride then, and as long as it stabilizes south of maybe 550, won't worry about it. Worst case scenario, will switch over to partly dosing just Balling B on a separate head until calcium comes down a bit.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Figured as much, thanks! Will likely let it ride then, and as long as it stabilizes south of maybe 550, won't worry about it. Worst case scenario, will switch over to partly dosing just Balling B on a separate head until calcium comes down a bit.

Sounds like a fine plan. 500 ppm calcium is fine.