ACF inside ALM not counting loops?

So, I’m using a ACF content repeater as a template on ALM, and I want it to stop at 8 items, but $alm_item is always 1. I’ve tried to add $alm_loop_count and defining $alm_item as 0 and then $alm_item++, but all I’m getting now is an internal server error on the console.

template repeater I’m using:

<?php $alm_loop_count = 0; $alm_page_count = 0; (have_rows('work_gallery')): ?>
      <?php while (have_rows('work_gallery')):
		the_row();
		$alm_loop_count++;
		if ($alm_loop_count > 8)
        {
        	$alm_page_count++;
        	$alm_loop_count = 0
        }
		var_dump($alm_loop_count);
		var_dump($alm_page_count);
			?>

        <div class="col-xs-12 col-sm-6 gallery-item tag-all <?php
              $tags = get_sub_field('tags');
              if( $tags ) {
                foreach($tags as $t) {
                  $t = get_category($t);
                  echo 'tag-'.$t->name.' ';
                }
              }
            ?>" style="background-image:url('<?php echo the_sub_field('image'); ?>');">
          <div class="client-logo">
              <img class="img-responsive" src="<?php echo bloginfo('template_url');?>/images/<?php echo the_sub_field('client_logo');?>" alt="<?php echo the_sub_field('client'); ?>">
          </div>
          <div class="tags">
            <ul>
            <?php
              $tags = get_sub_field('tags');
              if( $tags ) {
                foreach($tags as $t) {
                  $t = get_category($t);
                  echo '<li>'.$t->name.'</li>';
                }
              }
            ?>
            </ul>
          </div>
          <h2>
            <?php echo the_sub_field('title'); ?>
          </h2>
          <a href="<?php echo the_sub_field('link'); ?>" class="btn btn-reverse">View Work</a>
        </div>
      <?php endwhile; ?>
    <?php endif; ?>

And on the page-template:

<?php echo do_shortcode('[ajax_load_more post_type="page" post_format="standard" posts_per_page="8" scroll="false" transition="fade" button_label="see more work" button_loading_label="Loading..."]' ); ?>