Raising Alkalinity but... not raising Alkalinity

[Thisisfine]

I'll try to keep it brief. I went hypo several months ago and forgot I hadn't dosed up (used cheaper salt to raise salinity back to 1.025). Add the few corals I had from the quarantine tank and was like..oh no. Honestly, most every level was fine save for Alk which was 5.6. I immediately aimed to dose up 0.5dkH a day or so. Tank is 120g with ~30g sump. Added 30mL Red Sea Foundations KH/Alkalinity solution first day (all I had). Bought more and added 60mL more 2 days later. I forget the numbers but it bumped into the 6 range. Added 60mL more, then 80mL probably twice over a several days. Bumped into the 7's and finally 8.3. Checked a day or two later and it was in the low 7's. Added 80mL more, still in the 7's. I should add I also have a doser adding ~14mL All for Reef everyday. This was the last stable dosing before hypo. All in all I've probably added 250-310mL of Red Sea solution in the last 9-10 days.

What seems to be the potential issue(s) here? I'm using a Hanna Checker. Bad batch of Alk solution? Hanna reagent gone bad or is there a chemistry/biological issue at play? Tank is reestablishing itself from a coralline algae growth standpoint. Before dosing alk reagent, Ca was 420, Mg 1350, pH 8.4. I've tried dosing various places, return section, drain section etc. The amount I'm dumping in there just doesn't add up with the final result unless something is off (reagent, test kit) or something is consuming a massive amount of carbonate. I suppose I'll go ahead and order more Alk test reagent just to clear that possibility.

 

[Reefering1]

Is calcium dropping?

 

[Thisisfine]

Is calcium dropping?

Just tested - manual titration so it's I'd say 425-435 with red sea test kit. Never certain if it's the final blue end point or just before that where it often raises in color after a few seconds until that last drop.

*edit - not dropping, may even be slightly increasing with the All For Reef dosing.

 

[Reefering1]

Still dosing afr?

 

[Thisisfine]

Still dosing afr?

Yeah, never actually turned the doser off during Hypo - it's a jebao so for whatever reason you can't tell it to stop other than setting it to 0mL that I can find.

Added a fresh batch of all for reef the other day as the reservoir was getting gunky. Bad placement next to the UV sterilizer on my part with the uv light hitting it.

 

[Reefering1]

Are corals suffering? What happens if you do a couple water changes?

 

[Miami Reef]

Can you pick up a Salifert Alkalinity or a Red Sea Alkalinity Pro test kit? I’ve tested both with standards, and they are very accurate (within +/- 0.3dKH).

These kits won’t have the tendency to skew readings overtime, they are very cheap, and can provide you with certainty that the results are correct. It can also help you cross check the Hanna.

If the results with those kits show too low, then you can feel confident knowing that you simply need to dose more.

 

[Thisisfine]

Are corals suffering? What happens if you do a couple water changes?

Regarding corals - all seem to be doing fine save for a Wellso which is what prompted the discovery that I didn't dose up after coming out of hypo. That, a hellfire torch and a couple of smaller things came from a mystery box from a semi lfs for black friday. Torch and others seem to be doing great. The wellso I'm not certain that it's not lighting and my nitrates are a bit up. I've moved to the side of the tank with less light and am dosing nopox until I can get some water changes in.

I can certainly try a few 10g changes and see if that helps. I'm just baffled with the amount of Alk solution added versus what I'm reading on the hanna.

 

[Thisisfine]

Can you pick up a Salifert Alkalinity or a Red Sea Alkalinity Pro test kit? I’ve tested both with standards, and they are very accurate (within +/- 0.3dKH).

These kits won’t have the tendency to skew readings overtime, they are very cheap, and can provide you with certainty that the results are correct. It can also help you cross check the Hanna.

If the results with those kits show too low, then you can feel confident knowing that you simply need to dose more.

Yeah I can do that. I just ordered another hanna reagent to confirm with the hanna checker. Cheap and easy way to at least confirm the hanna is or isn't working.

*edit - ordered the red sea test kit coming in thursday

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

It gets harder to maintain calcium and alk at lower salinity because calcium carbonate is less soluble.

There’s no need to maintain alk above 7 dKH. I’d just aim for that by dosing,

 

[Thisisfine]

Mystery solved - New Hanna alk reagent came in today. It was reading ~7.2 yesterday. 10.6 today with the new reagent. Will have further confirmation tomorrow with a Red Sea Foundations Pro test kit coming in.

I'm going to assume it's best to naturally let this decline to the range I prefer between 8-9? I'm going to be out of state from 12/16 to 12/26 so that's really all I can do if I just turn off my doser or would it be better to continue All for Reef until I return?

 

[ryanjohn1]

Mystery solved - New Hanna alk reagent came in today. It was reading ~7.2 yesterday. 10.6 today with the new reagent. Will have further confirmation tomorrow with a Red Sea Foundations Pro test kit coming in.

I'm going to assume it's best to naturally let this decline to the range I prefer between 8-9? I'm going to be out of state from 12/16 to 12/26 so that's really all I can do if I just turn off my doser or would it be better to continue All for Reef until I return?

Put reagent in the fridge.

 

[Thisisfine]

Put reagent in the fridge.

Will do, thanks

 

[Miami Reef]

Mystery solved - New Hanna alk reagent came in today. It was reading ~7.2 yesterday. 10.6 today with the new reagent. Will have further confirmation tomorrow with a Red Sea Foundations Pro test kit coming in.

I'm going to assume it's best to naturally let this decline to the range I prefer between 8-9? I'm going to be out of state from 12/16 to 12/26 so that's really all I can do if I just turn off my doser or would it be better to continue All for Reef until I return?

I would half the dose you normally do. It will allow the alkalinity to trend down, but not allow it to go too low if you were to stop the dosage altogether, at least until you come back from your trip.

I’ll be looking forward to the Red Sea Alkalinity results. I much prefer standard titration kits over the Hanna alkalinity tests. They are much more stable and cheaper.