Raising alkalinity- how to stop?

mfollen

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My alkalinity has slowly but consistently raised from 7.5 to 9.3 with no dosing over the past two weeks.

I’ve been treating my display with prazipro to eliminate flukes, which decreases oxygen levels. The ph is now low around 7.6-7.7 also impacting the high alkalinity.

I’m ending prazipro treatment and am getting ready to do multiple water changes.

To note: I’ve been doing them, with salt at the 7.5 alk level. Also my alkalinity consumption in the display is low as of now.

Is there anything else I can do to prevent alk from increasing other than upping oxygen levels/reducing co2?

Thank you everyone so much.
 
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Dugless

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You can use Seachem Acid Buffer. Mix a solution and dose slowly. This will depress pH until the CO2 is driven off. Much safer, cheaper and easier than muriatic acid.
 

W1ngz

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If you've ended the prazi, then doing the required water changes and getting back to a normal routine is the first thing. If the alk has crept up over 2 weeks, you don't want to do anything that will drop it too quickly. Let the water changes work for you before you start adding more variables to the problem.
 

W1ngz

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Also double check your testing, your salinity and your source water. Alkalinity has to come from somewhere. But don't take that from me, take it from the resident chemist in this post:
 
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mfollen

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Thank you... I’m going to halt the prazipro and ramp up water changes this next week.

Nitrates have gone down but are barely detectable. I’ve been running vibrant to kill off a turf algae outbreak. So low oxygen and low nitrate environment. I’ve been dosing nitrate.

Not ideal to mix prazipro and vibrant but I had to take out turf algae which took over the tank (nothing eats it) and flukes that got in. Overall the coral and fish handled the two fine.

My goal is to stabilize the system now that pests are hopefully ridded from the system.
 

W1ngz

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Do you know what the nitrates were before? I seem to remember reading somewhere that nitrate consumption contributes to increases in alkalinity. It was something high though, like 40 or 50 ppm nitrate for a 1 or 2 dkh increase.
 
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mfollen

mfollen

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You’re right, I’ve been reading this.

My nitrates were very low. BUT my nitrate dosing has been increasing rapidly as the vibrant bacteria is growing as it attacks the green turf algae.

In addition, as the turf algae is dying, it’s is-releasing co2 and decaying.

Not sure if the co2 is raising the alk, or if the increase in nitrate dosing is doing it. If the nitrate dosing is.... do I stop? I need to keep the nitrate levels detectable...

What a puzzle our reefs can be when trying to work through issues.

Thank you so much.
 

Snookin

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You are making too many changes at one time. If you aren’t dosing some type
of ALK supplement and new saltwater is 7.5 alk then alk wont increase to 9+. Testing error. I recommend solving one problem at a time and getting a second opinion on ALK.
 

W1ngz

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I would stop the nitrate dosing. The increase in CO2 is a carbon source for bacteria to reproduce, which might be consuming your nitrates too fast. In essence what I'm saying is you also have pest bacteria... lol

When the CO2 comes down, the ph will go up, the nitrifying bacteria will die back, and hopefully the remaining decaying algae and regular feeding will be enough to keep the nitrates from bottoming out.
 

W1ngz

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Found it: Another Randy H-F post here where he explains that Alk can rise based on nitrate consumption.

 
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mfollen

mfollen

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Thank you @W1ngz & @Snookin

Definitely not a testing error. Same results on Hanna checker and ghl kh director. I understand too much is happening, but I needed to eliminate these two possible detrimental issues.

It’s got to be the nitrate consumption from the increase in the vibrant bacteria.

Plan is to up the ph by reducing carbon through water changes and skimming. Meanwhile start to slowly reduce the nitrate dosing. Water change after water change for the next week will hopefully get the alk down. Coralline is picking up too so hopefully that helps.
 

Ike

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You’re right, I’ve been reading this.

My nitrates were very low. BUT my nitrate dosing has been increasing rapidly as the vibrant bacteria is growing as it attacks the green turf algae.

In addition, as the turf algae is dying, it’s is-releasing co2 and decaying.

Not sure if the co2 is raising the alk, or if the increase in nitrate dosing is doing it. If the nitrate dosing is.... do I stop? I need to keep the nitrate levels detectable...

What a puzzle our reefs can be when trying to work through issues.

Thank you so much.

Is the maker of this bacteria claiming that their bacteria attacks and consumes algae??

Nitrate dosing generally doesn't end well. It's such a crazy thing to me that people think it's a good idea to carbon dose, then dose nitrate when that gets too low, then dose phosphate when that is driven too low, then you're upping the dose of both of the gradually throughout time to get the same results. It's like Little Shop of Horrors: The Bacteria.
Way too many people that don't understand what's happening are just dumping all kinds of "nutrients" and "carbon sources" because they have fun playing mad scientist. Unless you're really experienced and/or crazy diligent about testing and dosing, it won't end well.

Stop dosing and monitor your PO4 closely. If it's getting lower than .03-.04 you need to feed fish regularly and feed well to keep it above .02. In my experience, and according to my checker and several of my corals, your results may be a little different. Also, let your alkalinity come down naturally.
 
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mfollen

mfollen

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This is temporary. I am only dosing vibrant as green turf algae absolutely took over the tank, a major destabilizing event.Nothing eats green turf algae. I tried everything - fish, urchins, manual removal, etc.

The nutrient dosing is only while I am dosing vibrant to eliminate this algae, which it is doing a great job. Once it is over I will be slowly pulling back nutrient dosing.

My goal is to naturally introduce all po4 and no3 through feeding my fish after this. But I need to get rid of the turf algae.
 

W1ngz

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All in all I think it's going to work out, it'll just take some time and some diligence. And a whole lot of extra testing for a while. If the goal is to get back to a natural cycle of input and output to balance things, then all the other stuff you need to get done in the mean time to fix things is fine.

Good luck :)
 
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mfollen

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Thanks! Yes daily testing has been rigorous...

Can’t wait for the turf algae to be gone. It’s getting there! The stuff is something you definitely want to keep out of a system.
 

Ike

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This is temporary. I am only dosing vibrant as green turf algae absolutely took over the tank, a major destabilizing event.Nothing eats green turf algae. I tried everything - fish, urchins, manual removal, etc.

The nutrient dosing is only while I am dosing vibrant to eliminate this algae, which it is doing a great job. Once it is over I will be slowly pulling back nutrient dosing.

My goal is to naturally introduce all po4 and no3 through feeding my fish after this. But I need to get rid of the turf algae.

It makes more sense, but I can't help but feel there was a safer less disruptive way to go about it. However, there certainly are some tough algae out there.

Do you have any pics of what your turf algae looked like?

Good luck with the rest of the fight!
 
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mfollen

mfollen

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It was pretty bad, I exhausted other solutions and had to utilize vibrant, which I highly recommend when needed. It’s killed off 85-90% of the turf in 2-3 weeks.

ECF1DC98-AD94-49E0-A5D7-24ABA80D0147.jpeg
 
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