PH Buffer overdose, HELP!

tangfang

Reefing newb
Hello all,

I've had my 55 gal tank with 25 gal refugium for about six months now. Livestock is one blue damselfish, one three stripe damselfish, one maroon clownfish, one turbo snail, two peppermint shrimp, one red leg and two blue legged hermit crabs. Both damselfish have been in the tank since it was fully cycled after almost 2 months, so 4 months total. The clowfish was added 2 months later. All the fish were properly acclimated and a 10 gal qt was used in case of disease. So far all has been well with my set-up, the fish have been thriving and the refugium really has made this hobby a plesant experience. My current issue is due to my own stupidity. I was performing my routine water change and I accedently overdosed on marine buffer. Specifically, I was using aqua vitro 8.4 and I used nearly twice the recommended dosage. It was a huge miscalulation on my part (math was never my strongsuit). Anyway the tank usually clouds up when I use the buffer but it goes away after a half hour or so. Once I realized the cloudiness was not dissapating, I tried to remember how much ph buffer I used. I recalled the amount, realized it was wayyyy to much and immediately did a 15 gal water change (fortunately I had extra mixed water on hand). It's been a few hours since the second water change, all paramaters are acceptable Temp 77 (I like to keep it lower due to the aggressive nature of my livestock) Ph 8.1 Gravity 1.024 Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 and nitrate 5ppm. Both Corals I have seem to be doing fine as well as the clownfish, nothing out of the ordinary anyway. My problem is both damselfish seem to be stressed (slight color change and staying in their caves), especially the three striped damsel, he is breathing very heavily. What might be the problem and how can I help them? Oxygen levels are not an issue as far as I know. I have two Koralia 1400 circulationpumps as well as overflow and return pump to keep the water circulation acceptable. All advice is appreciated, thank you!
 
Last edited:
If I had a guess I would say they will be fine just let them sleep and see how they are in the morning...Do you add you new water to the tank or to the fuge? You should do it to the fuge, and how quickly did you add it? If you dump it in all at once you could shock the fish...not likely with damsels but it could happen...
 
I add new water to the fuge using a very small siphon hose so the new water is added as slow as possible. 5 gallons takes aproximately 30 mins so the 15 gal water change took place over the course of 1.5-2 hours. Thanks for your help!
 
Welcome to the site...glad to have you aboard. I think you'll be ok, especially since you did the emergency water change. The fish are just stressed from all the commotion, but will bounce back.
 
Back
Top