anatomy of a topoff/kalk disaster...too many cooks

[Sk8r]

Just as an example of what can go wrong in a well-managed system...

My friend helped with the tank water change, unplugged the topoff on a 100 gallon with 30 gal sump and 32 gal topoff reserve, basement sump. Got it?

I went down this morning to plug in the topoff, did, and about 30 minutes later found my tank white. Totally opaque white.

Raced downstairs to find the topoff overflowing AND white.

I yelled for help. We mopped, unplugged, and turns out, yes, my friend unplugged the pump FROM the topoff control. I always unplug just the control unit. Oops. I'd plugged the pump straight into the power source thinking it was the topoff control with the pump plugged into IT.

Well, four hours later, I think we're in fair shape. The fish are all looking good enough. The 5" crocea clam is open for business. The water is still cloudy white, but you can see the fish when they get near the glass. The rocks are all coated. Haven't seen the corals yet, but they'll be sliming their little hearts out.

The big deal is the fresh water: the salinity went to 1.020 in the sump, 1.022 in the main tank. I had on hand: 20 gallons of prepared salt water, 20 gallons of kalked freshwater (don't need no more kalk, thank'ee) and two barrels not yet full. Dumped 15 cups salt into barrel 1 and started a really potent pump mixing up a salt slurry in a bit of freshwater. Started the ro/di going to fill a freshwater reservoir. I'd drained 20 gal out of the sump, but hadn't thrown it out---smart move. I could then use that kalky 20 gallons of warm water to temper what I was doing in the sump.

We took the 20 gal of salt water upstairs, drained 40 of the 100 gall off, added 20, still lacked 20, have periodically pulsed the basement sump pump on to shift more water upstairs, testing above and below for salinity, then because a) critters tolerate a drop better than a rise, and because they will generally tolerate a .002 rise ok, I began futzing the top tank salinity up to 1.024 from 1.022. See, my colleagues, WHY you need to own a refractometer? ----i meanwhile used the skimmer downstairs and the powerhead upstairs to continue water movement in sump And main tank...

Now the main pump is back on, the water is slowly clearing (I may need a new filter sock) and the livestock is looking grumpy but ok.

ph is sure to be shot, but that self-corrects so fast it's a no-worry.

the nuisanceful thing is that it's a new kalk, brightwell brand, that supposedly contains mg and buffer, so I've clearly overdosed just about everything. I'll get it worked out, and when the water completely clears I'll be able to see more...

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Sorry to hear that CJ. I hope things perk back up for you!

 

[Fizz71]

D*mn you Murphy!

 

[dkeller_nc]

Actually, you're in better shape than your post first suggested (i.e., that the Brightwell Kalk contained a buffer).

I'm assuming you're referring to the Brightwell Kalk 2+ product, and luckily for you, it doesn't seem to contain any "buffer". Generally speaking, the only "buffer" that would be compatible with calcium hydroxide would be sodium or calcium acetate - something similar to adding vinegar to top-off water going through a kalk reactor.

So with a kalk overdose, you would've had some serious carbon dosing to deal with, perhaps fatal carbon dosing.

I don't want to rub salt into your wounds - I've done my share of dumb stuff over the years, but you might consider adopting the procedure I use when doing water changes: I completely unplug everything except for the lights, including the skimmer, ATO pump & controller, heater, main aquarium controller, return pump and powerheads. And once the water change is complete, I bring each piece of equipment back one by one to ensure that it's functioning correctly. It's probably out of an abundance of caution, but I've had more than my share of skimmer disasters when changing water....

 

[Bowels]

oh man! sounds like the friend needs a good long tank orientation. I have left my tank a few times for vacation and such, and im so paranoid about something awful happening....every time before I go I give my brother a good long tank orientation/lesson so he understands everything he might need to know... he since has started a saltwater reef tank of his own I hope everything works out for you.

 

[Sk8r]

Actually, all things are fine: the jawfish was a worry for a bit, but he's up and going. The Brightwell is a new addition: I've used regular kalk for years, never had a problem. So this is a new one, and I hate 'new' items which are involved in a crisis, but this came through fine. No problems.

The friend and I are perfectly good on procedures: the problem is, which stops the topoff pump? Unplugging the whole unit (my procedure)? Or just the pump (my friend's way.) Both work---but they don't work if you don't look because you've done this Crom-many times and don't expect it to have been done differently. So now we know. Mea culpa. I shoulda looked!

The good news is---we didn't lose any specimens. We blew off the one coral that was coated: the rest have taken care of themselves and are open and doing fine. The fishy gills are probably a bit irritated, but the crabs and snails and clam are all ok. The temp went down to 69: we had no choice but use new water that hadn't been heated. The sump fauna may have suffered. But---the main thing to remember in a kalk-kalamity is that the fresh water it comes in is the greater danger, and the thing you've got to cope with. And remember that lowering salinity is ok: it's in raising it that you have to go slowly for the sake of your livestock. .002 is about as much as you can cowboy your way through it.
Remember that in a chilldown your sand and rock retain heat.
Remember that a chilldown is better than an overheat, because lethality in a chilldown is at 62. That's 18 degrees leeway, with retention of heat from rock and sand saving your corals and fish....also, chemical processes slow down and oxy levels rise during a chill. Going the other way, into an overheat, you have only 5 degrees leeway before you can start seeing coralline bleach and the oxygen goes short---warm water loses oxygen and chemical processes run very fast. So an overheat is a toboggan ride to bad places, while a chilldown actually gives you more time to solve things, in various respects.

I'm a great believer in us mod-folk being here to help folk, and one of the ways we can help is by being honest about problems---we all have them-- and by providing the how-I-fixed-it for the benefit of people who may find themselves in a similar kettle of fish someday.
Understanding kalk, understanding temperature change, understanding the raising and lowering of salinity is how I've gotten out of this without any damage except the nasty white powder that makes my reef look like a winter scene. I'm also sacrificing a filter sock to help clear it out faster: don't know if I can salvage that, but maybe. I'll probably do some housekeeping with a turkey baster to clear off the remaining white powder once the tank has a chance to settle down.

And of course---last night I was saying to myself, after some extensive reef maintenance, that it was time to put that heavy canopy back on, because the tank's looking great and it's time to just let it run, eh? Good plan. We didn't exactly get that done before this happened...and I think it'll be about a week before all the winter-scene has gone away.

 

[hogfanreefer]

Thanks for sharing SK8tr!

I've feared a top off disaster since I started. I've set up a "feed" cycle for water changes on my Apex that turns everything but the lights off and then turns things back on in order with the ATO and skimmer being last. Is that a good idea or should I manually unplug stuff? It's a little inconvenient to get to my plug in's but could if I should.

 

[Cymonous]

How about a pic of the tank? You can make it into a Christmas Card and send it to friends.

 

[dkeller_nc]

Well, I mentioned doing my own share of dumb stuff, so here's one:

I use kalkwasser for all make-up (automated on one tank through a Nilsen reactor and an ATO, manual in 3 other tanks). But I find it necessary to use calcium chloride and sodium carbonate to keep water chemistry parameters where I'd like them. And I don't bother with liquid dosing for these - a small amount of powder is typically added once every 24 hours.

One evening when I was tired and wasn't paying attention, I picked up the bottle of kalk powder thinking it was the CaCl2 bottle, and directly added 1/2 teaspoon to a 50 gallon system. Luckily for me, 1/2 a teaspoon wasn't so much of a dose that it caused a white-out, but lesson learned - I immediately placed a piece of very bright neon green tape on the kalk powder bottle, and the next time I purchased CaCl2 was in a much bigger bottle.

This is particularly embarrassing because of my chemistry background - I would never do such a thing in a laboratory (pick up a bottle and use it without reading it). But complacency at home came close to costing my dearly...

 

[Sk8r]

Yep, home is where we live, and the brain tends to go off-duty...mine certainly was. I am VERY glad to report that we not only recovered a gudgeon and a striped goby (so small they go through the drain in the overflow) from the sump, there is some chance they may actually STAY in the DT where they belong; and everything is now clear and clean. The critter-action is slowly stripping the white away. I think I will hand-top-off for at least a week and not use kalk until this has a chance to sort out.

Not to mention water fried my brand-new topoff unit, so I have to order another. Twice gave me a shock strong enough to numb my fingers. I think this is NOT to put back in the tank, eh?

But otherwise, everything's optimum and clear. A filter sock isn't a bad way to deal with a kalk whiteout: all the particulate gets coated, and clouds the tank, so putting something in to snatch the particulate out of circulation also helps clear the water.

Christmas card...I should. Lol!

The jawfish got so annoyed he made another burrow last night, but now is back to his other, pretty one, and the firefish is mightily interested in the new burrow.

None of the fishes (I run a damsel tank) are in the least annoyed, and the crocea clam is sucking it all down like it was a banquet. He appreciates the extra calcium, I suppose. he's max size for a crocea, and tougher 'n nails.

 

[dkeller_nc]

I'm curious about something - did you happen to do a calcium/alkalinity/magnesium concentration test after your tank water cleared up? I've read some anecdotal reports that the precipitation event caused by a kalk overdose will potentially strip the water of a lot of calcium and alkalinity - well below saturation levels. I haven't done the benchtop experiments to test this, but I'm curious enough that it seems worth doing.

A comment about your ATO. Not sure what brand you have, but if you're talking about a Tunze unit, it might be saveable. Take the plastic case apart, and rinse the entire unit in RODI to ensure there's no salt left on the PCB. Blow the excess water off with a can of compressed "dust off", and leave it apart on the counter for 24 hours to ensure that it's completely dry. Then reassemble it and plug it in and see if it functions correctly. It might not be fried - I've been able to recover a number of water-logged electronic components this way.

 

[gone fishin]

Glad it all worked out.

I also believe it is worth mentioning that one reason it worked out is because you did not panic. Most problems can be resolved if we stay calm and do not panic and make things worse. Just an outside observation.

 

[Sk8r]

That's very true. There ARE answers; and if things are VERY bad, [kalk alone is messy but not very dangerous on its own---except to us, if we inhale the powder: bad idea] ---if things had been VERY bad, I'd have put everything alive I could locate into the salt water I had, cold or not. Unfortunately, the tank being just like milk, I couldn't have located anything except by draining the tank, which would have left me with a shortage of salt water, which is Bad, too. Fortunately I have several 32 gallon Brute trashcans I got for the original tank-move, and boy! did they come in handy. They stack, there's a roller made for them, they're reef safe, and I cannot recommend too highly you have at least one and maybe more, if you have a big tank.

Since I know kalk is a relatively 'safe' accident, I just started in as if it were a pure topoff accident. [Truly New-to-hobby, people: I couldn't have put the rescued critters into the salt water I had on hand safely without LOWERING the salinity of the salt water to the level the topoff accident had created in the DT: you can put a critter safely [relatively] into LOWER salinity, but NOT into higher salinity, with a leeway of .002. Again: this is why refractometers can be life and death.] So my conclusion was---better leave the fish and critters where they are, shut off the sump, deal only with the DT where live things are, and raise THAT salinity slowly: the kalk will take care of itself over the next couple of days.] [First put the oxygen mask on the living critters, then fix the sump as an isolated problem.]

Of all dosing you can do, kalk is about the safest. Why? Because ONLY the 'right' amount will dissolve: the rest falls down as a white powder, which slowly dissolves over time, as critters use up the excess.

PH in a kalk accident spikes to 'too-high' but falls quickly to normal on its own. I've never lost a specimen to a kalk accident, and this was about the most spectacular kalk-oops I've ever seen.

 

[Sk8r]

Re the topoff unit: thanks for that. Mine isn't Tunze: it's autotopoff.com, but I will see what's inside. Alas, I fear it's pretty fried: it got awfully hot.

 

[dkeller_nc]

Yeah, if it got really hot it's probably toast, unfortunately. By the way, I have a 1970's Vortex diatom filter in my collection of used equipment, and I personally think those in the reef hobby with larger water volumes really ought to have one around for emergencies.

They are a pain in the rear to set up, but you can remove every single last particulate of whatever within no more than 15 minutes in 100 gallons of water. They're pretty amazing in this regard, and in a pollution-type emergency (anemone or large fish dies, stirred-up sand bed, etc...), you can add a powdered carbon once the filter is coated with diatoms. That powdered carbon is far, far faster than using granulated when you need to get something out of the water in a hurry.

For $100, it's great insurance.

 

[Cozwey]

I am so happy that it worked out for you. I follow your posts with avid zeal. Not only do you have an amazing amount of insight but you are an excellent writer

I am curious regarding the process of powering down my system for water changes etc. I typically just flip the switch of and it all powers down. I do my WC and then turn it all on. I suspect this is not the best way. I always dump my skimate out first as my skimmer usually overflows for a minute when it comes back on. Suggestions?