Accidentally left Alk doser on for 3 hours; DOH.

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Techie_

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The stupid Jebao doser app has the big fat "ON" button meaning continuously on, and the scheduled dose as a button much smaller. UGH. I digress... got home from working late and turned on my doser because I was below my target (targeting 9.0 dKH), I wasn't even thinking and laid down to get some sleep. Woke up, tank is at 17.7 dKH over 3 hours. I did a 25% water change and it's down to 13.3 dKH, still about 4.3-4.5 dKH higher than I am normally at. Currently waiting for more RO/DI to fill up before I can do another 25% and bring it down again.

All the fish, coral, and inverts seemed to be acting fine; but I know there can some times be a delayed reaction as things don't happen instantly.

Apart from not being a total idiot, is there anything I need to watch out for or anything I should expect to see as far as livestock is concerned?

I have also been battling low nutrients, so I assume once I have the alk back down to a normal level I will need to dose some Sodium Phosphate and Potassium Nitrate (or Ammonium), what are you thoughts on this?

Mostly embarrassed about this whole thing. A real dumb mistake.
 
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hey it happens. i would keep doing water changes as you can to get it back to where you want it. hope everything is ok!
 
I might consider feeding more right now to avoid burnt tips in some sos, if you have them.

One can lower alk chemically, but it lowers pH drastically. It is best done in water change water. You can lower that to zero alk off you want.

But just waiting is a reasonable plan as it will likely drop fairly fast.
 
I might consider feeding more right now to avoid burnt tips in some sos, if you have them.

One can lower alk chemically, but it lowers pH drastically. It is best done in water change water. You can lower that to zero alk off you want.

But just waiting is a reasonable plan as it will likely drop fairly fast.
Water just finished filling my mixing bins about an hour ago overnight, so I will do another water change to get it down to around 10 and let it taper from there.

E: Glad I tested before a WC... I'm sitting at 10.2 dKH this morning; did this 3 times because I thought it was a fluke. This is my first experience with a high alk situation (10+). Is it normal for it to drop 3 dKH overnight? There was a corresponding pH drop from 8.9 to 8.3 as well.
 
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The higher alk is, the faster it depletes, both by abiotic precipitation and organism uptake. So no, it’s not unusual and is why
Many folks just wait it out.
 

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