kalk overdose

[Brian_G]

well the use of kalk finally bit me in the rear.

I have a kalk reactor connected to a ph probe so when the ph hits a certain point the dosing pump stops pumping. well after not cleaning my float valve in my sump for a while the kalk built up and caused the float valve not to work and I had back pressure in the system somehow and the kalk kept flowing. so my water was milky and I noticed on my probe the ph was 8.95....really high.
I let it come down naturally, nothing seemed stressed, fish were eating, corals were still open etc. so a few hours later its down to 8.35 and I check my parameters. well aparently the combination of the high ph and the high cal I usually kept my cal at anyway caused it to precipitate out of the water.

my cal is now 320 and alk is 5.5...ugh

oh well. now, I need to think of something that will let the back pressure of the reactor out if it maxs out the ph before hitting the float valve in the sump so the kalk will stop flowing.... any ideas?

and anyone using kalk, BE CAREFUL. I didnt lose anything, yet, im not sure im my sps is going to take that much of a alk/cal swing. I guess we will find out in a few days

 

[little_fish]

That really suck, i hope most of your stuff pulls through though

 

[Brian_G]

thanks lil fish :) im looking on the bright side, a learning lesson for myself. It will just be good if I dont lose anything. worrying about the montis most of all.

 

[little_fish]

Very true!

 

[Bifferwine]

I went through this myself about a year ago, although most of my stuff died and my pH was much higher, and I only made it worse by attempting to adjust it back down. :(

https://www.livingreefs.com/kalk-disaster-t25190.html

Hope your stuff pulls through.

 

[Brian_G]

thanks biff, yeah I remember your episode. you are the main reason I didnt run for the salt and ro to do a massive water change. I do appreciate how helpful everyone was on that post because if it wasnt for that disaster, then I wouldnt have known what to do.

so I guess good things do come with better days. :)

 

[Bifferwine]

thanks biff, yeah I remember your episode. you are the main reason I didnt run for the salt and ro to do a massive water change. I do appreciate how helpful everyone was on that post because if it wasnt for that disaster, then I wouldnt have known what to do.

so I guess good things do come with better days. :)

Good job! In retrospect, I definitely made a mistake by panicking and attempting to fix it. I'm pretty sure that if I had just turned the lights off and forced myself to go to bed, there would have been a lot less carnage in the morning.