Apex Trident Testing Order - Why is my Alk fluctuating like this?

[dfwjr1973]

Does anybody know the actual order the Trident does its tests for the combined tests? I have some strange fluctuations in my Alk results that seem to line up with the Alk only vs. combined tests (4 tests per day is my schedule) and wonder if the Ca/Mag test is done before the Alk test and it somehow changes the results? I will do a Trident cleaning tonight when I get home... I'm just curious...

Or if anybody else has any suggestions on why my Alk curve looks like this? I am not dosing anything following that schedule. AFR once in the morning at 9am (after a auto water change at 8am) and dosing Kalkwasser over 24 hours...

And yes, I am slowly bringing my Alk down to 8.8-9ish...

 

[Justfebreezeit]

Seems the wave is pretty consistent at least

 

[dfwjr1973]

Yes...and not "bad" (I think anyway)...just makes me curious where it comes from...

 

[Reefer Matt]

Alk swings naturally throughout the day with the photoperiod of the lights.

 

[14 foot reef]

Day / night swing is pretty normal. The Rise will happen with lights off. the lowering will happen during photosynthesis as the corals are consuming alk with the lights on. The downward trend is most likely the increased consumption of alk as the corals grow. Pretty much 100% normal.

 

[dfwjr1973]

Yes, I get that, but this isn't (or doesn't seem to be) it. The timing is off...

Midnight to 6am - Alk rises up 0.4 (lights off in display tank, on in ATS)
6am to noon - Alk falls 0.4 (lights on in both display and ATS)
noon to 6pm - Alk rises again up 0.4 (lights on in display tank, off in ATS from noon - 4pm)
6pm to midnight - Alk falls 0.4 (lights off in DT from 8pm-midnight, on in ATS)

I would understand of the fluctuations matched the lighting schedule, but it doesn't seem to...

 

[dfwjr1973]

Well...after reading what you guys wrote and writing what I wrote...maybe it's a combination of the consumption of Alk from the corals, and then the creation of Alk from the AFR... Like this?

Midnight to 6am - Alk rises up 0.4 (lights off in display tank, on in ATS) - light coral consumption due to low light, light AFR alk production due to no light for bacteria and maybe no active AFR left?
6am to noon - Alk falls 0.4 (lights on in both display and ATS) - high coral consumption with light, light AFR alk production as maybe AFR is "running out" from previous dose?
noon to 6pm - Alk rises again up 0.4 (lights on in display tank, off in ATS from noon - 4pm) - high AFR alk production from the morning dose and high light for bacteria?
6pm to midnight - Alk falls 0.4 (lights off in DT from 8pm-midnight, on in ATS) - light coral consumption due to no light and light production due to no light?