Alk surge!

[AndrewB]

I know I am going to catch some grief for this but have at it. I'm here to to learn.

I last tested water on July 29.
Mg 1200
Kh 10.5
Ca. 380-390
No3 5ppm
Po4 ? No test
Salinity 1.024
Ph 8.0
Ammonia and nitrite 0

Last night all looked good as I went to bed. Fed fish and corals, added aminos, and my 2 part (seachem) I dose 5 mils. each. In a 40 gal AIO system. (Approx 30 gallons of water)

I woke up to a disaster this morning. Tank is white. All corals have either closed up or turned white. There is slime coming off all corals and the only life I can tell are my fish and pep shrimp.

I tested water. Dkh is over 14... I dare say well over because it didn't even pretend to change to the "end" color of the red sea test.

How did I manage such a spike? Was it a spike or a slow build up? It's only been 3 days since last test and this is ugly. Sickening. I can't put it into words but you guys get it...

Now, how bad is it? Is everything dead? It's only been this way for about 7 hours... any chance of survivors? Safest way to correct this? Is it definitely KH? I have all the questions and I can't see straight enough to get myself out of this mess. Please flood with info and honest feedback on how, what, why, this happened. Thanks in advance. I'm going to throw up now...

 

[AndrewB]

I should say...

Morning water test

Ph 7.8
Kh 14+
Ca. 410
Salinity 1.024

I quit testing when I got to that kh reading. I assumed this was the culprit and went into hair on fire mode...

 

[Brew12]

Wow.. I'm sorry you have had this happen.

If you are manually dosing it would be challenging to get an alk spike that extreme. I suspect it is not an accurate test or your pH should have risen, not dropped. Situations like these are stressful. Try and relax and take another Alk test.

Do you run any form of carbon in your system?

Any chance you had an airborne contaminant, or accidentally added something while dosing/feeding?

 

[Crabs McJones]

That's unfortunate, sorry to hear Are you sure you didn't dose something twice on accident? Alk doesn't rise on it's own without some sort of outside interference.
I hope all is well!

 

[ReefersDelite]

i have noticed that my Salifert test kits are always fluctuation. I'M switching over to Hanna Checkers soon but retest and if it is that high, do water changes. I'm still battling the results of high alk issues and finally just stopped all dosing for a week and see how much i use in a week and re do my auto doser schedule.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Manual dosing would not explain the precipitation event you saw. Not unless there was a huge change in CO2 in your home, and as a result, in the pH in your tank. This would still be rather odd though. Did you get a new bottle of two-part? Could the new bottle be bad?

I can say that your magnesium is below that found in natural seawater. In general, when reefers attempt to keep calcium and carbonate alkalinity higher than that of natural seawater (as it appears you're attempting to do), your magnesium should be higher as well. Magnesium is what keeps calcium and carbonate from finding each other in seawater and precipitating.

 

[AndrewB]

Alk check. Back in the 10.2 range.

I guess anything is possible. What kind of contaminants are we talking? The aquarium is uncovered. It is in my living room in a corner. There were no candles or incense or anything like that.

I do use the innovative marine purity pack which includes carbon and gfo. It was last changed 2-3 weeks ago. Skimmer going 24/7.

I do a 5 gallon WC every 2 weeks and this weekend I would be "due" for my routine. I top off manually with purchased RO. I always check the store water against mine.

What else can I test for? I have been battling high nitrates. As hish as 25ppm but 10-15ppm for a couple weeks since I started using red sea's algae management supplement. 2 mils/day.

The tank is not terribly old, cycled all of January and started stocking in February.

At this point I'm just hoping to identify the mistake, take notes, and move on. I've accepted this is probably a complete overhaul as sickening as it is.

 

[Brew12]

Alk check. Back in the 10.2 range.

I guess anything is possible. What kind of contaminants are we talking? The aquarium is uncovered. It is in my living room in a corner. There were no candles or incense or anything like that.

I do use the innovative marine purity pack which includes carbon and gfo. It was last changed 2-3 weeks ago. Skimmer going 24/7.

I do a 5 gallon WC every 2 weeks and this weekend I would be "due" for my routine. I top off manually with purchased RO. I always check the store water against mine.

What else can I test for? I have been battling high nitrates. As hish as 25ppm but 10-15ppm for a couple weeks since I started using red sea's algae management supplement. 2 mils/day.

The tank is not terribly old, cycled all of January and started stocking in February.

At this point I'm just hoping to identify the mistake, take notes, and move on. I've accepted this is probably a complete overhaul as sickening as it is.

Ok, that makes more sense. I feel you made a mistake on the high test as it didn't make sense. Very easy to do during the stress of a tank crash.

Have you checked your tank temperature?

 

[AndrewB]

I'll test again in an hour to see where everything is. I have the red sea ca, mg, and kh tests. I have salifert for nitrate, ph, ammonia and nitrite.

No new bottles. Old if anything. Eerrr..

Does the livestock that are alive vs the ones that are dead scream one thing over another to anybody. 2 clowns and 1 blue damsel are alive and seemingly fine. I saw 1 of my 3 peppermint shrimp this morning. But... all snails, hermits, and my starfish are dead. My corals especially the lps and sps are white and look dead... the zoas and shrooms have closed up. The anemones are only semi closed up. Why some and not all wiped out?

If you ask me it looks post apocalypse in there. Yet... there are the fish.

 

[AndrewB]

First pic was monday?

And then...

 

[Brew12]

I'll test again in an hour to see where everything is. I have the red sea ca, mg, and kh tests. I have salifert for nitrate, ph, ammonia and nitrite.

No new bottles. Old if anything. Eerrr..

Does the livestock that are alive vs the ones that are dead scream one thing over another to anybody. 2 clowns and 1 blue damsel are alive and seemingly fine. I saw 1 of my 3 peppermint shrimp this morning. But... all snails, hermits, and my starfish are dead. My corals especially the lps and sps are white and look dead... the zoas and shrooms have closed up. The anemones are only semi closed up. Why some and not all wiped out?

If you ask me it looks post apocalypse in there. Yet... there are the fish.

Different creatures respond differently to different events. Typically hermits will live through just about anything, so their being dead is surprising. If tank temperature is good, I would begin suspecting a contaminant like copper or other heavy metal. Maybe an oxidizer like bleach or an antibacterial agent.

 

[AndrewB]

The temp is reading 80.5 doesn't feel warm or cooler than usual. Heater in place and turning on/off.

Ok. Thanks guys... sounds like it could have been just about anything. Which means I did an awful lot wrong.

Lots to learn here. I suspect I did a combination of things. Mostly getting complacent. I didn't realize the importance of mag and just thought it would correct itself with the use of the 2 part.

I attempted to bring the kh up and calcium up without any real know how to safely do so. Also while battling the elevated nitrates.

I most certainly didnt introduce anything on purpose but I can see that's entirely possible because frankly this has never happened and I thought you had to have an Exxon like spill to cause this amount of chaos.

Thanks guys. Make sure to follow the rebuild I'm likely facing starting in a month or so...

 

[AndrewB]

Ok...

What's next? Is there any hope for sps to come back? Zoas? At what point do I start to dismantle the rock work and pull off plugs? I have to get snails and any other dead critters out. Might as well get new water and clean the sand while I'm at it... should I clear what I can first, big water change, and wait? Or am I at day 0 again?

 

[KrisReef]

I know I am going to catch some grief for this but have at it. I'm here to to learn.

I last tested water on July 29.
Mg 1200
Kh 10.5
Ca. 380-390
No3 5ppm
Po4 ? No test
Salinity 1.024
Ph 8.0
Ammonia and nitrite 0

Last night all looked good as I went to bed. Fed fish and corals, added aminos, and my 2 part (seachem) I dose 5 mils. each. In a 40 gal AIO system. (Approx 30 gallons of water)

I woke up to a disaster this morning. Tank is white. All corals have either closed up or turned white. There is slime coming off all corals and the only life I can tell are my fish and pep shrimp.

I tested water. Dkh is over 14... I dare say well over because it didn't even pretend to change to the "end" color of the red sea test.

How did I manage such a spike? Was it a spike or a slow build up? It's only been 3 days since last test and this is ugly. Sickening. I can't put it into words but you guys get it...

Now, how bad is it? Is everything dead? It's only been this way for about 7 hours... any chance of survivors? Safest way to correct this? Is it definitely KH? I have all the questions and I can't see straight enough to get myself out of this mess. Please flood with info and honest feedback on how, what, why, this happened. Thanks in advance. I'm going to throw up now...

I am wondering, since your Alk didn’t spike, but the tank has been warmer, Might this be low O2 at night? How much circulation do you have in the tank, ripples on the tank surface, skimmer, etc?

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

It sounds like the alkalinity spike was testing error. If so, this sounds like a plain old tank crash. If anything changed in the last week or so, that could have caused the crash, depending on what it was.

Did you add any livestock recently? Anything, coral, invert, clean up crew, fish? If you did so without QT, it's possible they brought in a disease or were sick. A single animal dying can cause a positive feedback loop of death if the tank's biological filter is weak or not running very well.

When did you start dosing the NOPOX? Did you recently increase the dose?

 

[Brew12]

The temp is reading 80.5 doesn't feel warm or cooler than usual. Heater in place and turning on/off.

Ok. Thanks guys... sounds like it could have been just about anything. Which means I did an awful lot wrong.

Lots to learn here. I suspect I did a combination of things. Mostly getting complacent. I didn't realize the importance of mag and just thought it would correct itself with the use of the 2 part.

I attempted to bring the kh up and calcium up without any real know how to safely do so. Also while battling the elevated nitrates.

I most certainly didnt introduce anything on purpose but I can see that's entirely possible because frankly this has never happened and I thought you had to have an Exxon like spill to cause this amount of chaos.

Thanks guys. Make sure to follow the rebuild I'm likely facing starting in a month or so...

I don't feel like you have done much wrong. Your mag is a little low, but not enough to cause a problem. Your Alk is higher than I would run, but not unreasonably so. I prefer my nitrates higher than 5ppm but they aren't a problem at 5ppm. It would be nice to know phosphates, especially since you are running a phosphate remover. I wiped my tank the first time I ran GFO in it because I used too much. Not sure why that would have negatively impacted the hermit crabs though... that part has me stumped.

Any chance someone used the bucket for your aquarium for household cleaning?

 

[AndrewB]

I am wondering, since your Alk didn’t spike, but the tank has been warmer, Might this be low O2 at night? How much circulation do you have in the tank, ripples on the tank surface, skimmer, etc?

I run a skimmer 24/7. The stock return pump. I have a nano powerhead aimed across the aquarium that runs constant and I have the IM wave powerhead that I cycle. For most of the day i have it set to pulse. When I feed as I did last night all pumps are turned off for 5 minutes for fish and shrimp to get their pellets and to target my zoas with roids. Then the heads are turned back on. Generally pretty turbulant until I go to bed. I have a moderate ripple on the surface (looks extra good with the kessil)

I'm guessing it's of the usual variety and not so much one of the mysteries. I'm not totally new to reef keeping but I am admittedly haphazard at times with changing things. Shameful...

 

[AndrewB]

I have been dosing the nopox for about a week. Other than that no deviations from my norm.

I added some new frags I got from the live sale yesterday. They were temp and drip acclimated and I went straight to glue. A couple acros, an acan, and a zoa cluster among the newbies.

We are having bad weather but I don't know of any power outages or even how that could have caused any of this.