Alkalinity dosing accident

[ASIN28]

So I ran into a little issue and need some advice. My dosed has been keeping my alk at around 8.5 consistent. I check it with my Hanna Checker all the time and the beginning of this week I checked it and it was 7.0 so im like what the heck and I added. Then the next day same thing read around 7.2. I added again im like what the heck. So tonight I had the same thing so I checked it with Salifert and sure enough it reads 13.6… I through out the regeant for the Hanna checker and opened a new one and sure enough the new regeant matched 13.6. It was a bad regeant. Do you think this is going to cause harm to the corals?

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

I would definitely bring it back down to reasonable levels. I guess the answer to your question really is : it depends. Did the alk suddenly spike or was it over time? How are the corals responding? If this was a sudden spike, I would be more concerned over a steady increase because of a high dosage. If this is a steady increase, try to bring it down over a couple of days and avoid down side shock. If this happened overnight…I honestly don’t know if it helps bringing it down slowly or quickly.

 

[Miami Reef]

That’s really annoying.

What corals do you have?

 

[ASIN28]

I would definitely bring it back down to reasonable levels. I guess the answer to your question really is : it depends. Did the alk suddenly spike or was it over time? How are the corals responding? If this was a sudden spike, I would be more concerned over a steady increase because of a high dosage. If this is a steady increase, try to bring it down over a couple of days and avoid down side shock. If this happened overnight…I honestly don’t know if it helps bringing it down slowly or quickly.

It was slowly brought up over the past few days because I thought I was making up the difference of what I was losing. So it wasn’t overnight. I guess I’m just going to just let it slowly drop back down that’s all. It definitely didn’t go from 8.5 to 13.6 in one night that’s for sure

 

[ASIN28]

That’s really annoying.

What corals do you have?

Mixed Reef. Torches, Hammers, Zoas, and literally just added a few pieces of SPS beginning of this week…

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

This happens frequently with Hanna alk reagent. I’ve heard the quote bottle only lasts 30 days once opened, quote you only get 25 tests so throw the rest away, quote put it in the fridge once you open it……. Do a handstand while you shake it with your left foot and then howl at the moon. Some batches are worse than others. It sucks because some people can’t see to do titration tests. I have someone help me run a Salifert test every third Hanna test just to know if it’s starting to shift. People defend Hanna, but every other reagent brand out there lasts much, much longer. Enough of that and to your question. That alk swing could certainly affect sps. It may not be noticed right away. There’s two schools of thought. Get it back down slowly to not make it worse, or get it back to normal right away so it doesn’t have time to affect the coral. I’ve shifted to the latter. I was a big fan of not over reacting and making things worse, but I’ve had better success in this scenario with getting it back down quickly. I’ve had burned tips, and stn come on days later either way, but was able to recover more getting it back to normal quickly. Just my experience and you’ll get differing opinions. Best of luck man, this sucks and it wasn’t your fault.

 

[ryshark]

So I ran into a little issue and need some advice. My dosed has been keeping my alk at around 8.5 consistent. I check it with my Hanna Checker all the time and the beginning of this week I checked it and it was 7.0 so im like what the heck and I added. Then the next day same thing read around 7.2. I added again im like what the heck. So tonight I had the same thing so I checked it with Salifert and sure enough it reads 13.6… I through out the regeant for the Hanna checker and opened a new one and sure enough the new regeant matched 13.6. It was a bad regeant. Do you think this is going to cause harm to the corals?

I had a similar issue lately. I think those Hanna reagents go bad after time and read low.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

How much alk do you normally dose in a day?

Letting it fall on its own with no dosing may be the best plan.

 

[ASIN28]

How much alk do you normally dose in a day?

Letting it fall on its own with no dosing may be the best plan.

My consumption is .2 per day. I immediately shut off the doser. It’s going to be dropping on its own now I’m just praying to God that I don’t have catastrophic losses from this

 

[Littlesquishy]

This happens frequently with Hanna alk reagent. I’ve heard the quote bottle only lasts 30 days once opened, quote you only get 25 tests so throw the rest away, quote put it in the fridge once you open it……. Do a handstand while you shake it with your left foot and then howl at the moon. Some batches are worse than others. It sucks because some people can’t see to do titration tests. I have someone help me run a Salifert test every third Hanna test just to know if it’s starting to shift. People defend Hanna, but every other reagent brand out there lasts much, much longer. Enough of that and to your question. That alk swing could certainly affect sps. It may not be noticed right away. There’s two schools of thought. Get it back down slowly to not make it worse, or get it back to normal right away so it doesn’t have time to affect the coral. I’ve shifted to the latter. I was a big fan of not over reacting and making things worse, but I’ve had better success in this scenario with getting it back down quickly. I’ve had burned tips, and stn come on days later either way, but was able to recover more getting it back to normal quickly. Just my experience and you’ll get differing opinions. Best of luck man, this sucks and it wasn’t your fault.

What brands last longer? I'm looking for a test kit that can act to confirm results if this is the case. I tested with hanna recently for alk. Day 1 I got 8.4 for alk. The next day (6/29/22) my alk turned out to be 7.5

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

What brands last longer? I'm looking for a test kit that can act to confirm results if this is the case. I tested with hanna recently for alk. Day 1 I got 8.4 for alk. The next day (6/29/22) my alk turned out to be 7.5

Salifert is arguably the favored alk test. I wish Hanna would make a checker calibrated to the Salifert reagents! I’m sure it wouldn’t be able to work as it’s wouldn’t start off clear. Salifert starts blue then changes to Pink when you hit your target.

 

[Spare time]

As long as you don't run an ULNS, it should be fine. I wouldn't worry.

 

[Apotack]

My consumption is .2 per day. I immediately shut off the doser. It’s going to be dropping on its own now I’m just praying to God that I don’t have catastrophic losses from this

I wouldn’t shut the doser off. Set it to where it was before you started raising your alk and it should come down slowly. If not you could easily drop too much too fast.