Some advice with Alk parameters

[A-10reefer]

Currently experiencing high alk and i am currently banging me head trying to find out why. I have measured the Alk with 2 different hanna's and get 10.7-11. Checked again today and its 11.5. I also have a 20g aio that i filled with half old tank water and half new salt mix as a quarintine and i am getting a reading of 8.6. Using red sea blue bucket salt. Im not dosing anything, i only run a co2 scrubber. Any help would be appreciated

Salinity 1.024
Temp - 78+- .5
Alk - 11
Ph - 8.13 ( 8.01-8.14)
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Phosphate - .02
Nitrate - 2ppm ( low, got some nitrate to dose)
Calcium - 385 (hanna) 430 (salifert)
Mag - 1200

 

[Reef.]

Check salinity, then check it again, most people trust their salinity checker far too readily.

 

[KrisReef]

Raise your Magnesium.

Hanna:
Rinse the curettes 3x with RODI water.
Use a 10 ml syringe to collect 10ml of water sample and wipe the bottle off with a dry cloth.
Carefully align the cuvette in the meter, push the button.
Remove the bottle.
Use 1 ml syringe to add reagent. Invert a few times to mix. Wipe down the bottle of any fingerprints and put it back carefully in the meter so it is aligned the same as before.

Push the button and read Alk.

If the reagent is old you may need a replacement?

Hth.

 

[A-10reefer]

Check salinity, then check it again, most people trust their salinity checker far too readily.

I tried that. Checked tank water, then checked the Refractometer with calibration fluid and re-checked tank

 

[Reef.]

I tried that. Checked tank water, then checked the Refractometer with calibration fluid and re-checked tank

Your calibration fluid could be off…if your salt is only 8.5, for your tank to read 11 to me it’s mostly likely salinity, I would rule out the obvious before looking elsewhere, search and make Randy’s diy calibration fluid, very easy, or make up 1 litre of new salt water and test that, or take to a local shop and get them to test your salt water, you really need to rule out the obvious before changing anything else.

When you tried the Hanna did you use the same fluid reagent both times? Maybe buy a Salifert alk test as they are very accurate, Hanna reagents can be off as they age and from bottle to bottle.

 

[A-10reefer]

Raise your Magnesium.

Hanna:
Rinse the curettes 3x with RODI water.
Use a 10 ml syringe to collect 10ml of water sample and wipe the bottle off with a dry cloth.
Carefully align the cuvette in the meter, push the button.
Remove the bottle.
Use 1 ml syringe to add reagent. Invert a few times to mix. Wipe down the bottle of any fingerprints and put it back carefully in the meter so it is aligned the same as before.

Push the button and read Alk.

If the reagent is old you may need a replacement?

Hth.

Regeant expires 4/24. I use syringes to measure out the 10ml of tank water, and the 1ml syringe for reagent. I thought it might have been user error at first. Thats why i checked it again, when i got the same reading I used a second checker and got the same reading as the first hanna checker. Thats when i repeated the process on my 20 aio and got a reading of 8.6 just to make sure it wasnt something i was doing. Repeated the process again the next day, same results. Thats why this doesnt make any sense to me.

I know mag is a little low, but still in the range. Will start to raise that.

 

[A-10reefer]

That

Your calibration fluid could be off…if your salt is only 8.5, for your tank to read 11 to me it’s mostly likely salinity, I would rule out the obvious before looking elsewhere, search and make Randy’s diy calibration fluid, very easy, or make up 1 litre of new salt water and test that, or take to a local shop and get them to test your salt water, you really need to rule out the obvious before changing anything else.

When you tried the Hanna did you use the same fluid reagent both times? Maybe buy a Salifert alk test as they are very accurate, Hanna reagents can be off as they age and from bottle to bottle.

Was my next step was to get another test kit since i used the same regeant. I kind of ruled out the reagent when a i tested my second tank and it was fine.

Going to look up that calibration fluid now

 

[A-10reefer]

I was able to get my hands on a tropic marin hydrometer, the water was sitting at 1.0235. Time to start raising that, thanks for the suggestion about the calibration fluid. Tested with a different reagent, alk is reading 9.85. Time to get a different reagent and a backup test kit