The Invisible Hand

horseplay · Nov 22, 2014

I know I am a moron and I proved it again. I was testing my ALK doser and got distracted (this happens more often now) so I left it in the ON position. The next morning I noticed my ALK container was empty. You know the sinking feeling, right? There was at least 500ml of ALK in the bottle because I just filled it a few days ago. so I quickly calculated the damage in my head, maybe 30 DKH now? At this point I assumed all my corals were DEAD!!! A lot of thoughts going thru my mind at this point. Quickly I took out the ALK test kit and it was measured at 11.6 DKH! Measured again, same thing. How could this be? Ran upstairs and see all the corals were happy. Seemed to be oblivious to the 4 DKH alk swing. It's the second day now they're still ok. ALK is now 10.6. Is there an invisible hand in this or what!

I will probably never be able to solve this puzzle. It hurts my head trying to figure out what happened. But having dodged a bullet I need to do something about the Apex controller so it can be foolproof. I need to setup an alarm if the alk doser runs more than 2 mins. Is this even possible?

@marko@ · Nov 22, 2014

I can think of a 2 main pathways of correcting factors that may have helped.

You have a low pH, some CO3-- was protonated full to H2CO3, then out gassed as CO2.
You have a high pH, and high Ca++, along with low Mg++ and the CO3-- precipitated out as CaCO3.

Though that is lucky. Hope your corals do ok maybe test your Ca now.

horseplay · Nov 22, 2014

That's probably what happened. Although still that's a lot of ALK. Just measured Calc is 350. This is low it should be around 420ppm with the IO salt. Mg is 1250ppm which is also lower than what I think it should be.

I drip to the baffle there is a thin layer of precipitate which I removed carefully. Is it possible for CaCO3 to un-precipitate back to ALK?

Thanks a lot. That's very helpful.

saltkreep88 · Nov 22, 2014

Adding a lot of alk also lowers calcium

trivan · Nov 22, 2014

You can set the apex to shut off the doser if pH goes above a specific number. Sound/email an alarm as well.

horseplay · Nov 22, 2014

This is the program:

If Outlet Alk = ON Then ON
Defer 002:00 Then ON

This will set off the alarm when the Alk outlet is on for more than 2 mins for whatever reason.

horseplay · Nov 22, 2014

trivan said:
You can set the apex to shut off the doser if pH goes above a specific number. Sound/email an alarm as well.

Getting a probe for Christmas

horseplay · Nov 22, 2014

saltkreep88 said:
Adding a lot of alk also lowers calcium

Yep. Probably what happened.

ecam · Nov 22, 2014

horseplay said:
This is the program:

If Outlet Alk = ON Then ON
Defer 002:00 Then ON

This will set off the alarm when the Alk outlet is on for more than 2 mins for whatever reason.

shouldnt u be able to set it.. so that it shuts off automatically after 2 mins

horseplay · Nov 22, 2014

ecambero said:
shouldnt u be able to set it.. so that it shuts off automatically after 2 mins

No. Once it's in the "on" position the outlet cannot be controlled. But you can get an alert then manually set it back to auto.

horseplay · Dec 4, 2014

I tested this again and it works great. I have it setup so that it will email my regular email account and text my phone. My wireless carrier T-mobile provides an email for my phone number. When an email is sent it texts me.

Strongly suggest this setup if you dose with apex!

Ryeguyy84 · Dec 8, 2014

I didn't know you could still get an alert if the outlet was set to on. I did the exact same thing about a year ago, luckily my alk container was empty, if I dumped a gallon in I'm sure that wouldn't have been good. glad everything turned out well and thanks for the info, I'm going to add an alarm right now.

Ryeguyy84 · Dec 13, 2014

what does everyone think of this?

Set OFF
if outlet alk = on then on
Defer 002:00 then on
If Temp > 81.0 Then ON
If Temp < 77.5 Then ON
If reserve CLOSED Then ON
If Outlet 50Wheater = ON Then ON

Will this just defer the 2 min for the alk?

horseplay · Dec 14, 2014

Ryeguyy84 said:
what does everyone think of this?

Set OFF
if outlet alk = on then on
Defer 002:00 then on
If Temp > 81.0 Then ON
If Temp < 77.5 Then ON
If reserve CLOSED Then ON
If Outlet 50Wheater = ON Then ON

Will this just defer the 2 min for the alk?

It will. But it will defer the alarm for all the other conditions as well. For example if the Temp > 81.0 it will alert you 2 mins later.

It does not matter where you put the statement.

You should test your code by turning on the alk out manually to make sure it works.

The Invisible Hand

President