Sudden Spike in Alkalinity

DiZASTiX · May 25, 2018

Would you say my situation here regarding the sharp alkalinity rise of 2.1 dKH between Thursday 22:05 and Friday 3:05 is consistent with your article?

UPDATE: Today, Friday at 4:46, I remade the measurement: 8.6 dKH, after I increased my vinegar dosing from 5 mL / day to 18 mL / day for a 40 gal total volume system.

randy holmes-farley said:
In the absence of O2, and taking the nitrogen species completely to N2 (which may happen in several reaction steps), we have the following overall reaction:

organic + 124 NO3– + 124 H+ → 122 CO2 + 70 N2 + 208 H2O

It can be seen that the process above produces alkalinity (by consuming H+). In fact, it is the exact same amount of alkalinity that was depleted when the nitrate was originally formed from foods, so the net effect of the nitrogen cycle on alkalinity is zeroed out.

I also found a thread here.

I didn't believe it either at first, so I remeasured.

The prior context of the graphs are here. I'm very grateful to all who provided their knowledge. At this point however, the ammonia, nitrite, and "nitrate" all subsided substantially. Instead, I've a new problem: a sudden spike in alkalinity I can't explain. My dosing pumps are set to dose at 20 mL of Aquaforest Component 2+ over the course of every 24 hours, for approximately 40 total gallons of water.

Would you have some advice? Thank you.

Alkalinity vs Ammonia

Screen Shot 2018-05-25 at 4.27.43 AM.png

Alkalinity vs Nitrite

Screen Shot 2018-05-25 at 4.19.24 AM 1.png

'

Alkalinity vs "Nitrate"

(* And in an earlier thread, @Hans-Werner did point out that my test kit is flawed, and if my understanding is correct, that this value of nitrate includes the value of nitrite, so the enormous sudden growth in nitrate is but a mirage):

Screen Shot 2018-05-25 at 4.24.46 AM.png

Randy Holmes-Farley · May 25, 2018

I'd not sure what it is, or if it is even real and not test error, but it may relate to nitrate consumption, and it is certainly true that we cannot get a good handle on that with substantial nitrite around.

If that's it, the problem is about over and won't continue to rise.