All keep rising ?

sabyhappy2 · Mar 13, 2022

My alk seems to keep rising between my water changes my salt is reading at 7 but for some reason my tank is at 13 I’m toping up with rodi is there any reason my alk would keep going up throughout the week before I do my water change ?

last reading my tank was lower was Feb 13th and it was 9.85 before that it was 9.96 on the 6th
I figured with my weekly water changes of it reading 7 and the last reading I got before was 9 I don’t understand how it’s 13 now
Is there anything that can cause it? (Foods?)If not how do I fix this without doing 2 water changes a week

Photo of my tank attached for referance

blaxsun · Mar 13, 2022

1. What brand of salt are you using?
2. What testing kit do you use?
3. Do you dose alkalinity at all?

sabyhappy2 · Mar 13, 2022

blaxsun said:
1. What brand of salt are you using?
2. What testing kit do you use?
3. Do you dose alkalinity at all?

Aquaforest reef atm gonna switch to aquaforest sea salt soon since I only have softies and leathers

hanna alk tester the fancy digital one read 248 on it

and no I don’t dose anything

blaxsun · Mar 13, 2022

If anything your alkalinity should be going down. Do you test your salinity, and if so - has that remained consistent?

sabyhappy2 · Mar 13, 2022

blaxsun said:
If anything your alkalinity should be going down. Do you test your salinity, and if so - has that remained consistent?

It stays between 1.025-1.026
And yes I test salinity

blaxsun · Mar 13, 2022

sabyhappy2 said:
It stays between 1.025-1.026
And yes I test salinity

The only thing I can think of is an off test (user error, dirty cuvette, bad reagent, etc,) Do you have a LFS that you could take a water sample in to get tested? (just to rule that out)

sabyhappy2 · Mar 13, 2022

blaxsun said:
The only thing I can think of is an off test (user error, dirty cuvette, bad reagent, etc,) Do you have a LFS that you could take a water sample in to get tested? (just to rule that out)

Yeah I can take some to work with me tomorrow and test it against our tester at the store but it was reading lower and now it’s reading higher (I honestly have no idea )

blaxsun · Mar 13, 2022

sabyhappy2 said:
Yeah I can take some to work with me tomorrow and test it against our tester at the store but it was reading lower and now it’s reading higher (I honestly have no idea )

Every now and then I get an absolutely crazy reading on one of my Hannas, which I almost always trace to something I did (or didn't). Not saying that this is the case in your scenario, but the easiest way to rule things out is to get that independent test.

Lavey29 · Mar 13, 2022

What is your calcium? If it is low alk may be high and bringing calcium up will lower alk.

sabyhappy2 · Mar 14, 2022

Lavey29 said:
What is your calcium? If it is low alk may be high and bringing calcium up will lower alk.

If I did my test right 64 drops on the aquaforest test before it changed color so only 180ppm

Lavey29 · Mar 14, 2022

sabyhappy2 said:
If I did my test right 64 drops on the aquaforest test before it changed color so only 180ppm

Huh? Your calcium is 180?

sabyhappy2 · Mar 14, 2022

Lavey29 said:
Huh? Your calcium is 180?

Based off this chart I added 64 drops of the reagent till it turned color so yeah 180 apparently

magnesium is also 630 based off the other chart till it turned color I added 58 drops

Lavey29 · Mar 14, 2022

sabyhappy2 said:
Based off this chart I added 64 drops of the reagent till it turned color so yeah 180 apparently

magnesium is also 630 based off the other chart till it turned color I added 58 drops

You probably want to get a second opinion on both of those tests with your LFS. If cal and mag are test low then that is why your alk is unbalanced and rising.

sabyhappy2 · Mar 14, 2022

Lavey29 said:
You probably want to get a second opinion on both of those tests with your LFS. If cal and mag are test low then that is why your alk is unbalanced and rising.

I’ll get more water tested tomorrow to see what’s up
I only have softies and leathers but would still like it to be stable for them even though the gsp is growing very well

Lavey29 · Mar 14, 2022

Calcium needs to be 400 and magnesium 1350

sabyhappy2 · Mar 14, 2022

Lavey29 said:
Calcium needs to be 400 and magnesium 1350

Yeah I’ll probably need to dose it to get it up I just don’t know what would be taking it all in if it’s just mostly gsp ? Would they use a lot of cal and mag to grow ?
I’ll get the water checked tomorrow

Lavey29 · Mar 14, 2022

sabyhappy2 said:
Yeah I’ll probably need to dose it to get it up I just don’t know what would be taking it all in if it’s just mostly gsp ? Would they use a lot of cal and mag to grow ?
I’ll get the water checked tomorrow

No they wouldn't that's why I wonder if your tests are accurate. If you do regular water changes your major and trace nutrient levels should be fine until you add more corals then at some point you typically need to dose between water changes to maintain levels. Mainly alk and cal. Magnesium does not get used up very quick at all.

sabyhappy2 · Mar 14, 2022

Lavey29 said:
No they wouldn't that's why I wonder if your tests are accurate. If you do regular water changes your major and trace nutrient levels should be fine until you add more corals then at some point you typically need to dose between water changes to maintain levels. Mainly alk and cal. Magnesium does not get used up very quick at all.

So I just watched a video on the test and it’s supposed to be what’s left in the syringe from when it changes color not the amount of drops so if that’s the case it should be around 445-410

BrandonS · Mar 14, 2022

what kind of rock do you have? I have heard some of the artificial rock can raise/release alk. I would check everything else. If nothing else seems out of place then I would take a small piece of rock out and put it in some fresh saltwater. Measure alk before placing in the rock and then after 24 hours of the rock being in it.