Urgent Tank looks like volcanic aftermath

I just came home late last night from being away for the past 5 days. It appears that something went wrong with my Alk Dosing(via BRS pump and apex controller). The tank looks like there was a winter storm of precipitated carbonate/calcium. Every mm of rock and substrate is blanketed in white and so is the glass. Surprisingly all corals are fairly clean. Also, my mandarin jumped-probably because she couldn't find food amongst the mess.

I've Been up all night making water and cleaning the glass and rock via scraper and siphon tube as best I could. The precipitate is clinged to the rock and won't come off completely unless I scrape the rock,which is out of the question. I also cleaned all powerheads with vinegar because I knew they would seize,though they hadn't yet. Ran my skimmer for a few hours in vinegar/RO water too while I continued to clean and prepare fresh saltwater. I was only able to produce 10 gallons of fresh RO and I guesstimate my total water volume to be somewhere between 40-45 gallons since I have no sump. Hopefully that'll be enough.

I tested the KH and it maxed out my Salifert test with no color change by the end!! - which equates to 14+ dkh!! This is on my bio-pellet system which is usually never higher than 7.5. Mg is above 1400 and Ca is 480.

After Checking my apex settings I found I made an error with the Alk Dosing . Instead of 15ml a day I ended up Dosing 90ml ! That's what I get for making a rushed last second change. My instincts told me not to and I didn't listen. Not sure there is much more I can do. Other than to let the Alk come down naturally. Hopefully I don't loose and coral. They all appear fine currently. I'm completely exhausted. On that note, I'm off to bed. I'll take another KH measurement whenever I wake up.

 

Sorry, to hear that. What is your pH? It sounds like you had a precipitation event which probably saved your tank, but maybe afterward another day of dosing raised it again.

Mg and ca levels seem fine, was the ca component added at 90ml, or was this just the alk?

If everything seems ok, your best bet is probably just to aerate the water more, to bring in a bit more CO2 and let the alk come down on its own.
It should come down pretty quickly from those levels. However, if the pH is higher, you may need to take more aggressive action. Randy discusses here for limewater, should apply though What Your Grandmother Never Told You About Lime by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

Also, in the future, since you are on a controller anyways, you may want to add a pH controller shutoff the drip if the pH gets too high. I do this on my limewater topoff, but the same principal can be applied to a 2-part alk component.


Another good article
What is that Precipitate in My Reef Aquarium? by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

 

I've been there before, and it sounds like you've taken care of things as best as you can at this point.

For the record, I didn't lose a thing, just had quite the mess (the extent of which, you're well aware of).

Best of luck, but I bet you'll be fine.

 

I am really glad everything is alright. I am sure you were shocked when you saw that.

 

Yeah I was practically in tears because all I thought about was the tank while I was away and I was so hoping nothing went wrong. I hadn't set-up the Ethernet line for on-line access where I could've looked and adjusted things via phone.

It was only Alk. that was overdosed.PH is currently at 8.1-8.2 where it normally is. Currently KH is sitting at 10dkh, so it's coming down already. Probably faster than I'd like but everything appears to be healthy with the exception of my elegance and hammer which didn't sprawl out as much as normal. So far no SPS are bleaching or anything. PE seems fairly normal. Feeding the tank tonight will give the coral some
Much needed amino's I'm sure to hopefully help cope with the stress caused by my foolishness.

Thanks for the replies.

 

I'm glad to hear you got it under control. I had a similar problem with my controller and my Alk was at 20. I just did 3 10 gallon water changes and was able to get it down to 11. My Ca was involved also and was at 750, the changes got it down to 575. I tested today after not dosing Ca for 5 days and it was at 390. Everything looks no worse for the wear. Hope that the same goes for your tank.

 

Yeah, I know how you feel about being gone. I was gone for over 3 months for school and all I was thinking about was how my tanks were doing. I was surprised to come home to find amazing coral growth in my tanks and fish. Makes me happy my friend took good care of everything. (Hint: a tanksitter ).

 

3 months would've probably driven me to insanity!!

My housemates which would've normally taken over tanksitting duties were also away unfortunately.

Most replies have left me feeling relief that things won't be so bad and for that I thank you. It was the visual impact more than anything at first. I'm sure 6 months into the future everything will be perfectly hunky dory!!