Gack! Alk Spike!

[Conesus_Kid]

Here's a lesson for everyone: Don't become too complacent with your water testing regimen.

I thought I had everything pretty much dialed in on the system, as coral growth has been good.

Today, I noticed some tissue sloughing off of a big blue millie colony.

Unfortunately, I had my Ca reactor flow rate too high, and alk has climbed to 12.5 dKH.

I'm going to let it fall back down on its own by turning off the CO2 to the reactor. I'm guessing that it shouldn't take too long.

Yet another humbling lesson learned...:hmm3:

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

a no-brainer IMO

a no-brainer IMO

I wish that controller manufacturers would provide for two pH probe inputs- one for effluent and one for the main system.

more than dKH of 12.5 low pH can be detrimental. Did you get a pH reading?

 

[pascal32]

I wish that controller manufacturers would provide for two pH probe inputs- one for effluent and one for the main system.

more than dKH of 12.5 low pH can be detrimental. Did you get a pH reading?

On the RKE (reefKeeper) you can have an SL1 and SL2 unit, both with PH you should be able to have multiples of both, though you would want to double check).


from the DA site:

http://www.digitalaquatics.com/saltwater/systems

With the ability to monitor multiple pH probes you can run a reactor as well as monitor the pH of your main system.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

as far as I know

as far as I know

this isn't possible with my ACjr.

To remedy the situation I occasionally move the pH probe from effluent to system and back again.

 

[Conesus_Kid]

pH was consistently between 8.4-8.6, so fortunately that wasn't an issue. I'm calling this a spike, but more likely it crept up slowly. I am able to use two probes and simultaneously measure system pH and the pH inside the reactor. Since this happened pretty slowly, pH wasn't an indicator of anything going wrong.

As of right now (from webcam) I see that most of the colony still has tissue, so I'm hopeful.

My takeaway lesson: monitor alkalinity at least bi-weekly, (but weekly is better).