Tropic Marin All-For-Reef - Let's discuss

[scottw]

I know many people on the ARC are running it, and I am intrigued enough to start using it myself. I have always ran a Calcium Reactor, so this is new for me. After being in the hobby since 1986, there aren't many things left I haven't tried yet. I have heard really good things about this product, with the new system up and running with 80+ corals in it, I would love to try something that is easier than a reactor to dial in. I am going to go with powder and dose daily. Based on 140 gallons, I should be dosing right around 25ml daily, that is where I will start and adjust from there.

1. How long have you been running it?
2. Do you like it?
3. Anything you dislike about it?
4. Do you buy in powder form or liquid form?


Thank you in advance for participating in this discussion.

 

[ichthyoid]

It is a great product, in the form of calcium formate, that combines both carbon dosing and calcium in a one part solution.

Because of that, you get both the calcium and alkalinity produced during bacterial oxidation of the formate. Bonus* - the corals consume some of that bacteria as food!

Along with the calcium formate, magnesium and trace* elements are also included in stoichiometrically balanced ratios, based on coral metabolisms.

A few thoughts -
1- get your numbers right, before beginning to dose. It’s much better for maintaining the balance, than correcting it.
2- as needed, use Balling parts A or B, for small corrections when/if necessary.
3- dose potassium* separately, as required. Tropic Marin believes that potassium varies too widely from system to system, so should be dosed separately, based on consumption. See Lou Ekus’ post in link -

Why All-For-Reef don't have potassium

Why All-For-Reef and K+ Elements don't have potassium? Is it not important enough to dose? I just tested mine and it's 368 ppm. Have been using the DIY All-For-Reef mix.

www.reef2reef.com

4- the powder form is much less expensive.
5- dislike the cost, but that comes with the hobby!

I ran it on a small reef system which had been on 2 part prior. The AFR blew away 2 part! I had thought about going to a calcium reactor, up until then. It made me want to get back into a larger system.

 

[jcook54]

1. I've been using it for a few years in my display.
2. I like it well enough. I it to the Calcium levels I want and adjust the Alk once or twice a month manually. In my system, the Alk gets taken up at a greater rate than the calcium.
3. I suppose the thing I dislike about it is the CA/Alk consumption disparity. I talked to the Tropic Marin guy at the MACNA event that was in Atlanta and it's a known issue. Lots of other stuff takes up Alk (detritus for example). Tropic Marin is well aware of the issue and the guy was really great and told me a few steps I could take to even things out. For example, clean up detritus.
4. My dose is so low, I buy the liquid form. Easy to use but I could save money if I bought the powder and made my own. I've considered it, never done it though.

@ichthyoid has turned into my go-to for all things Tropic Marin. Here are a few threads that talked about All-For-Reef for reference.

https://atlantareefclub.org/boards/index.php?threads/balancing-ca-and-alk.1183305/#post-1289900
https://atlantareefclub.org/boards/index.php?threads/all-for-reef-questions.1177919/#post-1251242