All-for-reef vs 2 part vs Kalk?

[fishy408]

I am using AFR and wondering about the clog lines that people are talking about and have a couple of questions below. thanks!

• Have long have you been using AFR before noticing the clog line?
• Are your dosing lines ever submerged in water?
• Are you diluting AFR? Tropic Marin has warned about the negative effects when diluting.

 

[L/B Block]

Will do!
Behind on the episodes -but I’ll play this next!

 

[L/B Block]

I am using AFR and wondering about the clog lines that people are talking about and have a couple of questions below. thanks!

• Have long have you been using AFR before noticing the clog line?
• Are you diluting AFR? Tropic Marin has warned about the negative effects when diluting.

I do not dilute. As to clogged lines-it’s not the line per se but rather the end of the line where it builds up. As far as I can tell the line itself-hard to say-I do run a calibrated sample into a marked cylinder once a month to check

 

[MichaelB]

Yeah the AFR safety factor is something to consider. Listen about @Matt_Wandell 's overdose on Reef Beef around 11:15

Very interesting, something else added on the not to do list.

 

[Darkxerox]

Very interesting, something else added on the not to do list.

Well the point is that it didn't crash his tank. If you did a 100x overdose of kalk or two part, your tank would be toast.

 

[MichaelB]

Well the point is that it didn't crash his tank. If you did a 100x overdose of kalk or two part, your tank would be toast.

I also took that point as a observation. I'm not actually considering doing something different on my current 32 main tank (3 years no major issues). 65 doesn't have corals yet, so I would be willing to try a different method in that one if it made sense. I haven't been doing the reef aspect as long as most here. So I'm just trying to be a sponge and suck up information. Until till you actually act on the information you have gathered it remains theoretical I feel. Once you start applying the information it eventually shifts to experience. At the same time, I'm not gonna play at chemist on my current main tank lacking actual experience. So anything different I may try would be limited to the new tank.

 

[Matt_Wandell]

I dose something like 72 mL per day of AFR into my 100 L system. It ends up being around 4 dKH per day. I use the full strength AFR and you can’t dilute it (the high ionic strength prevents bacterial growth).

My AFR is dosed into a tee on my DI auto top off line and the DI kicks on a few minutes after the AFR. I’ve never had to clean out any crystals.

As I stated in the video I massively overdosed it to my tank but didn’t lose any corals. Acropora bleached but didn’t die. Those colonies all look really good 1.5 years later (some of these are newer frags).

 

[L/B Block]

I dose something like 72 mL per day of AFR into my 100 L system. It ends up being around 4 dKH per day. I use the full strength AFR and you can’t dilute it (the high ionic strength prevents bacterial growth).

My AFR is dosed into a tee on my DI auto top off line and the DI kicks on a few minutes after the AFR. I’ve never had to clean out any crystals.

As I stated in the video I massively overdosed it to my tank but didn’t lose any corals. Acropora bleached but didn’t die. Those colonies all look really good 1.5 years later (some of these are newer frags).

Is the T at the end of the AFR line or the beginning of it?

 

[under_water_ninja]

You cannot manually dose calcium hydroxide (kalk) safely. It needs to be dosed in small amounts throughout the night (or night and day). This can be with a doser (preferred) or in ATO water (used to be done a lot but is riskier). Adding a bolus of it manually spikes the pH too high. I’m sure you can find someone on the internet to disagree with this, but they are probably also someone with a lot of experience with kalk and a very unique situation/perspective. For everyone else, it needs a reliable doser.

 

[psidriven]

Is the T at the end of the AFR line or the beginning of it?

I'd assume it's near the end. if at the beginning, the afr would be diluted within the line post T and may have bacteria growth within the line. not sure if this would be an issue or not though.

 

[L/B Block]

I'd assume it's near the end. if at the beginning, the afr would be diluted within the line post T and may have bacteria growth within the line. not sure if this would be an issue or not though.

Debatable -if the doser is on the straight part of the t-it should run undiluted and then the DI part is on the T-it should stop on the back flow pressure of the doser-but will be curious to what Matt says on this