Alk keep Rising without any dosing

[branbray07]

Afternoon guys. I have been having Alk issues as of late my tank. I recently had an alk spike from 8.5 to 11 and all of my sps suffered big time. Most are dead or going to. I did a water change , using @Aquaforest reef salt, and lower it to about 9.1 on Saturday. Currently i am not dosing anything, but alk keep creeping up to 9.7 today. All i do is feed Rods daily. Please help

 

[blaxsun]

Unrelated, but I'd probably cut back on Reef Roids to maybe 2-3x a week instead of daily. What if anything else might you be adding to the tank?

 

[Spare time]

Do you use tap water to top off?

 

[branbray07]

Unrelated, but I'd probably cut back on Reef Roids to maybe 2-3x a week instead of daily. What if anything else might you be adding to the tank?

I dont use reef roids bro. Only thing i add if fish food Rods

 

[branbray07]

Do you use tap water to top off?

Nop RODI

 

[branbray07]

Current parameters
Tested using Hanna
Alk 9.7 dkh
Calc 470
Mag 1400
No3 10
Po4 .0.09
pH 8

 

[nereefpat]

Are you adding "buffer," or carbon dosing?

 

[bnord]

over what time did the 8.5 to 11 take place?
I have 2 sister tanks (different size/dimensions) with same rock source, water source, sump design, and dosing
One runs 8.2 dkH and one runs 10.5 - 10.9 dkH.
corals encrust and color up the same
spikes do matter, shifts within a range less so - but sure your frustration, which would be mine too is the source of that shift - as stability rules.
understand that some sand can SLOWLY raise Ca and Alk over time

 

[TCoach]

Hanna reports the accuracy of the checker as follows:

Accuracy @ 25°C/77°F

±0.3 dKH ±5% of reading

(https://www.hannainst.com/marine-alkalinity-dkh-checkerr-hc-hi772.html)

So your variations are pretty much inline with the potential range of the readings. 9.1 is 8.8 - 9.4, 9.7 is 9.4 - 10 given the +/- .3 dKH range. So, while you need to keep an eye on it, it is not in panic mode. Check again in a week and see where you stand.

 

[branbray07]

Are you adding "buffer," or carbon dosing?

No not anymore havent since the spike. Last time was about 1 week and half ago. No carbon dosing

 

[branbray07]

over what time did the 8.5 to 11 take place?
I have 2 sister tanks (different size/dimensions) with same rock source, water source, sump design, and dosing
One runs 8.2 dkH and one runs 10.5 - 10.9 dkH.
corals encrust and color up the same
spikes do matter, shifts within a range less so - but sure your frustration, which would be mine too is the source of that shift - as stability rules.
understand that some sand can SLOWLY raise Ca and Alk over time

In a period of about 3 days. Corals did not like that at allll. Its been downhill since. When I noticed it , I performed a 30 % water change and got it down to 9.1 . Both on salifert , hanna and waterspin

 

[branbray07]

Hanna reports the accuracy of the checker as follows:

Accuracy @ 25°C/77°F

±0.3 dKH ±5% of reading

(https://www.hannainst.com/marine-alkalinity-dkh-checkerr-hc-hi772.html)

So your variations are pretty much inline with the potential range of the readings. 9.1 is 8.8 - 9.4, 9.7 is 9.4 - 10 given the +/- .3 dKH range. So, while you need to keep an eye on it, it is not in panic mode. Check again in a week and see where you stand.

I am using 3 test and all are very close tk each other. Hanna, Salifert and Waterspin. All are reading 9.5 - 9.7

 

[bnord]

In a period of about 3 days. Corals did not like that at allll. Its been downhill since. When I noticed it , I performed a 30 % water change and got it down to 9.1 . Both on salifert , hanna and waterspin

sorry for the loss bud.. worse thing to watch other than Velvet- I have a big die off following a SPIKE (15.5) following a self induced top off dump (never again) but is a little hard to imagine that big an impact. still cant imagine the cause for the rise

 

[branbray07]

sorry for the loss bud.. worse thing to watch other than Velvet- I have a big die off following a SPIKE (15.5) following a self induced top off dump (never again) but is a little hard to imagine that big an impact. still cant imagine the cause for the rise

Yea man sucks. Never had this big of a spike before, and been doing this for a while. Tank is a mess now.

 

[homer1475]

So you did add PH buffer?

Explains your ALK spike.

 

[branbray07]

So you did add PH buffer?

Explains your ALK spike.

Yea i know the reason for the spike, but as I stated no buffer has been used for almost 2 weeks. My question was why is my alk still rising if nothing is being dosed or added .

 

[branbray07]

10.1 on Hanna and Salifert. Once again adding nothing. No buffer, no alk nothing other than brine shrimp and Rods Food. What is going on!! Keeps climbing!!

 

[MrGisonni]

Do you have any denitrification going on? Brightwell No3 blocks or some other medium with anaerobic bacteria? Randy H Farley explained that as No3 is used up by anaerobic bacteria during denitrification alkalinity rises according to the amount consumed. Its what happened to me recently.

 

[branbray07]

Do you have any denitrification going on? Brightwell No3 blocks or some other medium with anaerobic bacteria? Randy H Farley explained that as No3 is used up by anaerobic bacteria during denitrification alkalinity rises according to the amount consumed. Its what happened to me recently.

Actually i do, i have marinepure spheres in my sump. If this is the case what now?

 

[nereefpat]

The nitrate drop would have to be pretty significant to see much alk increase. For each 50 ppm nitrate consumed would add 2.3 dKH.