Knucklehead!!

[jwill275]

So I'm having a big party at my house, my grandson made his First Communion, My tank has been looking great and I've been dosing about 60ml a day of BRS Alk and Calcium. I generally measure it out and add it to the sump over 3-4 hours. This morning I decided to only add a small amount by letting the Alk drip into the sump slowly. Well I'm getting ready for the party and forget about my drip for about 15 minutes, I run to the tank and stop the drip, the PH was up to 8.9 but everything looks good. I decide to add a capful of vinegar to bring down the ph, all of a sudden the tank goes white, the calcium is percipitating and I have a snow storm of epic proportions!!

The skimmer is working ot and I'm using filter socks to try and gather up the calcium. My question, was it the vinegar that caused the pericpitate or was it just a coincidence and it would have happened anyway because of the high ph?

What a great day to "show off my tank!!" :wildone:

 

[Editour2]

So I'm having a big party at my house, my grandson made his First Communion, My tank has been looking great and I've been dosing about 60ml a day of BRS Alk and Calcium. I generally measure it out and add it to the sump over 3-4 hours. This morning I decided to only add a small amount by letting the Alk drip into the sump slowly. Well I'm getting ready for the party and forget about my drip for about 15 minutes, I run to the tank and stop the drip, the PH was up to 8.9 but everything looks good. I decide to add a capful of vinegar to bring down the ph, all of a sudden the tank goes white, the calcium is percipitating and I have a snow storm of epic proportions!!

The skimmer is working ot and I'm using filter socks to try and gather up the calcium. My question, was it the vinegar that caused the pericpitate or was it just a coincidence and it would have happened anyway because of the high ph?

What a great day to "show off my tank!!" :wildone:

WOW !!! Sorry for your mishap....how much alkalinity would you estimate dripped into the tank? (even @ 15 minutes on a slow drip). I only drip alkalinity when making an adjustment and usually I mix with a gallon of RODI then slow drip into a high flow area....I am paranoid. Did any of your corals bleach?
Frank

 

[jwill275]

Frank,

I only meant to drip for a minute or two, got distracted and did something for my daughter. The drip was pretty fast but it wasn't a stream, my numbers were great the day before Alk 8.3 Cal 420. The issue, I believe, is the high ph and the high calcium, I was just wondering if the small amount of vinegar I added may have played a role???
Picked up my salt today, great job! Thanks

 

[Editour2]

Frank,

I only meant to drip for a minute or two, got distracted and did something for my daughter. The drip was pretty fast but it wasn't a stream, my numbers were great the day before Alk 8.3 Cal 420. The issue, I believe, is the high ph and the high calcium, I was just wondering if the small amount of vinegar I added may have played a role???
Picked up my salt today, great job! Thanks

John,
I am not certain about the effect the vinegar had......maybe you can post on the chemistry forum here on RC. I generally drip vinegar at night and it does drop the ph somewhat....sometimes I mix the vinegar with Kalk but I've never had the type of reaction you experienced.
Frank

 

[jwill275]

Good idea, I just copied it to the Chemistry forum