Kalkwasser Accident, PH spike. What to do next?

Macdaddynick1

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Sooo, due to my own fault I dumped a lot of kalkwasser into my tank . My ph went up from 7.8 to 8.3. My alkalinity went up from 7 to 8.4. My salinity seem to be normal. Corals do not seem to be affected at the moment. Any advice on what I should do next ?
 

flyfisherman

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Nothing really. Let it drift back down, dont try to correct it with a water change, it will freak them out if dkh is jumping all around, still in acceptable range...

Might be worth testing your salt mix to see where your alkalinity is. Get an ato going(if you dont already) and the right kalk dosage to maintain a steady dkh going forward....
 

bif24701

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Get a BRS 50ml pump and a timer or controller. Set it to add the same amount every hour or better yet half hour, ensure it is enough to act as your top off. Mine runs for 3.5 minutes every half hour, never had any problems my corals grow great.
e09e81ebc29b82ead16bd4ff26379a14.jpg

09775e5a1a185ef0c1b3ee3dc3fb643e.jpg
 

jda

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That is OK. I might recommend that you keep some Muratic Acid on hand and know how to apply it in case you overdose even worse next time.
 
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Macdaddynick1

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Everyone, thank you for the suggestions. I have an apex setup to dose kalkwasser for 3 minutes during the night. I use aqualifter pump to dose it. Today I decided I would turn on kalk in the morning for a minute or two. And of course being me I completely forgot about it. 30 minutes later it hit me. So I went on my apex and turned it off, luckily aqualifter doses very little. At this point I don't have any updates. Corals looked fine during the day. One interesting observation thought my apex is set to send me a text when the ph of my tank goes above 8.2 and it did not notify me. But I'm glad that this incident did not turn into a disaster.
 

bif24701

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Everyone, thank you for the suggestions. I have an apex setup to dose kalkwasser for 3 minutes during the night. I use aqualifter pump to dose it. Today I decided I would turn on kalk in the morning for a minute or two. And of course being me I completely forgot about it. 30 minutes later it hit me. So I went on my apex and turned it off, luckily aqualifter doses very little. At this point I don't have any updates. Corals looked fine during the day. One interesting observation thought my apex is set to send me a text when the ph of my tank goes above 8.2 and it did not notify me. But I'm glad that this incident did not turn into a disaster.

You need to set the Kalk on auto timer! Does it several times a day, not all at once. Never ever turn it on and walk away. Always use the program. I've been using my APEX dosed Kalk for a year and not had a single error, my ALK never spikes or falls, it's always where it should be. That's because unless my 32 gallon Kalk reservoir runs dry, I'll get an alert for that, my APEX always turns on my 50ml doser every 1/2 hour. I suggest you do something similar. If you ALK started to fall bring it up with soda ash or baking soda and increase the dose of the Kalk to maintain it. Never use Kalk to increase, ever.
 
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Macdaddynick1

Macdaddynick1

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You need to set the Kalk on auto timer! Does it several times a day, not all at once. Never ever turn it on and walk away. Always use the program. I've been using my APEX dosed Kalk for a year and not had a single error, my ALK never spikes or falls, it's always where it should be. That's because unless my 32 gallon Kalk reservoir runs dry, I'll get an alert for that, my APEX always turns on my 50ml doser every 1/2 hour. I suggest you do something similar. If you ALK started to fall bring it up with soda ash or baking soda and increase the dose of the Kalk to maintain it. Never use Kalk to increase, ever.
It wasn't the alk it was the ph but yeah I should've known better . I have it set up to dose via apex every hour for 2 minutes at night via aqualifter. On the positive note I just got this baby for my kalkwasser dosing. It is only 12rpm which will dose much slower than the aqualifter, and should keep my ph even more stable at night. =)
IMG_1545.JPG
 

bif24701

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It wasn't the alk it was the ph but yeah I should've known better . I have it set up to dose via apex every hour for 2 minutes at night via aqualifter. On the positive note I just got this baby for my kalkwasser dosing. It is only 12rpm which will dose much slower than the aqualifter, and should keep my ph even more stable at night. =)
IMG_1545.JPG

You don't want to raise pH either really. After using it for a day your pH should be higher but still don't want to do it all at once. Stability is why people chose Kalk, using it Ike that kind of defeats the purpose. Nice, that should work well.
 

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