The blizzard that used to be my reef tank

vance.110

New member
Well when the lights came on this morning the tank was just a little cloudy but over the course of the next hour it turned to this.

PictureorVideo002.jpg


For reference the outline of rocks you can see at the bottom and the powerhead at the top is about 4" from the glass. My calcium has been quite high as I had switched to automatic dosing of 2 part and my schedule was obviously too heavy. I thought i had backed it off enough to just let it naturally come down over time but this is what I found this morning. Two days ago my Ca was around 625 and my Alk was 10.5, haven't checked them this morning as Randy's artical says its pointless. I think I'm just going to let it run its course as Randy's artical also says that in most cases this doesn't cause a crash. Any opinions would be appreciated. Also I'll try to add pictures at regular intervals to show how its (hopefully) clearing up.

Thanks,
Bill
 
OK, that is odd that you got such a white out from a slow building dosing. I've never heard of that before. If you can double check everything that may be useful.
 
I just double checked everything and it all seems to be just like normal. I use aqualifter pumps to dose. I know it is no litremeter but it fit into my budget. The aqualifters are run by digital timers that come on 6 times a day for 1 minute at a time. I've put needle valves and check valves on the tubing to 1 slow down the flow to about 5ml per minute and 2 with the check valves I don't worry about any back siphoning, also the gallon jugs of the b-ionic are below the sump where everything gets dosed so I do not worry about siphoning into the tank. Finally I understand that the aqualifter is not an ideal situation but I worry more about cloged valves and worn diaphrams causeing too little dosing not too much. Here is another picture taken at 9:30 am, about 1.5 hours after the first was taken, things are already starting to settle.
IMG_1154.jpg
 
OK, sounds good. My tank has had such events at least a half dozen times in the part 13 years, and I've never lost anything from it that I noticed. :)
 
hmmm, I have had that before with accidental over dosing of kalkwater. but you are sure you didnt have an overdose.

maybe, since you were running so high, you were right on the limit of precipitation, and then the finaly dose was enough to start the reaction
 
That is my guess, I was just at the limit and the dose this morning at 6 am just put me over the limit. Any ideas where my levels will end up at when this all clears?
 
I really suspect a bunch got added somehow, but regardless, calcium will not change much. Alkalinity will be a bit lower than before the event.
 
Nope I don't add anything else, just use water changes. It is starting to settle though just a white covering over everything thats not live tissue. Nothing looks any worse for the ware though.
 
I use aqua lifters as well and you must have the intake on a float that keeps it from drawing the sludge from the bottom.
I learned the hard way too. :)
 
Randy: Yes everything looks great today just a white dusting on anything thats not living. Will this disolve or do I need to siphon it out?
Uncle Salty: what do you use for a float... I try to give the jug a shake every once in a while but I guess a concentrated amount at the bottom certainly isn't out of the question.
 
You can use anything that floats that is safe.
I have an actual fishing bobber on mine. The long cylindrical kind with no metal, not the round ones with the spring loaded hooks.
A piece of cork or styrofoam will work just something to hold it off the bottom but allow it to drop with the water level.
My reservoir is a 10 gallon tank under my stand.
 
The solid white precipitate will eventually disappear on its own (gone by a week probably). It won't dissolve, but it does disappear to parts unknown. :)
 
Pull a glass of the tank water, add an acid (a lot of vinegar) and see if it clears up... If it's calcite, it should clear. If bacteria, it may not.
 
Back
Top