At a loss waiting for the crash

[Manose]

I am upset so I will try and type out what is going on
I dose 4.5ml AFR a day on my 100gal tank
Alk has been spot on for months at 9.1 to 9.4
Scraped a big bunch on coraline off the glass on May 7th then tested ALK on May 12th and it was 9.6!!!!
I recalibrated my dos with apex to make sure it was okay and it was fine
Scraped the rest of the coraline off the side glass on wednesday
Tested today 9.9 then again and it was 9.0!!!!!!
I changed the battery on the tester then tested
9.8 - 9.9 - 9.8!!!!
I just shut off the doser and tested calcium to make sure it was good and it was 415 and that has been the number for many months 415-420
ICP test from 3/26 was 9.36
Everything looks fantastic but with these numbers I am sure a crash in coming and not sure what to think right now

 

[Red_Beard]

Unless the coraline was sucking up a bunch and now isnt, since you scraped it. Fingers crossed that is what is at play here! Mean time, maybe dont dose as much and or skip a day or two.

 

[Manose]

Unless the coraline was sucking up a bunch and now isnt, since you scraped it. Fingers crossed that is what is at play here! Mean time, maybe dont dose as much and or skip a day or two.

I am going to leave the dos off for a few days and check alk everyday

 

[Pod_01]

4.5ml of AFR on 100gal tank is small amount and is not detectable by the test kits, your variation is test based or perhaps the salinity was down/up due to ATO.

For reference my 55gal system uses 44ml of AFR a day and that is approximately 1dKH a day for that system. My second tank 9gal total consumes 0.5ml of AFR a day.

Some pictures for reference:

I don’t believe you have crash coming unless your corals look unhappy, something else is happening or another product you are using contains alk.

 

[arcangelreef32]

4.5ml of afr in 100 gallons is almost nothing. Your tested variations of your alk are likely just testing anomalies. 9.0-9.9 is hardly a variation you need to worry about even if it was rising.
Alk changing does not hurt tanks.
People like to blame alk, cause its something we can test.
The reality is, its something else completely unrelated that causes corals to stop consuming. Stuff starts looking ****** or dies, people test alk, and its high cause they continued dosing. They blame the alk swing for stuff dieing.
You are dosing basically nothing. Unless there is something else you are adding to the tank, theres no input that could possibly be raising your alkalinity.

You said yourself, everything looks fantastic.

Relax. Breath. Your fine.

 

[MnFish1]

I am upset so I will try and type out what is going on
I dose 4.5ml AFR a day on my 100gal tank
Alk has been spot on for months at 9.1 to 9.4
Scraped a big bunch on coraline off the glass on May 7th then tested ALK on May 12th and it was 9.6!!!!
I recalibrated my dos with apex to make sure it was okay and it was fine
Scraped the rest of the coraline off the side glass on wednesday
Tested today 9.9 then again and it was 9.0!!!!!!
I changed the battery on the tester then tested
9.8 - 9.9 - 9.8!!!!
I just shut off the doser and tested calcium to make sure it was good and it was 415 and that has been the number for many months 415-420
ICP test from 3/26 was 9.36
Everything looks fantastic but with these numbers I am sure a crash in coming and not sure what to think right now

The difference in alkalinity s not significant Its often considered that a change of 1 dKH/day will not be harmful - and certainly not the levels you're seeing. However, you may very well cause problems fiddling with your doser without knowing which test is correct. I would use a chemical based test - to determine which level is likely to be correct. ICP testing does not test alkalinity (by ICP) - they are just doing a chemical test as well - but at least the ICP version suggests that yours are not that far off. Except for the fact that scraping the algae (which 'uses' alkalinity) - scraping it should not cause a problem except (as you've seen) a very slight rise - which is not at all likely to cause a crash.

Since its unclear exactly whether this is a testing problem or something related to alkalinity usage in your tank - I would say -double check your tests

 

[MnFish1]

4.5ml of afr in 100 gallons is almost nothing. Your tested variations of your alk are likely just testing anomalies. 9.0-9.9 is hardly a variation you need to worry about even if it was rising.
Alk changing does not hurt tanks.
People like to blame alk, cause its something we can test.
The reality is, its something else completely unrelated that causes corals to stop consuming. Then the alk goes up. Stuff dies, people test alk, and its high cause they continued dosing. They blame the alk swing for stuff dieing.
You are dosing basically nothing. Unless there is something else you are adding to the tank, theres no input that could possibly be raising your alkalinity.

You said yourself, everything looks fantastic.

Relax. Breath. Your fine.

I was typing while you were - I would only add that if you remove a significant amount of corralline algae - while dosing the same amount of alkalinity - the alkalinity will rise and dosing should be decreased (but not stopped IMHO as the OP did). Totally agree that there is no 'danger' of a crash based on this scenario.

 

[JonoH]

Dont stress, my Alk recently jumped from 8.5 to 14 as a dosing pump malfunctioned and stayed on.

I turned off dosing for a couple of weeks and let it drop back down slowly, if anything i had some extra growth on my acro.

 

[MnFish1]

Dont stress, my Alk recently jumped from 8.5 to 14 as a dosing pump malfunctioned and stayed on.

I turned off dosing for a couple of weeks and let it drop back down slowly, if anything i had some extra growth on my acro.

If that happens (an alkalinity from 8.5-14 - you should probably stress a little - though there was probably a bit of precipitation:). It would totally depend on what corals etc were in your tank - some will tolerate it - many will not. Mine went up to 22 once (from 8) - and some corals did fine - others died within 3 days (soft corals did fine) - it was an issue with a popular aquarium controller that dumped a liter of alkalinity in the tank at one time. Many times if Calcium and Alkalinity are over-dosed together there is less risk

 

[JonoH]

If that happens (an alkalinity from 8.5-14 - you should probably stress a little - though there was probably a bit of precipitation:). It would totally depend on what corals etc were in your tank - some will tolerate it - many will not. Mine went up to 22 once (from 8) - and some corals did fine - others died within 3 days (soft corals did fine) - it was an issue with a popular aquarium controller that dumped a liter of alkalinity in the tank at one time. Many times if Calcium and Alkalinity are over-dosed together there is less risk

It rose over a period of 2 weeks, so I can only assume the slow rise helped?

No stressed coral at all thankfully, and no precipitation!

 

[MnFish1]

I am going to leave the dos off for a few days and check alk everyday

Just to be clear - I think you definitely should not just check alkalinity everyday - you need to first verify that the test. you're using is not having a problem (which is more likely than my coralline theory). Otherwise you will be chasing your tail. Additionally check your alkalinity daily at the same time - the changes you're seeing may just be timing issues as well. Additionally, I do not think you should stop dosing. Cut it back maybe - but again - you're having minimal changes in alkalinity, but you're dropping your dosing from 100% to 0%.

 

[MnFish1]

It rose over a period of 2 weeks, so I can only assume the slow rise helped?

No stressed coral at all thankfully, and no precipitation!

Yes - likely!! mine happened over an hour...

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Bits of suspended coralline in the water will give a false high alk reading when it dissolves in the alk test.

 

[Kasrift]

4.5ml of AFR on 100gal tank is small amount and is not detectable by the test kits, your variation is test based or perhaps the salinity was down/up due to ATO.

For reference my 55gal system uses 44ml of AFR a day and that is approximately 1dKH a day for that system. My second tank 9gal total consumes 0.5ml of AFR a day.

Some pictures for reference:

I don’t believe you have crash coming unless your corals look unhappy, something else is happening or another product you are using contains alk.

Agree. I used 28ml AFR in a 32 gallon, definitely something else to look at in a 100g. Also, there is a delay on AFR for alkbto register on tests.

 

[Manose]

Here is my tank and while not a lot of coral all it has needed was 4.5ml per day using my dos in a 24hour period dosing .2ml and hour.
I use microbacter clean 80ml once a week
10ml Microbacter purple onece a week
3ml of Tropic marin A- and 3ml Tropic marin K+ per day
This is all I dose and no water changes
Salt is stable at 1.026
Tank is 9months old
I have severe OCD so I worry a bit more than the normal reef person (yes I am crazy)

 

[Manose]

I have ordered a new Hanna tester and a salifert test kit

 

[MnFish1]

Here is my tank and while not a lot of coral all it has needed was 4.5ml per day using my dos in a 24hour period dosing .2ml and hour.
I use microbacter clean 80ml once a week
10ml Microbacter purple onece a week
3ml of Tropic marin A- and 3ml Tropic marin K+ per day
This is all I dose and no water changes
Salt is stable at 1.026
Tank is 9months old
I have severe OCD so I worry a bit more than the noral reef person (yes I am crazy)

Very nice - you should start a build thread if you haven't - its obvious you're taking good care of your animals

 

[reely989]

There’s nothing in this scenario that would make me have an ounce of stress. Your tank is fine. Certainly no reason to believe it’s going to crash.

 

[Manose]

Very nice - you should start a build thread if you haven't - its obvious you're taking good care of your animals

I did but nobody really looked at it so I stopped updating it

 

[Manose]

I have no clue now as I got a Salifert test and it was crazy at 10.9! I have new Hanna reagent coming today so we will see how that does.
This is FRUSTRATING!!!!