How do handle Reagent drift?

[vittpsu21]

Interested to hear some feedback here, I am wondering how others handle their Reagent drift, or if they even see any? For context I will include some pictures below, my approach has been to just treat the new reagent as if it is truth and go from there? Is this common or just unlucky on my behalf?

I am still learning/relatively new and I have been making adjustments slowly to try to nudge into the 8-9 range I wish to keep but was mostly just wondering. Most of my influx has not come from doses but rather from WC and Reagent change. Not all the WC's are noted, but I do 1 per week 20%


My dose is split between 8 micro doses throughout the day and is still very small atm, so less worried about that and the test variance and more just trying to understand the concept!

Thanks

 

[vittpsu21]

Maybe these will be easier to see sorry.

 

[mcarroll]

For a second I thought I saw "...Reagan drift..." in the title.

 

[rtparty]

What is the alkalinity of your new salt? I don’t see any drift. Just a slowly rising alkalinity from either dosing too much or using salt higher in alkalinity than your tank

Some man made rocks will also leach alkalinity for quite a while

 

[mook1178]

Reagents can drift mostly due to evaporation, making them stronger.

I consider this with a loud on my bottle that has a hole just wide enough for the dosing tube to fit through. Other than that, I don't make an excessive amount of dosing reagent.

 

[vittpsu21]

What is the alkalinity of your new salt? I don’t see any drift. Just a slowly rising alkalinity from either dosing too much or using salt higher in alkalinity than your tank

Google says instant ocean is 8-10 dkh, that being said... I think the drift on 3/26 to 3/27 is probably not a real jump I went from 8.2 -8.6 and was only dosing 4.5mL at the time throughout 24 hours

The only thing that changed between those days was the small dose, no WC and the reagent, but perhaps 4.5ml could raise if 0.4? but looking at all the other days before and after it I am not sure I believe that?

 

[mcarroll]

Maybe these will be easier to see sorry.

I agree, looks like normal variation from other things. Is there something specific that makes you question reagents though? Ie they got wet, or are old, etc?

 

[vittpsu21]

I agree, looks like normal variation from other things. Is there something specific that makes you question reagents though? Ie they got wet, or are old, etc?

just this part, from above, again I could just be wrong also

The only thing that changed between those days was the small dose, no WC and the reagent, but perhaps 4.5ml could raise if 0.4? but looking at all the other days before and after it I am not sure I believe that?

 

[rtparty]

Google says instant ocean is 8-10 dkh, that being said... I think the drift on 3/26 to 3/27 is probably not a real jump I went from 8.2 -8.6 and was only dosing 4.5mL at the time throughout 24 hours

IO purple is inconsistent from batch to batch in my experience and none of my buckets ever tested below ~9.5dKh. Most of them were 10.5-11dKh

If nothing in the tank is using alkalinity quickly, you will slowly raise your alkalinity to that level. Likely around 10dKh or so

 

[rtparty]

just this part, from above, again I could just be wrong also

The only thing that changed between those days was the small dose, no WC and the reagent, but perhaps 4.5ml could raise if 0.4? but looking at all the other days before and after it I am not sure I believe that?

Don’t forget that alkalinity tests are only accurate to about 0.3dKh

 

[vittpsu21]

IO purple is inconsistent from batch to batch in my experience and none of my buckets ever tested below ~9.5dKh. Most of them were 10.5-11dKh

If nothing in the tank is using alkalinity quickly, you will slowly raise your alkalinity to that level. Likely around 10dKh or so

Hm k, yeah, again not making crazy adjustments just trying to understand. There has also been two dif WC I did of 20% that didn't raise my alk at all the next day. Slightly confusing, but been tracking it to try to see trends and not just react to single readings

 

[vittpsu21]

Don’t forget that alkalinity tests are only accurate to about 0.3dKh

yeah ok this might make sense with the Hanna, and would make the ranges then make way more sense

 

[Patx]

Poke 2 hole.

 

[vittpsu21]

Poke 2 hole.

lol ok yeah my cover is just ripped off can't even deny that

 

[mcarroll]

just this part, from above, again I could just be wrong also

The only thing that changed between those days was the small dose, no WC and the reagent, but perhaps 4.5ml could raise if 0.4? but looking at all the other days before and after it I am not sure I believe that?

Because some of that variation is just testing noise, I would be running tests in triplicate if I wanted to be that sure about minor variations..... Your errors, minor salt variations, test kit accuracy, etc. You can quantify that noise better if you test in triplicate for a little while...do it for at least a few iterations of testing on your log. You may want to quantify the variation in the salt mix the same way, by mixing lots of batches and testing each one (in triplicate if you want to do it all at once).

But I don't see a reason yet to specifically question your reagent.

What are you using to test, BTW? I haven't seen any that come in a bottle that would evaporate per se, but Hanna bottle is the largest so would hold the most air.....if it was opened a lot, shaken a lot and the air was dry and it was a "long" timeframe....

Salifert's bottles are tiny and the openings are tiny.

 

[Patx]

Next bottle
When i use the new bottle... nothing change.

 

[rtparty]

lol ok yeah my cover is just ripped off can't even deny that

I ran a Hanna for years and just ripped the seal off on every single bottle. I used multiple bottles 6-9 months past expiration that all read the same as a new reagent, my Trident, and/or Salifert kit

I understand some people see a massive difference between new and old, some refrigerate the reagent, and go to other great lengths to keep them accurate. I just never once saw the issue in well over 20-25 bottles of reagent

 

[vittpsu21]

Because some of that variation is just testing noise, I would be running tests in triplicate if I wanted to be that sure about minor variations..... Your errors, minor salt variations, test kit accuracy, etc. You can quantify that noise better if you test in triplicate for a little while...do it for at least a few iterations of testing on your log. You may want to quantify the variation in the salt mix the same way, by mixing lots of batches and testing each one (in triplicate if you want to do it all at once).

But I don't see a reason yet to specifically question your reagent.

What are you using to test, BTW? I haven't seen any that come in a bottle that would evaporate per se, but Hanna bottle is the largest so would hold the most air.....if it was opened a lot, shaken a lot and the air was dry and it was a "long" timeframe....

Salifert's bottles are tiny and the openings are tiny.

Using Hanna tester for Alk, I think this cleared up some of the bias I might have had + not understand the variance of the tester, I figured margin was a bit smaller though. Generally my number is trending upwards outside the range I want, so from there I should be able to slowly make adjustments I would think.

Ultimately I am hoping to stay between 8-9 and wanted to understand a bit better before I got too far out of range etc. My consumption is definitely low, though I think will uptick at some point soon, so its more about just having a better plan and understanding I think

 

[rtparty]

Using Hanna tester for Alk, I think this cleared up some of the bias I might have had + not understand the variance of the tester, I figured margin was a bit smaller though. Generally my number is trending upwards outside the range I want, so from there I should be able to slowly make adjustments I would think.

Ultimately I am hoping to stay between 8-9 and wanted to understand a bit better before I got too far out of range etc. My consumption is definitely low, though I think will uptick at some point soon, so its more about just having a better plan and understanding I think

If you are dosing any alkalinity, stop. Test once a week and not daily. Watch for trends on a larger scale.

Possibly change salts if you want to run a lower alkalinity