Tank crashed almost!!

[Pizzapro83]

So I came home lastnight to a cloudy tank:sad:I have been having problems with my calcium reactor. Someone told me to lower the ph in the chamber.I had it at 6.91 off 6.93 on. I put it at 6.73 off 6.75 on. So the chamber became really milky. When I came home I tested Alk and it was 12 and raising. This moring it is down to 10.2. So far all my corals are ok. What did I do wrong? How close was my tank to crashing? And should I just dose by hand and take the reactor out?

 

[beaslbob]

sounds to me like you have it under control.

I do not use a reactor but from what I hear they can have lower calcium and higher alk then other methods. like 340ppm calcium and 14 dkh alk. Yet things are fine in the tank.

just a rumor I heard worth at most .02

 

[Ian]

what size is your tank, Frank?

 

[Pizzapro83]

I have a 120 with a 50 gallon look down plumbed togther.

 

[seascape]

sounds like you are doing what you can frank,like ive told you i dont use a reactor use to just couldnt keep parameters stable with it so i stopped using it,i dose by hand.just keep a close eye on it and check parameters often.RJ

 

[Pizzapro83]

How do you bring alk down? Should I just let it happen over time?

 

[seascape]

i checked mine yesterday it was at 12dkh and today it was at 9-10 but i didnt dose alk last night just mag and Ca,it should go down as you see in time,also a WC will help.

 

[seascape]

oh sorry yes alkilinity depletion is about 35% daily so keep a close eye on it

 

[Pizzapro83]

So tweleve is not that bad? I just am not sure why the chamber was milky?? It mad my tank milky also.

 

[seascape]

did you do a WC at all,honestly i would have done one myself,ive had my dkh up to 12 a few times and didnt have a problem but now you need to find out why your reactor was milky causing your tank to be also.why did you lower the Ph was there a reason,was everything fine before you lowered it.

 

[jaytizzle]

When was the last time you calibrated your pH probe? While you say the setpoint was only down to 6.73, it could have been significantly different. What kind of probe and controller are you using? If it turned milky, I would believe that you dropped the pH a good bit lower than 6.7...

 

[ricwilli]

How do you bring alk down? Should I just let it happen over time?

Yes, it will go down over time. What media are you using? I do not use the grain type for this very reason. I use the large type.