Alk rising on its own

[Arcu2]

Hello everyone hopefully someone can help me figure this out. My alk has been rising since December 14 without me dosing anything. It was at 8.4 and it’s now up to 11.4. The only thing I did was 1 water change. I’m using Red Sea blue bucket. Not sure if maybe my Hanna wasn’t calibrated correctly and the salinity might’ve been off I’ve attached a photo of my trident readings. I’ve checked everything except calcium with salifert tests and for calcium with Red Sea. They are all pretty close I don’t expect everything to be the exact numbers. But the trend for alk just seems to be going higher and higher.

Salinity right now is at 1.025

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Trident seems to go whacko as the reagent runs down. Any chance that is it?

I'd confirm the alk some other way first.

Weird things are most often test error rather than truly weird things.

Declining nitrate also boost alk. Might that be It?

Top off with tap water can boost alk.

 

[Arcu2]

Trident seems to go whacko as the reagent runs down. Any chance that is it?

I'd confirm the alk some other way first.

Weird things are most often test error rather than truly weird things.

Declining nitrate also boost alk. Might that be It?

Top off with tap water can boost alk.

I have 2 salifert alk test kits i double checked it with and still around 11dkh. Besides the water change the only other thing Ive used is neo nitro. The tank has been fallow since October 20th so I’ve been dosing nitrate to keep it around 10 since then so dinos don't creep up on me.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I have 2 salifert alk test kits i double checked it with and still around 11dkh. Besides the water change the only other thing Ive used is neo nitro. The tank has been fallow since October 20th so I’ve been dosing nitrate to keep it around 10 since then so dinos don't creep up on me.

Dosing nitrate (and he ensuing consumption) boosts alk.

Unfortunately Brightwell doesn't mention to watch for this. Maybe they do not know it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Each dosing and consumption of 50 ppm nitrate will boost alk by 2.3 dKH.

So 2 ppm per day boosts alk by 2.3 dKH each 25 days.

 

[Arcu2]

Each dosing and consumption of 50 ppm nitrate will boost alk by 2.3 dKH.

So 2 ppm per day boosts alk by 2.3 dKH each 25 days.

That explains it then. I was dosing nitrates like every week throughout the entire fallow period of 76 days. Thank you randy. Should I let it fall on its own or do a small water changes since it’s getting close to 12 now and not coming down at all.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

That explains it then. I was dosing nitrates like every week throughout the entire fallow period of 76 days. Thank you randy. Should I let it fall on its own or do a small water changes since it’s getting close to 12 now and not coming down at all.

IMO, it depends on what is planned for the future, If the dosing will stop or demand may rise, then I wouldn't bother, but if it will continue as is, and alk gets above 12 dKH, I might drop it with an acid, such as sodium bisulfate, preferably in water change water.

 

[92Miata]

That explains it then. I was dosing nitrates like every week throughout the entire fallow period of 76 days. Thank you randy. Should I let it fall on its own or do a small water changes since it’s getting close to 12 now and not coming down at all.

So you're fishless at the moment - and doing this to offset that. Do you currently have corals in the tank? Anything that should be bringing the alkalinity down?

Dosing ammonia instead of nitrate won't drive alk up - but you need to be more careful. (Ammonia->nitrite->nitrate consumes alk, nitrate->gas/flesh/etc releases it) .


Randy - would something like sodium nitrite have less of an effect here?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Randy - would something like sodium nitrite have less of an effect here?

Good idea, but no.

The nitrite/nitrate interconversion is alk neutral. So it makes no difference which you dose:

NO2- + ½ O2 <---> NO3-

It is the ammonia/nitrite or organic/nitrite interconversion that is alk impacting by producing or consuming H+.

NH3 + 3/2 O2 <---> NO2- + H+ + H2O

 

[Arcu2]

Did a 10% water change Sunday and it brought it down from 11.2 to 10.6 and has been still on the rise again Haven’t dosed any more neonitro

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

If rising alk continues to be a problem, you can lower the alk in the salt mix to quite low levels to make a bigger dent with a smaller water change.

Here's a recipe:

Sodium Bisulfate to Reduce Alkalinity in New Salt Water or in Display Tanks

I just want to record these calculations in their own thread to refer back to in other threads. When alkalinity is too high in new salt water or in a display tank, acid can be used to lower the alkalinity. You can easily use muriatic acid (hydrochloric acid), or sodium bifulfate (e.g...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Cpc83]

If rising alk continues to be a problem, you can lower the alk in the salt mix to quite low levels to make a bigger dent with a smaller water change.

Here's a recipe:

Sodium Bisulfate to Reduce Alkalinity in New Salt Water or in Display Tanks

I just want to record these calculations in their own thread to refer back to in other threads. When alkalinity is too high in new salt water or in a display tank, acid can be used to lower the alkalinity. You can easily use muriatic acid (hydrochloric acid), or sodium bifulfate (e.g...

www.reef2reef.com

I just stumbled across this while I was getting ready to write a post. Is there something to dose to raise nitrate level that won't increase alk? What is the method for adding ammonia? If I just try to increase the feeding the phosphate goes way up meaning more carbon dosing lowering the ph lower then it is already. I currently run a CO2 scrubber which doesn't help much. Have tried to turn skimmer off a few days at a time but cannot seem to keep readable nitrate while carbon dosing and if I stop carbon dosing the phosphate is ridiculous I'd have to water daily.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I just stumbled across this while I was getting ready to write a post. Is there something to dose to raise nitrate level that won't increase alk? What is the method for adding ammonia? If I just try to increase the feeding the phosphate goes way up meaning more carbon dosing lowering the ph lower then it is already. I currently run a CO2 scrubber which doesn't help much. Have tried to turn skimmer off a few days at a time but cannot seem to keep readable nitrate while carbon dosing and if I stop carbon dosing the phosphate is ridiculous I'd have to water daily.

Sure. Dosing ammonium chloride will reduce alk and dosing ammonium bicarbonate is neutral to alk.

DIY Ammonia dosing for low nitrate systems

Some reef aquaria have chronic low nitrogen availability. One indicator is very low nitrate. Nitrate dosing is a fine remedy, but it is possible that ammonia dosing may be more beneficial for some organisms since ammonia can be energetically easier to assimilate than is nitrate. For this...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Cpc83]

Here is my issue, I carbon dose to keep control of phosphate (.04-.12) and Im stuck dosing nitrate( was neo nitro 80ml a night to maintain 2-2.5 with in 24hrs) if I don't carbon dose phosphate rises and still nitrate will go to 0 within 48hrs. If I dose neo nitro my alk goes thru the roof in 7 day from 9ish to 12.8. So I can fix the alk with a good water change but wc won't add nitrates. My thoughts is to dose ammonia bicarbonate on a pump dosing every few hours. Will ammonia bicarbonate affect ph in tank?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Answered in the other thread, but I do not think dosing ammonium bicarbonate will have any significant pH effects.