See other ATO's make me nervous 😂 I do actually have a Tunze Osmolator and a Smart Auto Aqua in the boxes, but went super simple on this little build and wanted to test this type. I've heard of ATO's due to the sensor failing on or off or the pump dies, but I like this one because other than one of the tubes possibly getting clogged gravity doesn't fail 🤞😅 I quickly check the tubes every 3 or 4 days when I refill it, its actually worked great so far, thanks for watching!
What I want to know did you do a water change? Why are was chasing the numbers or did you wait till you got the ideal number in kh and then do a water change?
I would keep doing water changes as normal, the additional all for reef everyday will still raise your KH over time and a 10% water change shouldn't drastically change your KH either, I'd keep on top of water changes while doing this and just keep testing your KH as well to make sure it isn't changing drastically, thanks for watching!
Are you still dosing all for reef? I'm going to try and start dosing it in my HOB auto top off like you do. Are you still doing it this way or did you end up getting a pump?
Sorry I missed your comment, I've done this for a long time now although it's a low dosage and do need to keep testing to avoid spikes, also my evaporation is low/consistent due yo the lids, a pump is the next upgrade, to make things a little simpler just top up the ATO with RODI and the dosing container with AFR then it's easier to adjust your dosing if needed later, thanks!
I was testing about once per week or pretty close anyway. You start with a base dose of 5ml per 100l of tank water per day (4ml per 80l in my case) then after a week test DKH and if you like increase the dosage by a half dose so an extra 2.5ml per day test again in a week and repeat until you get to the DKH your aiming for. I have also kept testing just to make sure it's not creeping up over time or due to increased evaporation with doing it via the ATO in my tank but has been fine so far, thanks for watching! 😀
Yeah it's great stuff, I'm dosing about 8ml per day on the 90L just keeping an eye on the KH though to make sure it doesn't climb to high, need to add my first LPS soon 😁 oh the 170s great I'm going to be setting up my XL200 soon which is pretty much the same tank 👌 thanks for watching! 😁
Thank you, probably not assuming you have no corals yet? Even with just softies water changes will do a lot of the work and with LPS to start with, but as they grow or you add more this would be a good way to go certainly the cheapest starting point before adding a doser, just watch your alkalinity 👍 And in my case the lid keeps the evaporation fairly stable other wise the amounts you would be adding would swing depending on the weather which wouldn't be good
That's informative mate. Didn't know they did this in powder form. I'm dosing the all for Reef liquid ATM and as my SPS are now starting to grow its now eating 12ml of it a day. Gonna get expensive.
That's awesome mate, glad you found it helpful, about £26 for 5 litres or theres a 1600g/10L tub which is a even better value, not lots of stock about as it pretty new and Covid/Brexit, some on ebay the now at least 👍 thanks for watching mate!
It did have a slight tint I think, I actually haven't mixed a second batch yet as I only dose 8ml a day, I'm due to make another litre in a few weeks will need to inspect it closely? Thanks for watching!
Yeah future upgrade that, the evaporation has been really consistent and thus the dosing has been too, been testing alk and cut back to 7ml a day and its holding steady, will have a look at a single head doser soon though although I'm pretty happy with the results I'm having to measure out AFR every time I top up the ATO, not to bad but does take a little longer, seen some Jebao dosers for not a lot 👍
I've had a few occasions were life has been busy but yeah still always keep up water changes, try to do 10-15% every other week now, thanks for watching 😁
No I didn't and my Nitrates and Phosphates are painfully low already, did a "filtration working too well?" Video a few weeks before and although I haven't tested Nitrates recently, I do have a few mushrooms that when the Nitrates and Phosphates are too low the mesenterial filaments (insides) spill out and they have been pretty happy the last month while dosing. I'm not sure how all for reef could cause Nitrates to bottom out, have you changed any other parts of your tank routine or dosed anything else? I have been feeding heavier and adding a few fish over time to keep the nutrients up which has helped me, thanks for watching!
@@eduardomojica2053 I do not have nutrient issue anymore. I am not sure why it happened when I started dosing AFR. The issue seems to have fixed itself after a while. In between, I had so low nutrients that it lead to dinos. Once dinos were gone, my nutrients stayed stable. Maybe my nutrients were borderline low to being with.
Afraid not sorry, I don't test for them with it just being mostly softies and I still do water changes to replenish elements too, something I might start doing on the next tank though.
I’m running a 170L tank, mixed LPS and SPS. I’m keeping my ALK 8-8.5 - I just bought all for reef powder from BRS but have t mixed it up yet. Typically I hand dose my tank elements as needed. I’m worried this product may spike some elements that don’t need a boost and harm my sps. I’ll have to test daily and watch all parameters if I decide to start using it.
Sound good! Its seems to be a very good all round product and I have heard nothing but good things, with the exception of not being the most cost effective for really big tanks. But yeah as I think I mentioned in the video (which is beyond my personal experience so far) with more sensitive and demanding corals some elements may get used up a little quicker than others? Whatever elements this may happen with, I expect it would take a very long time to happen (unless you have a tank full of large fast growing sps colonies) but good testing and the occasional water change could keep the balance. Although I've never heard anyone mention this as an issue and maybe the ratio is close to perfect 🤞 Thanks for watching! 👍
@@PracticalReefer I use TM Pro Reef salt and my only complaint is the low dKH. I bought this all for reef thinking I could use it to boost the ALK when I do water changes. But I think it’s probably best I use sodium bicarbonate to do it (as I have been) so I don’t cause any precipitation of calcium. I think I am going to give it a whirl at keeping my nutrients up as I hand dose Cal/ALK/Mag as needed based off testing every other day. At some point I should get a controller lol.
I'm still not long back into the hobby and adding my first LPS now myself now. Is the tank heavily stocked with corals and what types? My first thought would maybe be to do some additional water changes to bring the calcium up, but wouldn't chase numbers too hard if the tanks stable and everything is happy. Or I wonder if dosing additional calcium seperately would get you there. Some of the reef keeping forums are great, some very experienced reefers willing to help with questions, not something I've come across yet I'm afraid, thanks for watching! 👍
if dosing AFR and you find one of the elements are out of balance with the others, you will need to dose just that element on top of the AFR. In your case, lets say your ALK and MAG are where you want them to be at the current dose, but calcium is staying at 331, you will continue your current dose of AFR and dose a one part calcium as well. You will need to do some calculations to see how much calcium to add. Daily testing is critical here to make sure you don't overshoot CAL. Tropic Marin has a nice AFR calculator on their website that may help.
i dont believe afr evaporates out the tank with normal evaporation... nor is doing it in an ato, proper. its not kalk wasser nor is it consistent dosing in that manner just my opinion.
This doesn’t work as advertised Calcium levels fluctuate a lot and took for while for Alk to raise You have to test every day or more Went back to more traditional method Two part 😢
I have just googled this and seen a response from Lou Ekus of TM, yes you should start with 900ml add the powder mix and top up to a little, it will come to 950mm RODI plus powder to make 1L, this is not quite clear on the instructions thank you!
I have notice it looks a little damp in the tub … so glad to see yours is the same and that is how it looks
That ATO makes me so nervous lol, great video. Thanks
See other ATO's make me nervous 😂 I do actually have a Tunze Osmolator and a Smart Auto Aqua in the boxes, but went super simple on this little build and wanted to test this type.
I've heard of ATO's due to the sensor failing on or off or the pump dies, but I like this one because other than one of the tubes possibly getting clogged gravity doesn't fail 🤞😅
I quickly check the tubes every 3 or 4 days when I refill it, its actually worked great so far, thanks for watching!
What I want to know did you do a water change? Why are was chasing the numbers or did you wait till you got the ideal number in kh and then do a water change?
I would keep doing water changes as normal, the additional all for reef everyday will still raise your KH over time and a 10% water change shouldn't drastically change your KH either, I'd keep on top of water changes while doing this and just keep testing your KH as well to make sure it isn't changing drastically, thanks for watching!
Are you still dosing all for reef? I'm going to try and start dosing it in my HOB auto top off like you do. Are you still doing it this way or did you end up getting a pump?
Go with a pump as explained in the video your dosing would be based on evaporation
Sorry I missed your comment, I've done this for a long time now although it's a low dosage and do need to keep testing to avoid spikes, also my evaporation is low/consistent due yo the lids, a pump is the next upgrade, to make things a little simpler just top up the ATO with RODI and the dosing container with AFR then it's easier to adjust your dosing if needed later, thanks!
Maybe a dump question but when you start dosing in general how often do you test DKH? And how do you calculate the amount of ml to dose?
I was testing about once per week or pretty close anyway.
You start with a base dose of 5ml per 100l of tank water per day (4ml per 80l in my case) then after a week test DKH and if you like increase the dosage by a half dose so an extra 2.5ml per day test again in a week and repeat until you get to the DKH your aiming for.
I have also kept testing just to make sure it's not creeping up over time or due to increased evaporation with doing it via the ATO in my tank but has been fine so far, thanks for watching! 😀
@@PracticalReefer thx!! Much appriciated
My tank is Red reefer 170 alk been sitting at 8.4 with afr dosing 7mls every day with softies and lps coral good colours with corals
Yeah it's great stuff, I'm dosing about 8ml per day on the 90L just keeping an eye on the KH though to make sure it doesn't climb to high, need to add my first LPS soon 😁 oh the 170s great I'm going to be setting up my XL200 soon which is pretty much the same tank 👌 thanks for watching! 😁
Got the same tank, are your other levels okay? Calc, mag?
Would you use this in a brand new tank ? Great vid 👌
Thank you, probably not assuming you have no corals yet?
Even with just softies water changes will do a lot of the work and with LPS to start with, but as they grow or you add more this would be a good way to go certainly the cheapest starting point before adding a doser, just watch your alkalinity 👍
And in my case the lid keeps the evaporation fairly stable other wise the amounts you would be adding would swing depending on the weather which wouldn't be good
That's informative mate. Didn't know they did this in powder form. I'm dosing the all for Reef liquid ATM and as my SPS are now starting to grow its now eating 12ml of it a day. Gonna get expensive.
That's awesome mate, glad you found it helpful, about £26 for 5 litres or theres a 1600g/10L tub which is a even better value, not lots of stock about as it pretty new and Covid/Brexit, some on ebay the now at least 👍 thanks for watching mate!
Looking forward to the update 😃
12ml a day..so a £26 5L would last more than 400+ days. Not bad though
Mine mixes with a light yellow tint. Using O/R & D/I water. Yours look like it mixes clear.
It did have a slight tint I think, I actually haven't mixed a second batch yet as I only dose 8ml a day, I'm due to make another litre in a few weeks will need to inspect it closely? Thanks for watching!
Much better off separating it from your ato bro. Any cheepo dosing pump works for AFR
Yeah future upgrade that, the evaporation has been really consistent and thus the dosing has been too, been testing alk and cut back to 7ml a day and its holding steady, will have a look at a single head doser soon though although I'm pretty happy with the results I'm having to measure out AFR every time I top up the ATO, not to bad but does take a little longer, seen some Jebao dosers for not a lot 👍
Do you still do water change? If yes how frequent?
I've had a few occasions were life has been busy but yeah still always keep up water changes, try to do 10-15% every other week now, thanks for watching 😁
Did you have any nutrient issues while dosing all for reef? My nitrates are bottoming out when I dose all for reef.
No I didn't and my Nitrates and Phosphates are painfully low already, did a "filtration working too well?" Video a few weeks before and although I haven't tested Nitrates recently, I do have a few mushrooms that when the Nitrates and Phosphates are too low the mesenterial filaments (insides) spill out and they have been pretty happy the last month while dosing.
I'm not sure how all for reef could cause Nitrates to bottom out, have you changed any other parts of your tank routine or dosed anything else?
I have been feeding heavier and adding a few fish over time to keep the nutrients up which has helped me, thanks for watching!
I have the same problem w no2 and po4
@@eduardomojica2053 I do not have nutrient issue anymore. I am not sure why it happened when I started dosing AFR. The issue seems to have fixed itself after a while.
In between, I had so low nutrients that it lead to dinos. Once dinos were gone, my nutrients stayed stable. Maybe my nutrients were borderline low to being with.
Do you know the impact this had on your other levels ie. Calc, mag?
Afraid not sorry, I don't test for them with it just being mostly softies and I still do water changes to replenish elements too, something I might start doing on the next tank though.
I’m running a 170L tank, mixed LPS and SPS. I’m keeping my ALK 8-8.5 - I just bought all for reef powder from BRS but have t mixed it up yet. Typically I hand dose my tank elements as needed. I’m worried this product may spike some elements that don’t need a boost and harm my sps. I’ll have to test daily and watch all parameters if I decide to start using it.
Sound good! Its seems to be a very good all round product and I have heard nothing but good things, with the exception of not being the most cost effective for really big tanks.
But yeah as I think I mentioned in the video (which is beyond my personal experience so far) with more sensitive and demanding corals some elements may get used up a little quicker than others? Whatever elements this may happen with, I expect it would take a very long time to happen (unless you have a tank full of large fast growing sps colonies) but good testing and the occasional water change could keep the balance.
Although I've never heard anyone mention this as an issue and maybe the ratio is close to perfect 🤞
Thanks for watching! 👍
@@PracticalReefer I use TM Pro Reef salt and my only complaint is the low dKH. I bought this all for reef thinking I could use it to boost the ALK when I do water changes. But I think it’s probably best I use sodium bicarbonate to do it (as I have been) so I don’t cause any precipitation of calcium. I think I am going to give it a whirl at keeping my nutrients up as I hand dose Cal/ALK/Mag as needed based off testing every other day. At some point I should get a controller lol.
Question I’ve been dosing not sure why but my all is where I want it to be and my cal is very low like 331 how do I fix this?
I'm still not long back into the hobby and adding my first LPS now myself now.
Is the tank heavily stocked with corals and what types?
My first thought would maybe be to do some additional water changes to bring the calcium up, but wouldn't chase numbers too hard if the tanks stable and everything is happy.
Or I wonder if dosing additional calcium seperately would get you there.
Some of the reef keeping forums are great, some very experienced reefers willing to help with questions, not something I've come across yet I'm afraid, thanks for watching! 👍
if dosing AFR and you find one of the elements are out of balance with the others, you will need to dose just that element on top of the AFR. In your case, lets say your ALK and MAG are where you want them to be at the current dose, but calcium is staying at 331, you will continue your current dose of AFR and dose a one part calcium as well. You will need to do some calculations to see how much calcium to add. Daily testing is critical here to make sure you don't overshoot CAL. Tropic Marin has a nice AFR calculator on their website that may help.
i dont believe afr evaporates out the tank with normal evaporation... nor is doing it in an ato, proper. its not kalk wasser nor is it consistent dosing in that manner just my opinion.
This doesn’t work as advertised
Calcium levels fluctuate a lot and took for while for Alk to raise
You have to test every day or more
Went back to more traditional method
Two part 😢
900ml for 160gr and with that make 1l of solution.
I have just googled this and seen a response from Lou Ekus of TM, yes you should start with 900ml add the powder mix and top up to a little, it will come to 950mm RODI plus powder to make 1L, this is not quite clear on the instructions thank you!