Kalk Overdose need help quick !!!

C

chkra_hp

New member
I just overdose my tank with kalkwasser.

Water is very cloudy and milky right now. I can not see anything inside my tanke xcept 1 fish gasping for air on water surface everything i cant see.

I turned off all powerhead inside my tank. I did not do any water change yet. I put some club soda to lower pH. pH was 9.1 now is back to 8.4~8.5

Water is still cloudy even though pH seem fine now. Should I turn on one of my powerhead to totally mix the soda with the tak water? I use pH probe and some part in tank is 8.3 and some part is 8.5
 
im letting the water still hopeing for kalk to settle down overtime. Should I keep running the powerheads inside the tank?
 
That pH is fine. Turn on the powerheads and get some oxygen to those fish! Watch the pH level on the tank in case you get precipitation of calcium, in which case the pH will drop fast. Don't try to over-correct things too fast or you'll continue to get wild swings in pH. Turn off the lights and let the system correct itself.
 
Turn on the skimmer and the powerhead. If you have a canister filter use it. Prepare a water change and be on the alert for potential ammonia spike. Once things settle check calcium alkalinity and magnesium, they all may end up depleted.
 
Wish I could help you but I have no experience with kalkwasser. I hope somebody else can help you with this one.

BUMP
 
alright i will turn on all my powerheads now. i have a lot of flow in my tank though i was afraid it gonna be bad to give too much flow.
 
like i said, i would be starting to mix up some water to be prepared for the water change you should be doing tomorrow, leaving all that kalk in there will just be stressing everything out with the constant variances in water quality
 
I can see this white layer setting on my coral right now that are near the glass. wouldnt that will get mix into water again?

Im already in process of making new water. Im concern about leaving the tthem there and vacuum them in the morning where they settle down or should i just turn and mix everything up now and do water change in the morning?
 
The white layer won't remix. It's calcium carbonate, which is insoluble chalk. This does mean that you'll need to test and correct your calcium, alk, and magnesium levels when your precip storm is finished. Take it easy...there are worse things that can happen!
 
keep everything flowing for oxygen exchange and if you feel like staying up for an hour or two your water should be ok to proceed with a water change.. I have mixed and added fresh saltwater in as ittle as an hour with no ill effects
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11980471#post11980471 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chkra_hp
I can see this white layer setting on my coral right now that are near the glass. wouldnt that will get mix into water again?

Im already in process of making new water. Im concern about leaving the tthem there and vacuum them in the morning where they settle down or should i just turn and mix everything up now and do water change in the morning?
Click to expand...
Once precipitated the calcium and alkalinity turn into calcium carbonate, in other words aragonite particles so what you see is basically a sand storm, it will not redissolve into the water column. The idea here is just to keep the particles settling onto your corals and sand bed. On the corals they may tend to take light and somhow sufocate them specially softies but also avoid those particles on th sand bed otherwise the sand will amalgamate into a big clump of aragonite rock.
Ideally you want to use a canister filter with lots of filter fiber but your skimmer will also remove some.
Now that is what you see. What you can not see is the alkalinity ad calcium levels dropping significantly fast. Lowering the PH helps stop the precipitation which is key right now. As the CO2 from the soda water gets vented back into the surounding air the PH might tend to go back up so keep some bottles at hand and keep an eye on your salinity.
Once everything is settled you may need to blow off the rock to unplug the pores using a powerhead.
Finally by morning test for calcium, alaklinity and magnesium. You need to wait for the particles to settle so they do not skew your tests.
 
Re: Kalk Overdose need help quick !!!

I had it happen to me a few years ago...I came home to a tank that looked like it was filled with milk; the pH was 9+ :eek:

I dripped a vinegar solution into the tank (slowly, even rapid corrective changes can make things worse) until I got the pH near normal reef tank range. It seems like your pH is back near normal, so I would skip this step right now.

You will need to perform several large water changes over the next few days. The pH spike caused by your Kalk accident would have caused a snowstorm and completely thrown of your Ca and Alk levels.

I lost all of my SPS frags at the time :eek: but my fish, LPS , zoos and mushrooms came through fine. Good luck and keep us posted.

- Michael


<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11980341#post11980341 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chkra_hp
I just overdose my tank with kalkwasser.

Water is very cloudy and milky right now. I can not see anything inside my tanke xcept 1 fish gasping for air on water surface everything i cant see.

I turned off all powerhead inside my tank. I did not do any water change yet. I put some club soda to lower pH. pH was 9.1 now is back to 8.4~8.5

Water is still cloudy even though pH seem fine now. Should I turn on one of my powerhead to totally mix the soda with the tak water? I use pH probe and some part in tank is 8.3 and some part is 8.5
Click to expand...
 
I discuss such precipitation events and show pictures and what to do about them in a variety of articles, including this one:

What is that Precipitate in My Reef Aquarium?
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-07/rhf/index.htm

from it:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-07/rhf/index.php#11

The following important points should help in dealing with a limewater overdose:

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.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Z
Plumbing to shower head question
Replies
2
Views
139
zeebies
Z
R
some random questions
Replies
1
Views
234
SantaMonica
S
A
Please help reef tank
Replies
9
Views
865
wvned
wvned
griss
pH - Thought I'd Share This
Replies
5
Views
2K
BuckeyeFish
BuckeyeFish
E
What's Old is New Again
Replies
2
Views
493
Uncle99
Uncle99
Back
Top