Coralline off the walls, ALK spike??

SaracensRugby · Feb 16, 2020

So I scraped off about 2-3rds of the coralline off the back of my tank. All of a sudden my ALK, per Trident, spiked up from 7.06dkh to 9.6dkh. Would all of the scraped off pieces of coralline floating for the last week cause a ALK spike? and if so I am assuming I should remove the pieces then right?

Or would it just be that I do not have as much "Stuff" aka coralline and my corals pulling alk out, so my balance if off? I scraped this all off about a week ago and everything has been fine.

An update, I just tested with my salifert tests, and it shows 8.0dkh. So I need to check my trident to make sure everything is ok there.

Thanks!

CNDReef · Feb 16, 2020

Yes there will be a jump in alk since you just took out something that was consuming a considerable amount

Andrew9909 · Feb 16, 2020

Definately get your parameters worked out and make sure your getting correct readings. As far as your alkalinity consumption, coralline definitely uses a good amount. How many gallons is your system.

SaracensRugby · Feb 16, 2020

Andrew9909 said:
Definately get your parameters worked out and make sure your getting correct readings. As far as your alkalinity consumption, coralline definitely uses a good amount. How many gallons is your system.

Roughly 160 gallons all told. And I just checked my Trident, and the ALK solution was pretty much empty. I have read that air in the line can cause false readings, so guessing that may have caused the large spike on my trident reading.