Decadence March 21, 2013 Share March 21, 2013 I got a call around 3PM from Chelsea in a panic telling me that the water in the tank was cloudy and my algae turf scrubber was white. I asked her to check a few things, and it was obvious that we were dealing with a kalk stirrer issue. I just recently set this thing up and the night before, I added a bypass because it was working too well and my PH and alk levels were a little higher than I like them. The bypass T'ed off of the feed from the ATO pump and dripped into the sump from above, fastened to a PVC line to prevent syphoning. Well, my fastening job didn't work too well, the thing had some slack and dropped a few inches. After turning on, it created a syphon and pulled kalk paste from the bottom of the reactor through the feed tube. I'm not sure how much went in but I had a white tank. Lucky for me, I already run pretty high alk levels so the stuff mostly precipitated. I instructed Chelsea to cap off the feed of the stirrer and then disconnect the ATO pump. What baffles me is that my PH was a few points lower than normal rather than being high. When I got home, I made polyfiber blankets for all of my power heads and changed them out a few times after they were gunked up with kalk. The water is pretty clear now but I am baffled about my test readings which I didn't expect: PH is in the low 8s and got as low as 7.9 during the day with kalk pouring in. Alk tested at 8.5dkh. I have the stirrer hooked up again with the bypass securely fastened high up and routing about 25% of the RODI water straight into the sump. There have been no casualties as of yet but my beloved copperband butterfly is breathing rather heavy. No other fish are doing this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Der ABT March 21, 2013 Share March 21, 2013 why do you have a bypass....why not put less kalk in the reactor? also weird with the Ph, are you sure your test or probe is ok...have anything to double check it with? http://wamas.org/forums/topic/28120-how-to-respond-to-a-kalk-overdose/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nbgen12 March 21, 2013 Share March 21, 2013 Shouldnt the ph have shot upwards? Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marinap March 21, 2013 Share March 21, 2013 Percipitaion event usually drives pH down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decadence March 21, 2013 Author Share March 21, 2013 I put the bypass on to keep the stirrer from backing into the RO when the pump is off and the reservoir is low. I had always planned on running one just on a drip to allow air into line and break syphon while also allowing me to dial back the stirrer with a months worth of kalk in it to make my kalk almost as maintenance-free as the calcium reactor is. PH is checked with both my RKL SL1 and a reef fanatics PH monitor double checking eachother. Both have new probes installed and calibrated around two weeks ago. The RF reads slightly higher than the the RKL because it is calibrated with lower PH solutions. Last night, my PH was down to 7.8 with a window open and powerheads pointing up. With the water clear, I tested my alk and it was only 8.5dkh! This is lower than it was the night before which I was tryin to bring down (11.5dkh - salifert tests). My only guess is that the kalk percipitated for some reason. After testing my alk last night, I had to make a tough judgement call and I hooked the kalk stirrer back up and set it back in the ATO. This morning my PH was back up to 8 but I didn't have time to check alk. My copper and butterfly was still breathing heavy so I disconnected the skimmer and did a precautionary dose of prazipro. If his breathing begins to regulate again, I'm going to continue prazipro for the rest of the week and do a daily 10 gallon water change with additional new medication. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marinap March 21, 2013 Share March 21, 2013 You also want to check cal, as alk and cal are removed during percipitation in the same ratio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zygote2k March 21, 2013 Share March 21, 2013 Why would you use prazipro to treat a fish that is suffering from ph shock? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decadence March 21, 2013 Author Share March 21, 2013 PH has barely fluctuated, only dropped by 0.2. There are 18 other fish in the tank which are not breathing heavily. I had done a round of prazipro to treat flukes which concluded three days ago; I'm doing a second round. The fish is stressed and prazipro is harmless otherwise which is why I stated it to be precautionary. One good thing is that he still has a ravenous appetite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami March 21, 2013 Share March 21, 2013 Percipitaion event usually drives pH down. +1. A lot of the white stuff may be calcium carbonate, not kalk (calcium hydroxide). Check your calcium and magnesium levels. They may be way down after the snowstorm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decadence March 21, 2013 Author Share March 21, 2013 I have never had to deal with this before. What do you guys recommend to bump my PH up and to keep the calcium carbonate from continuing to percipitate? Right now my pH is down to 7.8 with the kalk stirrer active. I have never seen it bellow 8.0 with kalk going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Country March 21, 2013 Share March 21, 2013 7.8 isn't going to hurt anything, mine runs that low almost constantly with my calcium reactor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decadence March 21, 2013 Author Share March 21, 2013 PH at that level isn't going to hurt it but it has been on a steady drop since last night even with kalk active in the system again. The water is clear but settled kalk powered is everywhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marinap March 21, 2013 Share March 21, 2013 There is nothing that needs to be done, just ride it out. Now that the water is clear, you can get accurate readings on alk and cal. I would just keep an eye on them and adjust accordingly. Check your equipment, as cal percipitaion can damage pumps, heaters (clean them, if there is white film), etc. Your tank should be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami March 21, 2013 Share March 21, 2013 Read the link in post #2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decadence March 22, 2013 Author Share March 22, 2013 I read that post a while ago and read it again the day this happened. Everything seams to be improving today. I didn't lose any corals, they actually look extremely healthy. All tested 8.5 Dkh, calcium tested 420ppm and mag I couldn't test because I lost the spoon. Does anybody know how much of the powder from the salifert mag test to measure out? PH may be far off. One probe is calibrated in the low range and the other, high. They are usually pretty close but started drifting apart. I talked to Chelsea and she said that the power flashed a few times a couple days ago. I'm thinking that they need calibration again so I will pick up some calibration fluid on the way home. A manual test read out about 8.4 but it was an API test from years ago so I don't trust it any more than I do my probes at this point. Right now I'm getting 8.4 from a manual test, 7.95 from my RKL and 8.2 from my reef fanatics. My copperband's breathing is still accelerated but it isn't quite as bad. I did a 10 gallon water change last night and have a new one mixing now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami March 22, 2013 Share March 22, 2013 Sounds like things are working out. Remember, if there are any particulates floating in the water still some of your tests may be confounded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decadence March 22, 2013 Author Share March 22, 2013 There are te any particles in the water. It is actually crystal clear. Last night I cleaned all of the glass and tonight I'm cleaning all of the powerheads. I went out and got a huge roll of polyester quilt matting and cut out strips to wrap around all of my powerheads, turning them into filters. I changed them every few hours when it was cloudy and now I'm only still using two of them and changing daily. It works like a charm for polishing the water and $15 will buy you a supply to last over a year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami March 22, 2013 Share March 22, 2013 I still have a bunch of polyester fiberfill that I use from time to time. I've had it for several years now and have not gone through even a bag of it. Good stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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