I've been dosing kalk now for about a year and a half. A few times I've had little overdoses where my tank got slightly cloudy and was cleared up in a few minutes or maybe an hour. Yesterday morning I noticed my ATO was low so I unplugged it so the pump wouldn't run dry. It wasn't until last night that I remembered to fill it up. I put in 5g of fully saturated kalk water, turned the ATO back on, and went to test some water. While I'm testing I hear the pump start running dry. I went back into the living room to find the tank a little cloudy and the sump almost overflowing. All 5g of fully saturated were in there. I shut everything down and did a 15g water change. 6 came from the sump and 9 from the display. bad move, should've done it all from the sump. That's where it all got dump, right? I wasn't thinking. After I turned everything back on, the first pic shows what the tank looked like after about 20 minutes. I started freaking out and then I found this:
1. Don't panic! These overdoses do not usually cause a tank to crash.
2. The primary concern is pH. If the pH is 8.6 or lower, you need not do anything. If the pH is above 8.6, then reducing the pH is the priority. Direct addition of vinegar or soda water is a good way to accomplish this goal. Either one mL of distilled white vinegar, or six mL of soda water, per gallon of tank water will give an initial pH drop of about 0.3 pH units. Add either to a high flow area that is away from organisms (e.g., a sump).
3. Do not bother to measure calcium or alkalinity while the tank is cloudy. The solid calcium carbonate particles will dissolve in an alkalinity test, and all of the carbonate in them will be counted as if it were in solution and part of "alkalinity." The same may happen to some extent with calcium tests. Wait until the water clears, and at that point, alkalinity is more likely to be low than high. Calcium will likely be mostly unchanged.
4. The particles themselves will typically settle out and disappear from view over a period of 1-4 days. They do not appear to cause long term detrimental effects to tank organisms.
5. Water changes are not necessarily beneficial or needed in response to a limewater overdose.
That's from RHF in http://www.reefkeepi...7/rhf/index.php I have read the article before but didn't remember that part. I ran to the grocery store and got some soda water, turned off my lights, and waited. The second pic is from a few minutes ago. As you can see a lot of it precipatated and there is a lot of white. BUT, the important part is nothing looks worse for wear.
Last week I had a guy calling me to ask about how to dose kalk and what if there is a huge mistake so I thought I would post my huge mistake and my experience. Also, I tested earlier tonight and my alk is a little over 7 and ca is 400.
1. Don't panic! These overdoses do not usually cause a tank to crash.
2. The primary concern is pH. If the pH is 8.6 or lower, you need not do anything. If the pH is above 8.6, then reducing the pH is the priority. Direct addition of vinegar or soda water is a good way to accomplish this goal. Either one mL of distilled white vinegar, or six mL of soda water, per gallon of tank water will give an initial pH drop of about 0.3 pH units. Add either to a high flow area that is away from organisms (e.g., a sump).
3. Do not bother to measure calcium or alkalinity while the tank is cloudy. The solid calcium carbonate particles will dissolve in an alkalinity test, and all of the carbonate in them will be counted as if it were in solution and part of "alkalinity." The same may happen to some extent with calcium tests. Wait until the water clears, and at that point, alkalinity is more likely to be low than high. Calcium will likely be mostly unchanged.
4. The particles themselves will typically settle out and disappear from view over a period of 1-4 days. They do not appear to cause long term detrimental effects to tank organisms.
5. Water changes are not necessarily beneficial or needed in response to a limewater overdose.
That's from RHF in http://www.reefkeepi...7/rhf/index.php I have read the article before but didn't remember that part. I ran to the grocery store and got some soda water, turned off my lights, and waited. The second pic is from a few minutes ago. As you can see a lot of it precipatated and there is a lot of white. BUT, the important part is nothing looks worse for wear.
Last week I had a guy calling me to ask about how to dose kalk and what if there is a huge mistake so I thought I would post my huge mistake and my experience. Also, I tested earlier tonight and my alk is a little over 7 and ca is 400.
