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Just overdosed my tank with Kalk.

MikeNapoli

MikeNapoli

I did a routine cleaning and cleaned my Kalk reactor. I guess the switch on the ATO got stuck and the tank was flooded with a good amount of Kalk.

Couldn't see 2 inches into the water. My ph was at 9.3. It was fine at 9pm when I went upstairs and about 10:30 I came down to find my milk tanks. It's 11:30 now so they couldn't have been exposed to high ph for more than 2 hours.

I dosed white vinegar. 1ml per gallon brings the ph down .3 points.

I did three 300ml doses in about 40 minutes time.

I got the PH down to 8.3/8.4 and the tank is just a little cloudy. I can see the back of the tank but you can tell there's something in the water. Not sure how to explain what it looks like.

I can tell I'm going to suffer loses. My Ventralis looks like she's had better days. Can't find my HippoTang. My wrasses are probably under the sand so I won't know till tomorrow.

My 29 gallon looks ok. All my Ricordia was slimming and a good amount of SPS was slimming as well in the 120. Just as I was turning out the lights over the tank some of the zoos were starting to open back up.

I have 35 gallons of water mixing since 9pm and I hope to do a water change sometime tomorrow. Not sure if I should wait the 24 hours or not.

I'll update tomorrow with more. BTW I'm posting this so that people don't make the same mistake I did. Clean your ATO switches frequently.
 
C

chase33

I too am sorry to hear this Mike. Unfortunately I did the same thing about a year ago but the losses weren't as bad as I would have expected. Luckily you knew how to address it immediately. Good luck with the remaining livestock.
 
J

jonathan.

The fish should probably be fine.

The big problem will be if any undissolved Kalk sat on corals for any length of time. Frankly, if that happens, it's a bad sign, IMO. Tends to burn them.
 
H

hayabusa2003

sorry to hear that Mike, hope everything turns out ok. You should check your salinity too. All that freshwater from the ATO may have lowered it as well.
 
Phyl

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
We've done that too (I'm sure a lot of us have). It isn't nearly as bad as it seems. The tank seems to recover fairly quickly from it, even without reacting at all. Hope everything works out ok!
 
MikeNapoli

MikeNapoli

jonathan. said:
The fish should probably be fine.

The big problem will be if any undissolved Kalk sat on corals for any length of time. Frankly, if that happens, it's a bad sign, IMO. Tends to burn them.
Click to expand...

I actually took a turkey baster and blew water over all my sps for a good amount of time.


Thanks for all the good words everyone.
 
R

reeferwanabe

Mike I did that recently also some things closed up for a day I thought my clam was a goner but all was well the next day. did the turkey baster too good to know about the vinegar
 
RichT

RichT

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
I've done that at least twice Mike. Couldn't see 1/2" in to the tank. Guess I was lucky because the only adverse effects I had was clean up of the glass. Good Luck, let us know how you make out.
 
Baxreefs

Baxreefs

I've done it too Mike. It's the reason I limit the size of my ATO tank. Since you only hit 9.2 I think you'll see few loses overall.

Good luck!
 
MikeNapoli

MikeNapoli

Thanks for all the good luck wishes.

Seems like everything is still ok.

I might lose a sandsifting starfish (no biggie cause i was gonna get rid of him anyway) and a linkia star. Starfish are very sensitive to alk and ph swings (this is just what i read an hour ago anyway)

All my fish are there.

Corals seem to be doing better. Some are a little pale still from when I electricuted the tank :-\ a couple weeks ago.

I just did a 35gallon water change and I'm making water to do another 35 on Monday.

Again, thanks for the kind words and i'll update if it gets better/worse.
 
M

momof6kids

NJRC Member
Mike, just reading this now. Hope everything is doing ok.

Why does it seem that this stuff always happens at night?? ::)

Erna
 
MikeNapoli

MikeNapoli

Thanks guys.

Yeah so far everything is still alive except a blue linkia that I forgot was even in there because it sorta disappeared a while ago.

The tank is still a bit cloudy looking still. I've done 1 water change and i'll do another tomorrow. Before the change tomorrow i'm going to go over the rocks with a turkey baster and blow off whatever has settled on them.

Some of the corals are still stressed and seems like it'll just take time for them to come back.
 
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