Please help. Alk rising. Unknown why!

[Thinbluelee]

Hello,

I cqnt figure out what woukd cause my Alk to be rising?

I have tons of SPS and LPS. I dose Kalk to keep ph up and stable. I typically dose a VERY small amount of Tropic Marin AllForReef (10ml daily/ 130 gal volume). I have stopped in hopes to reduce alk again. I want to stay around 10-10.5 range.

Attached are my graphs of parameters.

What would cause corals to stop using up the alkalinity.

My NO3 is typically around 12ppm. PO4 stays high, around .3 or so. If I lower my PO4, my sps lose all polyp extension and fade.

Any inside or possible ideas are appreciated!!

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

@danieyella look familiar?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

If you are dosing alk, and alk is rising, the obvious answer is you are dosing too much.

 

[danieyella]

@danieyella look familiar?

Never figured it out.

Alk not being dosed, levels continuing to rise. Mystery

 

[Thinbluelee]

@danieyella look familiar?

Right, I stopped days ago and it keeps rising. I was dosing the same minimal amount for about 6 months, all stable. I even added some corals through that time. It's not making sense

 

[OfficeReefer]

Might be worth checking your Trident reagents. Mine went wonky if the B reagent got low but I don't think it was this pronounced. Also, if I recall the AllForReef is not immediate and will precipiate this if dosed incorrectly but is delayed due to chemical reaction of calcium formate vs other means (could be wrong here).

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Right, I stopped days ago and it keeps rising. I was dosing the same minimal amount for about 6 months, all stable. I even added some corals through that time. It's not making sense

You stopped both kalkwasser and ALL For Reef?

All for Reef can take substantial time to convert into detectable alk.

 

[danieyella]

Right, I stopped days ago and it keeps rising. I was dosing the same minimal amount for about 6 months, all stable. I even added some corals through that time. It's not making sense

I never really figured out what happened with mine. Tried testing with multiple different kits, didn't dose anything whatsoever for months. Don't use kalk to begin with. Ended up working out fine though, I was about to temporarily downsize and the new salt I got with the new tank matched the random new high ALK my tank insisted on living at.

I hope you have better luck figuring out what's going on than I did

 

[mdb_talon]

If you are dosing enough kalk to keep pH "up and stable" then I would guess you are still dosing quite a bit of alk.

 

[Thinbluelee]

You stopped both kalkwasser and ALL For Reef?

All for Reef can take substantial time to convert into detectable alk.

No. Just stopped AFR. I'm aware of the delay of showing due to being a formate. But it's been going up for a while as if my corals decided to stop utilizing it

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

No. Just stopped AFR. I'm aware of the delay of showing due to being a formate. But it's been going up for a while as if my corals decided to stop utilizing it

If you are still dosing kalkwasser, that's the "mystery" solved. It is an alk additive and should only be dosed to the degree that you need alkalinity.

Don't believe the claims that some folks make that it can be dosed just for pH.

 

[Thinbluelee]

If you are still dosing kalkwasser, that's the "mystery" solved. It is an alk additive and should only be dosed to the degree that you need alkalinity.

Don't believe the claims that some folks make that it can be dosed just for pH.

Very fair point. Well I'm trying to figure out why my alk was steady around 9.5 for months with the kalk, then all of a sudden it started rising. I did notice my po4 is way higher than before. Woukd that have anything to do with it you think?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Very fair point. Well I'm trying to figure out why my alk was steady around 9.5 for months with the kalk, then all of a sudden it started rising. I did notice my po4 is way higher than before. Woukd that have anything to do with it you think?

Possibly, but certainly, reducing or stopping all alk additives is always the best bet when alk is rising too much.