Reef nutrition

Ryan’s 40G first reef

I won’t make any changes before leaving!!

newfly said:
I believe multiple folks have warn you about AFR. Its not easy to tune AFR dosing.
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I mentally bought into AFR thanks to BRS but it’s rapidly losing its appeal. I think I’ll switch to a hybrid balling method or something else after vacation. My replacement 4 head doser should arrive the day I depart, of course.
 
rdriggett said:
I won’t make any changes before leaving!!


I mentally bought into AFR thanks to BRS but it’s rapidly losing its appeal. I think I’ll switch to a hybrid balling method or something else after vacation. My replacement 4 head doser should arrive the day I depart, of course.
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I don't know if I'm making a new changes right before leaving on vacation is a good idea.
 
rdriggett said:
I won’t make any changes before leaving!!


I mentally bought into AFR thanks to BRS but it’s rapidly losing its appeal. I think I’ll switch to a hybrid balling method or something else after vacation. My replacement 4 head doser should arrive the day I depart, of course.
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You can consider one-time raising your alk with soda ash before your vacation. It will leave some buffer as the tank slowly consuming the alk. Just don’t over do it. I’m assuming the AFR you dose isn’t sufficient to keep up with demand. This is still weird as I have bigger tank and more corals with 18ml AFR daily . In my case if I need to adjust the parameter I rely on soda ash versus AFR.
 
Grabbed an orphek phone lens kit. Here’s a photo dump.
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I'd really really check if you're getting as much AFR dosed as you intend to be. Especially with the diy VOSS bottle, it's very easy to have it not be completely air tight. If it's not air tight, it's possible bubbles can get in or the liquid can leak backwards. In theory a good peristaltic pump that's fully holding the tubing pinched would eliminate the liquid back flowing, but if the line isn't fully air tight in my experience that's not guaranteed.

I might be totally wrong, but based on my experience I wouldn't expect the amount of coral in your tank, and amount of coralline algae, to be overrunning 25ml a day of a proper concentration of AFR.
 
richiev said:
I'd really really check if you're getting as much AFR dosed as you intend to be. Especially with the diy VOSS bottle, it's very easy to have it not be completely air tight. If it's not air tight, it's possible bubbles can get in or the liquid can leak backwards. In theory a good peristaltic pump that's fully holding the tubing pinched would eliminate the liquid back flowing, but if the line isn't fully air tight in my experience that's not guaranteed.

I might be totally wrong, but based on my experience I wouldn't expect the amount of coral in your tank, and amount of coralline algae, to be overrunning 25ml a day of a proper concentration of AFR.
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I fully agree with you. I had to return my broken doser so I’m back to using Mike’s TS1 single head doser. I went to test it and only bubbles came out! You’re right! I’m using Amazon rodi tubing and it’s not making a tight seal on the dosing heads connector. I purged the line with air and snugged it up, now it’s dosing.
 
rdriggett said:
I fully agree with you. I had to return my broken doser so I’m back to using Mike’s TS1 single head doser. I went to test it and only bubbles came out! You’re right! I’m using Amazon rodi tubing and it’s not making a tight seal on the dosing heads connector. I purged the line with air and snugged it up, now it’s dosing.
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My "doing cheap doser" tips from having gone the cheap route:

  • Don't use the little tubing connectors that possibly came with the doser, especially if you're using bigger dosing tubing. It's better to use a larger one that's a PITA to get on, then a smaller one that lets air in
  • Don't put the flexible tubing into a quick connect fitting, such as one sticking into a diy VOSS bottle top. It's not going to be air tight enough. It'll slowly leak and let backflow. Put a 5cm hard airline in, and then a connector, and then the flex tubing.
  • Similarly make sure the line in the bottle is hard and not leaking
  • Do they dosing calibration test a day or two after setup. You want to see how much comes out after its let air in and fluid leak
  • You want to see fluid at the tip of your dosing tube that next day. It should constantly look like it's on the edge of dosing. That means it's not leaking anywhere
  • IMO, use clear tubing. The colored tubing looks cool IMO, but then you can't see bubbles in the line
Glad you found it, and again don't feel bad, or at least don't feel alone. Same thing was happening to me when I switched over to the VOSS bottles.

Also keep in mind if you've been dosing 0ml, dosing daily 25ml is not what you want. If it was me I'd cut it down to 5ml, but I imagine AFR has a dkh calculator you could use. If you've had 0ml, then the dkh change you're seeing is effectively the dkh your coral are using daily. You should be able to guesstimate from that.
 
Params:
Salinity: 1.026ish (but who really knows)
Ph: 8.3ish
Alk: 9.2
Calc: 470
Mag: 1575
N: 0
P: 0

My high Calc and Mag makes me think my salinity is high. Especially because a fresh batch of reef crystals measured 11.5 on hanna and salifert.
Plus, wouldn't my Bryopsis melt if my mag is truly near 1600?
 
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While I'm assuming I've gotten my fair share of face palms from the questions I post here, BAR continues to be an amazing resource and I'm loving it.
Adam from Myth Busters sums up how I feel:
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rdriggett said:
Params:
Salinity: 1.026ish (but who really knows)
Ph: 8.3ish
Alk: 9.2
Calc: 470
Mag: 1575
N: 0
P: 0

My high Calc and Mag makes me think my salinity is high. Especially because a fresh batch of reef crystals measured 11.5 on hanna and salifert.
Plus, wouldn't my Bryopsis melt if my mag is truly near 1600?
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That’s normal Alk for reef crystals.
And no. No it won’t melt from mg
 
Srt4eric said:
Why don't you know what your salinity is? Spend the $100 and get a milwaukee digital reader.
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My calc and mag being that high makes me suspicious. Does the club have a reference/higher end refractometer? Seems like a useful thing to share.
Both brand of calibration solution that shipped separately arrived leaking so I gave up on that.
 
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