Overnight Alk overdose!

Went to bed last night and everything was looking great. This morning my wife calls me over to look at the tank because it looks white and cloudy. Turns out the alk pump never turned off!! The corals look OK and my feather duster is still out. FIsh are also swimming around fine.

Have not tested yet but what should I do? Let it ride out? Do a large waterchange?

 

Do a large WC. The cool thing here is that alk will solidify if there is an overly obscene amount in the water. Even though you did "OD" it's typically not too terrible if you catch it in time. You will also want to syphon all of the junk that has settled on the rock and such.

 

By the way, what are you using to control your pump and what kind of pump do you use. I have BRS peristaltic pumps and a reefkeeper lite. I just want to know if I should switch to paranoid mode.

 

What Daniel said. Test your alk, and clean your pumps and powerheads when you get it within range.

 

I have the BRS pumps on a simple timer that has an override with a little button. Im thinking its the timer that had the issue not the pump

 

OK so testing done. MY SG remains the same at 1.026-1.027 but my pH has bumped up from 8.1 to 8.3.
My Alk has been running around 10 the past few weeks and is now 13. My Ca has been around 400 but is not only around 290-300!!!! My Mag remains steady at 1440-1480.

I know my softis, zoas, leathers, etc dont need CA really but am really concerns about my lps and sps. Im afraid if I bring up the CA I will also end up raising alk even further, or would the opposite happen and more alk precipitate out?? How long can I keep my CA low as I slowly fix my parameters without much harm to the corals?

ALso I have NO SW made and only maybe 8gal of RO/DI water. Should I just add tapwater to that I used to use tapwater for the first 6 months or so I had the tank anyway.

 

Could have been much worse. I would slowly raise the Ca over the course of the day, so that too much alk doesn't precipitate out, that's why you need to clean your pumps. Good catch by your wife. Flowers are in order. ;D

 

See where your alk is after raising the Ca, then adjust if necessary.

 

I wouldn't panic, make yourself some saltwater and then do the change. Here's what happens. When you have an alk spike, it causes your CA to precipitate out. The white stuff you are seeing is actually calcium, not really anything to do with the alk. I wouldn't be dosing anything right now until you get that alk down. When the alk comes down, your CA will naturally rise.

 

Figures we both slept in today too!!! Yea I was surprised the Alk was only about 13. 13 with API 13.2 with RedSea Pro. Would dosing CA just cause more alk to precipitate out as it raises the CA levels or would it raise ALK levels as well?