Alk rising after constand dosing drop

[West1]

Nuvo 20 with mixed LPS/SPS.
Tank is about 1y3m old.
Weekly WC of 5gl using Instand Ocean.
Noopsyche k7 LED
Chaeto slowly growing with display light
IM dc skimmer
DIY DI 0-1ppm top off water

5 different blastos
2" clam
Single head torch
Mushrooms
Zoas
20 sps frags, 6 are wild (all have decent PE)
2 small bta's (recent split)
CK Favia of the gods
Acans

1.024
CA 420/84
DKH 9.9
No3 12ppm (just realized it expired in May)
MG 1350
Po4 .400
(All numbers taken prior to WC)

Recent 3 week dosing schedule...
CA 13ml pd, or 10am 6.5ml & 6:45pm 6.5ml
Alk 8ml pd, or 2am 1.8ml, 6am 1.7ml, 12pm 1.7ml, 6pm 1.8ml, 10pm 1.7ml


About 3 months ago I was dosing 14ml CA and 12ml DKH, my corals were happy and numbers were consistent per journal. I had a little less coral than I have now.
I started to grow a pesty algae and so I started dosing reefflux. I still run GFO but removed the carbon.

4 weeks ago my alk shot up to 12ppm and I lost a few sps (within a week from 8.5dkh). A lobo looks bad and a chalice looks to be on its last leg as well (all frags in tank).
It took me 4 days worth of 50% water changes with dropping the alk/ca schedule to get my alk to not rise.

I had my numbers in check and I was dosing 8dkh and CA 13ml per day.
I was confident with the last 3 weeks of 9.3dkh so I picked up 2 more sps frags on saturday. I checked params on 7/17 and DKH 9.3 and CA 400.

Today I'm at 9.9DKH and I'm worried, what the heck is up with my numbers???

 

[West1]

Just did a 25% wc or 5gl.

DKH is 9.8
CA is 420

All redsea pro test kits and up to date (exp 4/22).

Has having a slight increase of CA had an effect on this the whole time? I'm stumped because I assume the numbers could not be consistent if to much CA increases DKH.

 

[homer1475]

Test your new salt water.

Through the years of using IO, I have found it mixes up to pretty much 9 to 11 DKH, and 440 CAL.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

There are many things that can cause an alk increase, and among the most likely is accidentally increased dosing, reduced demand due to something altering calcification, or test error.

Stopping or reducing dosing seems like a good step, along with making sure the pumps are delivering what you think they are.

 

[West1]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I'll test new salt mix tonight.

I'll also unplug ghl doser and see how much it drops in a 24hr period (I've recalibrated a few times).

 

[West1]

Day 2

6pm, alk is at 9.8
Since all is same as yesterday, I'll skip turning off doser and record alk daily.


Test procedure using hanna

Rinse vile with DI
Dry with napkin
10ml of tank water till bottom of water sphere is touching the top of the 10ml on vile.
Record #
Rinse with DI and store upside down.
Repeat process on next test starting with DI rinse...

 

[blasterman]

Last time I had a dosing pump issue I ran another head alongside pushing just water. This allowed me to verify with just water what the actual volume was being pushed. Sure enough....a glitch in the timer was doubling the amount of fluid.

 

[West1]

Last time I had a dosing pump issue I ran another head alongside pushing just water. This allowed me to verify with just water what the actual volume was being pushed. Sure enough....a glitch in the timer was doubling the amount of fluid.

How did you resolve the glitch, reboot or purchased new doser?

 

[West1]

Day 8... ALK at 10.4

Day 1-6 I was at 9.9 dkh.
Between day 7&8 my dkh went up to 10.4

I just did a 50% WC and dkh dropped just .2

I dropped my dosing schedule today by 1ml (now 7ml per day).
I have not touched CA and still at 13ml per day.

Any ideas why my alk keeps jumping up?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Day 8... ALK at 10.4

Day 1-6 I was at 9.9 dkh.
Between day 7&8 my dkh went up to 10.4

I just did a 50% WC and dkh dropped just .2

I dropped my dosing schedule today by 1ml (now 7ml per day).
I have not touched CA and still at 13ml per day.

Any ideas why my alk keeps jumping up?

Easy: you are dosing too much. The effect on calcium will take a long time too detect when overdosing.

Why exactly calcification may have reduced is a more complicated question, but many things can do that, such as lower ph from closed windows during a heat wave,

 

[West1]

Easy: you are dosing too much. The effect on calcium will take a long time too detect when overdosing.

Why exactly calcification may have reduced is a more complicated question, but many things can do that, such as lower ph from closed windows during a heat wave,

Wow, I'm totally shocked that I'm dosing to much Alk, wouldnt I see an increase on daily testing?
Should I dose CA equal to ALK? I'm scared to reduce it because I'm not sure the effect other than less CA in my tank.
My tanks are temp controlled with the AC on 24/7 @72*, followed by heaters set to 74*

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Wow, I'm totally shocked that I'm dosing to much Alk, wouldnt I see an increase on daily testing?
Should I dose CA equal to ALK? I'm scared to reduce it because I'm not sure the effect other than less CA in my tank.
My tanks are temp controlled with the AC on 24/7 @72*, followed by heaters set to 74*

Not all two parts are designed for equal parts dosing, but for those that are (like my DIY sold by BRS), I'd back off on both to match the alk need, and only up the calcium if it is getting too low.

 

[West1]

Not all two parts are designed for equal parts dosing, but for those that are (like my DIY sold by BRS), I'd back off on both to match the alk need, and only up the calcium if it is getting too low.

I'm so stumped as to why I've dosed nearly double ALK with consistent readings.
Ok, thanks for the help, I'll start over my per day dosing and slowly dial them in.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I'm so stumped as to why I've dosed nearly double ALK with consistent readings.
Ok, thanks for the help, I'll start over my per day dosing and slowly dial them in.

I cannot judge since I do not know what product you are using, but the actual calcium rises is typically not large and can be easily lost in water changes (IO is a lower calcium mix) and test variability unless you monitor for an extended period of no dosing without water changes.

 

[West1]

I cannot judge since I do not know what product you are using, but the actual calcium rises is typically not large and can be easily lost in water changes (IO is a lower calcium mix) and test variability unless you monitor for an extended period of no dosing without water changes.

I'm using BRS 2 part (mag included but my wc are enough to keep me within reason).

24hrs later, I changed hanna battery and tested with hanna certified alk kit (6.1).

my DKH went up to 10.6 after lowering it 1ml per day.
After testing rn, I dropped CA to 8ml per day and will do another 50% WC (then check dkh after).