Emergency - Soda Lime In Tank

[Tezzie]

Need help

I guess overnight my skimmer decided to go haywire and because I have a recirculating co2 scrubber, it sucked water through the media and back into the tank. Ph shot up to 9.6, it is now down to 8.5 after water change and lots of surface agitation. Normally between 8.2-8.3


I’ve already done a 50% water change and plan to do another 50% in a few hours when more Rodi water is ready. Also threw a bag of carbon into the sump. I’m slowly cleaning off the rocks and glass in sections to not get everything too murky again and cleaning the equipment one by one outside of the tank



All fish an coal are alive and look fine except for being a little stressed. Looks like the only things that died are some snails



Anything else I should do?



Any advice would be much appreciated. I’ve also learned my lesson to attach a float switch or something to the skimmer cup to shut off automatically so this never happens again



I’ll attach picture from when I woke up to 6 hours after for reference

 

[LOZReefer]

That sucks. Sounds like you've got it under control though. I personally don't recommend it because of this exact issue though. It might reduce your co2 media consumption but some say it actually reduces oxygenation. Pulling fresh air from outside is best IMO (while not always possible for all of us)

If you plan to keep it set up the way it is maybe have a high Ph alarm (say anything above 8.5) coded into your Apex could give you an early warning or as you mentioned, get a float switch for the skimmer.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I expect the issue is like a kalk overdose, and water changes are typically not necessary.

Check the alk when the water is clear. The pH is already low enough to not be an issue.