Please Help, Kalk overdose

jbanman14

Cleaner Shrimp
#1
So i was stupid and accidentally left my kalk stirrer on for like 15 minutes. The tank is milky white. In a panic, hopefully not stupidly, I did a 50% water change. This did cause a 2 degree drop in temp but helped the PH. Hard to read my test PH kits but apex says PH is 8.42 now or about .5 higher than my normal PH in the morning. Alk was reading 14 right when it dumped but now closer to 8 after water change. Heard Alk will read high until kalk dissolves also.

Any advice on what i should do would be greatly appreciated.
 

SynDen

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#2
Luckily you caught it before it really went out of control. The water change was the right call. Really not much else you can do but watch it and wait. Might need another water change in a day or two if it hasn't stabalized

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jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#4
8.42 is not that bad and some tanks get here during the day, so consider just letting it stabilize on it's own. I know that it is not normal, but adjustment can do damage too.

You can add a few drops of muratic acid to a super high flow area if you really need to lower the pH. This will lower the alk a bit, so be on top of that too. I have no idea if this is a good idea in your situation, but very small amouts of Muratic Acid are safe and I have added Muratic directly to the tank before to lower alk without any issue.
 

jbanman14

Cleaner Shrimp
#6
thank you all very much for the help. had to go to work but came home to the tank looking reasonably good except for white film everywhere. Sps had normal polyp extension but two had a few very small RTN spots. Most things look normal actually. Kinda nervous that it will rear its head in the next couple days and things will start to die off. Level's (PH, alk) are all roughly back to normal right now.

Need to add some more saltwater back to sump tomorrow but thinking i wont do more than that for now. Hopefully the coral can survive the very rapid swing but it looks okay now. Maybe the calm before the storm, fingers crossed. Please chime in with any additional tips, i love to learn and am always open to input. Thanks again.
 

Haddonisreef

Orca
M.A.S.C Club Member
#7
I’d suggest taking a turkey baster to coral and rock to get the film off of the surface area. Test tomorrow and plan a possible water change in the next few days. Chalk this one up and getting lucky cause we have all been there weather leaving ro top off on ~guilty ... or over dose of what ever. My advice keep it simple....don’t rush..... always be ocd ok well that’s just me. Happy reefing!!:)
 

TheRealChrisBrown

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#8
I too have done a Kalkwasser OD, if you are seeing sediment on rocks maybe vacuum it off with a hose? I don't think you want that particulate matter sitting on corals as it might burn them. Just siphon it off as part of another water change?

Good luck! Keep us posted.
 
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