Overnight Alk overdose!

How large of a WC should I do? If thats the case then I guess the precipitated CA will eventually be reabsorbed??? How long can I let my CA levels stay so low before I need to worry about lps and sps damage?

 

Chances are, if you dose CA it's going to precipitate out. I don't think I have ever disagreed with barbianj on very much but this is one time I think it is a bad idea to add more CA. I may be wrong, as I often am but I would be more concerned about the high alk than low ca, especially in the short term.

 

What I'm trying to say is don't panic. Do a 20% WC, test your alk and go from there. I wouldn't even test the CA until alk is back between 8 and 10. At that point, check the CA. I'll bet you it's closer to where you want it to be. BTW, I run my CA around 360 on a regular basis and get great sps growth. Don't panic.

 

Well I ca make up some new sw. It is usually pretty clear within an hour or so so maybe so the wc after 4 or so hours of mixing??

 

The way I see it, alk at 13 itself isn't that bad. Raising it three points in a day isn't very good, though, but it's already done. Calcium at 300 is bad. That will stop coral growth. I would fix that today, to at least 380, slowly, so as not to cause more precipitation. Doing a wc with freshly mixed water isn't the best idea even when there isn't a problem, and there won't be enough calcium in the wc to make much of a difference, or at least get it into range.

 

It's OK to disagree with me, I disagree with Cheryl all the time.

 

Agreed that an alk of 13 isnt all that bad in itself since 7-12 is what we consider normal anyhow. It is the 3 point jump that concerns me but I dont have any acros just stylophora, birdsnest, and montis for sps so hopefully its not too big an issue. It is the CA that I am most concerned about so heres my plan for now.

I turned on the CA doser and will let it run a 1/2 hour to see if it makes any improvement to the CA levels. If it does I will turn it off and let it run its normal 1/2 hour dose at 2pm again and recheck levels. The alk pump is going to remain off until further notice obviously.

I mixed up about 10gal of RO/DI for a waterchange. I usually only let it mix for 12 hours before I do my WC anyhow so doing one tonight will allow 8-10 hours and should be fine anyhow. Will retest afterwards to see where Im at.

 

Sounds like a plan.

I would calculate out how much Ca solution it would take to raise it the amount you want, then plan on adding that, rather than randomly running the doser. Either way, you will still have to test as you go. When you first posted that your water was cloudy, I thought that your alk was going to test at 23 or something crazy. You have an easily fixable situation here.

 

Well the ca levels did not rise at all but the alk remained sable so no dosing for now. We will see what a wc tonight does. On the plus side everything in the tanks looks ok.

 

I'm surprised so much ca did precipitate out with the alk only at 13.2. My mag has always been 1400-1500 so I should be able to maintain a high alk and ca but I guess I can not for some reason