5 DKH increase overnight dripping HELP!

[Tnops]

Last night I tested my ALK which was at 7.2 and then decided to bump it up a bit manually by using the manual feature of my doser. I’ve done this multiple times and each time it should increase it by around 1 DKH. However this morning it was at 12.6! I jumped first time I did it and tested again. 12.6 again. Both last night’s and this morning’s test were done with Hanna ALK, newly opened reagent so it is most definitely not an error.

Then I found the culprit. The airline tubing apparently kept on dropping by itself through gravity somehow overnight. Every few seconds, another drop came. I noticed that the fan I have in the sump accelerated this process

Now despite the 5 DKH increase in 10 hours, most of my corals look fine. All my soft and LPS are fleshy and open, I notice that my acros have the most polyp extension I have ever seen. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or bad thing. My plate coral is looking awful though. What can I do now? Do I just let everything be?

What can I do to stop the airline tubing from dripping by itself in the future?

 

[hexcolor reef]

Over 12dkh is on the higher side but all is fine. I ran 12dkh most of my reefing days with no problems and coral growth.

 

[Tnops]

Over 12dkh is on the higher side but all is fine. I ran 12dkh most of my reefing days with no problems and coral growth.

Yea I am not worried about the 12 DKH directly, it’s only that I am worried about it increasing from 7 to 12 in a 10 hour period

 

[hexcolor reef]

Yea I am not worried about the 12 DKH directly, it’s only that I am worried about it increasing from 7 to 12 in a 10 hour period

10 hour rise in DKH doesn’t pose any risk.
It’s outside of the 4 hour mark

 

[Tnops]

10 hour rise in DKH doesn’t pose any risk.
It’s outside of the 4 hour mark

Interesting, when I search up how fast I can raise my alk it always says to not do more than 1 DKH a day. I thought 5 was way too much so I freaked out, I wonder why people always say 1 DKH then?

 

[The_Paradox]

With any peristaltic pump less than 4 rollers, really any number, you can get back siphoning. That’s why it’s recommend that the reservoir be lower than the end of the dosing nozzle.

 

[Gtinnel]

if your peristaltic pump is allowing liquid to flow through than it means the rollers aren’t pinching off the tubing like they should be and you should replace the dosing head. I’d also recommend changing the height of your line to where liquid can’t siphon into your tank even if the pump head is leaking through.

 

[Tnops]

Okay I will lower my resovoirs, thank y'all. But I am still curious to the 1 DKH per day rule

 

[The_Paradox]

 

[vetteguy53081]

Last night I tested my ALK which was at 7.2 and then decided to bump it up a bit manually by using the manual feature of my doser. I’ve done this multiple times and each time it should increase it by around 1 DKH. However this morning it was at 12.6! I jumped first time I did it and tested again. 12.6 again. Both last night’s and this morning’s test were done with Hanna ALK, newly opened reagent so it is most definitely not an error.

Then I found the culprit. The airline tubing apparently kept on dropping by itself through gravity somehow overnight. Every few seconds, another drop came. I noticed that the fan I have in the sump accelerated this process

Now despite the 5 DKH increase in 10 hours, most of my corals look fine. All my soft and LPS are fleshy and open, I notice that my acros have the most polyp extension I have ever seen. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or bad thing. My plate coral is looking awful though. What can I do now? Do I just let everything be?

What can I do to stop the airline tubing from dripping by itself in the future?

This is a safe " High" reading and while you can do water changes, your coral will consume a little each day, thereby lowering numbers gradually. Assure PH has not become elevated as alk works like a stimulant for Ph

 

[hexcolor reef]

Your coral are open and healthy. Pay attention to what the coral are telling you. You said polyps extended more so the 1dkh raise every 2 hours was taken well by the coral

 

[FrugalReefer]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but IME when alk swings like this occur, problems in corals, if they happen, don’t manifest themselves until weeks later. I’m not saying your corals are going to STN or RTN in a couple of weeks. For all I know, your corals will be fine. I’m just saying that corals have a delayed reaction to these kind of events.

 

[FrugalReefer]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but IME when alk swings like this occur, problems in corals, if they happen, don’t manifest themselves until weeks later. I’m not saying your corals are going to STN or RTN in a couple of weeks. For all I know, your corals will be fine. I’m just saying that corals have a delayed reaction to these kind of events.

 

[Tnops]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but IME when alk swings like this occur, problems in corals, if they happen, don’t manifest themselves until weeks later. I’m not saying your corals are going to STN or RTN in a couple of weeks. For all I know, your corals will be fine. I’m just saying that corals have a delayed reaction to these kind of events.

I hope it doesn't turn out that way

Is there anything I can do now to mitigate that if it does perhaps happen?

 

[Dom]

Last night I tested my ALK which was at 7.2 and then decided to bump it up a bit manually by using the manual feature of my doser. I’ve done this multiple times and each time it should increase it by around 1 DKH. However this morning it was at 12.6! I jumped first time I did it and tested again. 12.6 again. Both last night’s and this morning’s test were done with Hanna ALK, newly opened reagent so it is most definitely not an error.

Then I found the culprit. The airline tubing apparently kept on dropping by itself through gravity somehow overnight. Every few seconds, another drop came. I noticed that the fan I have in the sump accelerated this process

Now despite the 5 DKH increase in 10 hours, most of my corals look fine. All my soft and LPS are fleshy and open, I notice that my acros have the most polyp extension I have ever seen. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or bad thing. My plate coral is looking awful though. What can I do now? Do I just let everything be?

What can I do to stop the airline tubing from dripping by itself in the future?

I wouldn't worry about 12dkh. You can turn off your dosing head until it comes down.

But I would suspect that you dosing head may need some maintenance.

My understanding is that dosing heads don't actually pump the supplement. Dosing happens on a siphon, and the dosing head controls the rate of siphon.

If the tubing in the head isn't periodically cleared, debris in the tube prevent the head from completely pinching off the flow, allowing for the drip that caused your issue.

 

[Uncle99]

The .5dkh daily flux “rule” for Alk speaks more to the stability of your system, not to an overdose. Daily fluxed more than .5dkh can make some corals unhappy and stressed.

If your system ran stable where it was, I’d just put it back through advanced water changes.

That being said running your 7.2dkh (I run 10dkh) I am not a fan of, no room for error on the lower end.

Your tube must run below the point where the dose comes out, if something goes wrong, it won’t allow gravity to keep the dose going, or drip.

 

[Borat]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but IME when alk swings like this occur, problems in corals, if they happen, don’t manifest themselves until weeks later. I’m not saying your corals are going to STN or RTN in a couple of weeks. For all I know, your corals will be fine. I’m just saying that corals have a delayed reaction to these kind of events.

Yeah. I agree with this - you will see if you were ok or not a few weeks later..

But 5 DKH jump is a lot - so my bet is you will get STN at least for some SPS eventually..

 

[Boehmtown]

Interesting, when I search up how fast I can raise my alk it always says to not do more than 1 DKH a day. I thought 5 was way too much so I freaked out, I wonder why people always say 1 DKH then?

I believe because a swing like that, CAN shut down coral growth and then run a risk of precipitation , so the recommendation of 1dkh a day is just the safe way to do it.

 

[Tnops]

As of this morning, ALK tested at a 9.6, meaning its been consumed, everything is open and just like yesterday, plate coral seems to have recovered. I am going to try to keep the DKH at around 10 using this opportunity

 

[BigKid4788]

As of this morning, ALK tested at a 9.6, meaning its been consumed, everything is open and just like yesterday, plate coral seems to have recovered. I am going to try to keep the DKH at around 10 using this opportunity

IMO there is t anything wrong w 7ish Alk. When I ran the triton method I was around 6.8. The main thing w Alk is just stability.