TheClark Posted September 13, 2020 Share Posted September 13, 2020 This could have been a bleaching event, Alk dropped for some reason. I was alerted about the low alk from a trident test. Lowered the reactor PH, and set the trident to test hourly to keep a close eye on it so I don't over correct. Now who is ever gonna test alk hourly! Seriously!! Coral is looking great, no harm done. Interesting note: Even testing hourly alk swings quite a bit more than expected, and very reliably up and down hour to hour.. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
half-astronaut Posted September 13, 2020 Share Posted September 13, 2020 What does your pH log look like? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuncrestReef Posted September 13, 2020 Share Posted September 13, 2020 Any idea what caused the drop? Keep in mind the Trident readings are +/-0.05. With that in mind your hourly readings are probably pretty stable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted September 13, 2020 Author Share Posted September 13, 2020 3 hours ago, SuncrestReef said: Any idea what caused the drop? Keep in mind the Trident readings are +/-0.05. With that in mind your hourly readings are probably pretty stable. I thought the same thing... at first. Think about this though... It is so repeatable, every hour it alternates either + or -, consistently. So I am not so convinced it is a random +- event just yet... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted September 13, 2020 Author Share Posted September 13, 2020 3 hours ago, half-astronaut said: What does your pH log look like? Here is the CR PH and the Effluent PH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted September 13, 2020 Author Share Posted September 13, 2020 Yes, I did figure out what caused it. I was 'flattening the alk curve' Every morning, the Alk was spiking up tremendously. So, I set the CR solenoid to turn off for a few hours late at night. Turns out I over corrected. I was able to quickly recover thanks to the alert. This level of alk testing was just a dream a while back, exciting to think of things people will learn. Although this sound contradictory, it looks like coral uses the most alk just before and just after the lights are off. Then they stop using it altogether later in the night, which causes the spike. Test is in progress.... Will run hourly tests until tomorrow night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted September 13, 2020 Author Share Posted September 13, 2020 17 minutes ago, TheClark said: Yes, I did figure out what caused it. I was 'flattening the alk curve' Every morning, the Alk was spiking up tremendously. So, I set the CR solenoid to turn off for a few hours late at night. Turns out I over corrected. I was able to quickly recover thanks to the alert. This level of alk testing was just a dream a while back, exciting to think of things people will learn. Although this sound contradictory, it looks like coral uses the most alk just before and just after the lights are off. Then they stop using it altogether later in the night, which causes the spike. Test is in progress.... Will run hourly tests until tomorrow night. Its kinda fun to share/discuss all this. The huge learning from all the trident users is probably this. All things remaining the same, Alk varies daily. To compare apples to apples, test at the same time every day. For example here the profile of mine over the last several months. It is so consistent, which makes sense I suppose... 12:00 AM - Alk is at the absolute lowest 6:00 AM - A huge run up from 12:00 AM 12:00 - A slight dip 6:00 PM - A slight increase Repeat - 12:00 AM is the big drop The lowest spot in this chart is midnight: The highest spot is 6 pm The huge runup is midnight to 6 am every day. This is repeatable for months on end. The green line is the CR solenoid shutting off because ALK is high (not the reactor PH). That last little safeguard keeps the alk from running up too fast if the flow or effluent PH is off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gumby Posted September 13, 2020 Share Posted September 13, 2020 What time do your lights go on and off? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted September 13, 2020 Author Share Posted September 13, 2020 2 hours ago, Gumby said: What time do your lights go on and off? Hey Jim, I am running a 12-9 schedule. The Ocean Revives drift time though, so its off a bit. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted September 14, 2020 Author Share Posted September 14, 2020 Just thought I would post the results of this ad hoc experiment. This is the conclusion of the 24+ hour test with alk tests ran every hour: - Alk peaks at 11:10 AM both days. - Alk lows are at about 6:00 PM both days Twice the CR solenoid was shut off because alk was getting too high, between 11 am and 1 pm. My ultimate goal is to flatten out the peaks and valleys, get alk as stable as possible. Going forward, shutting off the solenoid around 2-3 am may make sense along with running a slightly lower reactor PH when during the rest of the day. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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