overdose issues

[mike_dani]

So I was on vacation last week and as luck would have it my RKE failed with all channels on and over dosed my tank with Alkalinity and Calcium. I was very lucky and all I can see so far is the colors of my SPS are a little stressed but no fatality's yet. The tank was completely white for three days with a visibility of 1 inch, the parameters have come back in line they are as follows;
ALK=8 DKH (API Test Kit)
CAL=420 (API Test Kit)
MAG=1280 (Salifert test kit)
Salinity 1.025 (Refract)
P04 less than .01 (API Test Kit and Hanna Meter)
Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate undetectable. (API Test Kit)

No for the fun part I normally keep the tank at ALK 9 DKH and CAL 420, so I went to add 7oz of BRS recipe 1 ALK and it immediately turns the CAL into a rock and falls to the sand bed.

I am perplexed as to why this is happening, I am used to it precipitating a little CAL when added but that will go away in a matter of seconds now it looks as if rocks are forming. Could this be because there is way to much CAL in the water and the API test kits cant read this high........

 

[Oiseau Reefer]

Pictures would help as well as daily 5 percent water changes

 

[skinz78]

Have you checked it with a friends test kit to verify?

 

[mike_dani]

yes I have checked two different times and the readings are the same.... I dont know what to do at this point.

 

[skinz78]

How are you adding it? Slowly over a period of time or one quick dose?

 

[mike_dani]

Just like always slowly in a high flow area, the thing that has me confused is the precipitation is large chunks not a small white cloud. After an event like this, can there be more calcium or something in the water column that I cant see on a test or am I just being overly cautious now? All of my SPS look fine just a small amount of color loss.

 

[Paul_N]

I run my Ca around 480 so that can't be the issue unless your test kit is bad. I would think your Ca would have to be 600+ to have precipitation like that. I have run my Ca at 540 in the past also with no precip. usually what your describing only happens when you mix the Ca and Alk on top of each other. This is odd. seems like the water is over saturated with Ca. I would definitely try a new Ca test kit to make sure.

 

[mike_dani]

My wife got another brand new API kit and the calcium is climbing. Have not added anything but alk in 5 days and it is up to 500 tonight, I think it is going from a rock back into the water column.

 

[sowellj]

I agree with some of the previous statements and think that you may be saturated. I definately would not add any more calcium / alk supplement at this point. Big water changes never hurt.

 

[beaslbob]

Looks to me like you got good values anyway

 

[_Alex_]

I would not add anymore sounds saturated and will probably keep climbing

 

[mike_dani]

OK so here it goes 5 days of testing and looks like I am saturated on the CAL side of the house....
Saturday CAL420 ALK 8 Dosed 7.5 oz of ALK
Sunday CAL 440 ALK 8 Dosed 7.5 oz of ALK
Monday CAL 480 ALK 8 Dosed 7.5 oz of ALK
Tuesday CAL 500 ALK 8 Dosed no ALK to see if it would change
Wednesday CAL 440 ALK 7 Dosed 7.5 oz ALK

Now I would expect to see the CAL drop again tomorrow and the ALK at 7, the amount of ALK dosed is on par for what my dosing pumps were set at. If I get a reading of 7DKH tomorrow I will begin the week long journey of getting my ALK back up to 9 were I like it. As far as the CAL we will see if it continues to drop if so then at 420 I will begin to dose CAL again at the same rate as the ALK and MAG.

I find it interesting that from the looks of the data I think I have a large amount of CAL that precipitated and settled onto the sand bed and probably the refugium. I think it is now slowly dissolving into the the water column and so the tank is dosing itself. Thank you for your inputs and continue to throw them my way this to me is very interesting to watch unfold. I think I really got lucky and the SPS, LPS and softies seem to be doing good with very little color loss. I also think this was very minimal due to the 330 gallons of water volume I have in this system, if this would have happened to a 100 gallon tank I think it would have been disastrous.

 

[mike_dani]

Double Post

 

[mike_dani]

Looks to me like you got good values anyway

Yes I agree the only issue is my wife (non reefer) is having to learn reefing 101 from me over the phone. This has been a huge source of contention over the last few day with terminology and how to instructions via SKYPE video chat....... In her defense she has done a great job that I wouldn't have been able to do when I started in this hobby, so to my wife Dani THANK YOU SO MUCH.....


OH ya and Bob when am I going to get you over to the house to check out the tank?????? You seem to be mysterious

 

[mike_dani]

I agree with some of the previous statements and think that you may be saturated. I definately would not add any more calcium / alk supplement at this point. Big water changes never hurt.

You might be correct with the water changes but what would that remove and then I would just be adding additional ALK and CAl, is this a correct statement?

 

[beaslbob]

Yes I agree the only issue is my wife (non reefer) is having to learn reefing 101 from me over the phone. This has been a huge source of contention over the last few day with terminology and how to instructions via SKYPE video chat....... In her defense she has done a great job that I wouldn't have been able to do when I started in this hobby, so to my wife Dani THANK YOU SO MUCH.....


OH ya and Bob when am I going to get you over to the house to check out the tank?????? You seem to be mysterious

Thanks and you are welcome to come over anytime.

But the thing is my 55g and all other tanks are now torn down. We have moved to a new house and still trying to sell the old house. so tanks are taking a back seat until that mess is straightened out.


my .02