Why is my Alk increasing daily?

[GP0801]

Hi guys, I installed an apex with tridents a week ago as well as a Dos to do automatic water changes. I'm using red sea blue bucket mixed at 1.026. Salinity in my tank reads the exact same, also have an ATO so that there are no fluctuations in salinity. The trident tests the alk 4 times a day and its the only thing that seems to move without me doing anything. My CA and Mag started out low so I dosed to get them up to where I want it, I aimed to match my salt's parameters and they're now staying in that range. The alk however seems to just be doing it's own thing and climbing non stop. Red sea blue bucket is supposed to be at about 8 dkh when mixed at 1.026 so I'm not sure why this is happening. Has anyone had a similar experience or know what could be causing this?


Forgot to mention, the alk started out around 8.3 a week ago and is now up to 8.84 dkh.

 

[scooterh928]

What are you dosing

 

[GP0801]

What are you dosing

As of right now nothing, I dosed CA and Mag just one time each and my phosphates bottomed out at one point so there were 2 days where I dosed NeoPhos. Nothing other than that.

 

[TARHEEL78]

Alk doesn't rise for no reason, if you aren't putting anything in the tank I would suggest you test manually as the Trident could be wrong.

 

[GP0801]

Alk doesn't rise for no reason, if you aren't putting anything in the tank I would suggest you test manually as the Trident could be wrong.

Okay I'll see if I can find a testing kit somewhere.

 

[Biokabe]

Alk doesn't rise for no reason, if you aren't putting anything in the tank I would suggest you test manually as the Trident could be wrong.

I'll echo that statement. Don't rely on the Trident alone - I can tell you from experience that it can and does fall out of calibration. Best practice is to have another way to test alkalinity/calcium/magnesium, and periodically use those to calibrate your Trident.

Basically - once every month or two, do a full manual test of your parameters with your test kits and write down your results. If they agree with the trident, you don't need to do anything. But if they're meaningfully different, then calibrate your results. Don't use a calibration sample - just leave your sample line where it normally is and plug in the values that you just measured.

I like the Hanna checker for alkalinity, and the Salifert kits for calcium and magnesium. I assume those should all be available in Canada, but not being Canadian I can't guarantee it.

Finally, the Trident does take a little while to break in, and the results can be a little wonky until it gets dialed in. All the more reason to have a backup testing mechanism!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Is nitrate declining? A drop of 50 ppm by consumption adds 2.3 dKH of alk. Your rise is much less.

 

[GP0801]

I'll echo that statement. Don't rely on the Trident alone - I can tell you from experience that it can and does fall out of calibration. Best practice is to have another way to test alkalinity/calcium/magnesium, and periodically use those to calibrate your Trident.

Basically - once every month or two, do a full manual test of your parameters with your test kits and write down your results. If they agree with the trident, you don't need to do anything. But if they're meaningfully different, then calibrate your results. Don't use a calibration sample - just leave your sample line where it normally is and plug in the values that you just measured.

I like the Hanna checker for alkalinity, and the Salifert kits for calcium and magnesium. I assume those should all be available in Canada, but not being Canadian I can't guarantee it.

Finally, the Trident does take a little while to break in, and the results can be a little wonky until it gets dialed in. All the more reason to have a backup testing mechanism!

Thanks, I wasn't aware we were able to calibrate them like that, I'll give that a try then. We do have both Hanna and Salifert up here.

Is nitrate declining? A drop of 50 ppm by consumption adds 2.3 dKH of alk. Your rise is much less.

Its been rising daily except for the last day or two. I read about that as well but it couldn't be that because my nitrates had just been rising.

 

[bubbgee]

I notice when my PO4 is high, Alk also rises. have you checked your phosphate levels manually recently?
I do a full check of parameters manually when alk is rising as it is indicative of some problem with the tank and I'll ignore Trident results and recalibrate if needed.

Another thing is pH if it's lower the past few days (more people in the house, etc).

 

[Reefer Matt]

I would check the salt mix and verify alk is as expected. Also, have you adjusted the lighting or flow recently?

 

[GP0801]

I notice when my PO4 is high, Alk also rises. have you checked your phosphate levels manually recently?
I do a full check of parameters manually when alk is rising as it is indicative of some problem with the tank and I'll ignore Trident results and recalibrate if needed.

Another thing is pH if it's lower the past few days (more people in the house, etc).

The phosphate was very high at about 0.2 but I used some phosguard to reduce it and then pulled it out. I'll get some manual testers and give it a shot. I wanted to look into corals soon which is why I got the tridents and got curious about parameters. PH has been pretty consistent between 8-8.2 throughout the day.

I would check the salt mix and verify alk is as expected. Also, have you adjusted the lighting or flow recently?

I'll make sure I test that too after. I did, I changed the lights from 2 reefleds 90s to 2 xr15s and 2 ai blades as well as changed the return pump recently.

 

[Reefer Matt]

I'll make sure I test that too after. I did, I changed the lights from 2 reefleds 90s to 2 xr15s and 2 ai blades as well as changed the return pump recently.

I’m wondering if the rate of photosynthesis changed enough to reduce your alk draw. If the coral are still adjusting to the new lighting and flow, it could be a reason, imo. I’d expect the alk to go down if more intensity and flow were added though. But weird things can happen when we make changes like that. Do you have a picture of the tank? Just curious about coral species and density.

 

[GP0801]

I’m wondering if the rate of photosynthesis changed enough to reduce your alk draw. If the coral are still adjusting to the new lighting and flow, it could be a reason, imo. I’d expect the alk to go down if more intensity and flow were added though. But weird things can happen when we make changes like that. Do you have a picture of the tank? Just curious about coral species and density.

The thing is all I have in the tank as of right now is a small favia of the gods and a new acan frag. I wanted to be more aware of the parameters and stability before getting anything more.

 

[GP0801]

 

[Reefer Matt]

The thing is all I have in the tank as of right now is a small favia of the gods and a new acan frag. I wanted to be more aware of the parameters and stability before getting anything more.

Ok, so your alk draw is low, auto water changes are being done, and the lighting and flow were recently changed. I’d double check the salt mix alk and salinity of the wc water. If water changes are slowly being done daily, that may explain it if either of those parameters are off, if not the lighting and flow changes.

 

[GP0801]

Ok, so your alk draw is low, auto water changes are being done, and the lighting and flow were recently changed. I’d double check the salt mix alk and salinity of the wc water. If water changes are slowly being done daily, that may explain it if either of those parameters are off, if not the lighting and flow changes.

Perfect, I'll check that tomorrow, gotta get some hanna reagent.

 

[KrisReef]

If you are adding nitrates by feeding, there could be a net gain but also some consumption that increases alk on the way?

 

[GP0801]

If you are adding nitrates by feeding, there could be a net gain but also some consumption that increases alk on the way?

Never thought of that, sounds like that'd be an annoying issue to solve.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

When alk demand is very low, the slow dissolution of calcium carbonate in the low pH regions down in sand and in rock pores can boost alk slowly and steadily.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Never thought of that, sounds like that'd be an annoying issue to solve.

The round trip from food to nitrate and then consumed will have no alk impact. Nitrate needs to be rising or falling for alk to change.