Woke up to a nuked tank...

[Bent]

Well guys, been a good run.

I woke up this morning to find my system so cloudy that nothing was visible.

I go down to the basement tk check things out and find that the main ATO switch stuck and the emergency switch tripped.

The problem is that my ATO runs through the kalk reactor, so all that cloudiness was due to kalk being dumped into the system.

Everything else checked out, SG was steady as there was only probably 2 or 3 gallons put into the system. But it was 2-3G of limewater.

I did what I could, I changed out about 20g which was all the water I had on hand at the time. I needed to change out probably 60 gallons, but I have to wait on the R/O unit.

I'd say the large alk swing is going to off everything. Of course all this went down when I had to go out the door for work, so I won't be able to do anything about it for the next 12 hours.

God.

[polywise]

ohh man .........
hope some of the SPS you have survive

[Xxero]

Ugh! But I think you'll be okay, Bent. Here's a starting point and also do a RC search for "Kalk Overdose". This has apparently happened to a lot of people. I think the worst part is having to leave it and go to work...I know for myself it would be hard to concentrate on anything else. GL man!

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-07/rhf/#11

[Bent]

Well this morning whe I saw it here's what I did:

Switched off the ATO
Drained the sump
Took out the GFO so I could turn up the rate on the reactor and push more volume through the carbon.
Turned up the UV output
Mixed as much salt water as I could which was probably about 20 gallons.
Ran it all back in.
Turned the RO on to run all day to make another 20g.

My plan when I get home is to try and change out another 20g, and then maybe another 20g tommorrow.

[kmbyrnes]

Hope you have a better outcome than you expect. Gonna be a tough day at work.

[Reefstarter2]

You'll be ok kalkwasser is not as bad as say straight up alk and calcium being dumped in . This is why I have a small ( by comparison ) ato for my system and always have 100 gallons of to and salt mix on hand

[Bent]

Originally Posted by Xxero

Ugh! But I think you'll be okay, Bent. Here's a starting point and also do a RC search for "Kalk Overdose". This has apparently happened to a lot of people. I think the worst part is having to leave it and go to work...I know for myself it would be hard to concentrate on anything else. GL man!

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-07/rhf/#11

Thank you!

Reading that made me feel 100x better.

[d2mini]

What was your Alk testing at before and after the dump?

[Bent]

Originally Posted by d2mini

What was your Alk testing at before and after the dump?

I haven't tested yet since I had to leave to get to work, but yesterday's alk at 2300 was 8.0 per the salifert test.

I'm worried about the pH after reading all this information. My pH is usually on the higher end of normal since my sump is in the basement and I don't have a lot of co2 retention down there opening and closing the garage door. So i don't have a lot of play. My pH hangs normally around 8.0. Hopefully it didn't pull it up too much, but I won't know until tonight.

I managed to change out about 20 gallons this morning before I left for work, but probably just a drop in he bucket on 90-100g of total volume. Hopefully it was enough to get the pH down.

I'm still thinking about permanently taking the reactor out. I used it because my alk was low (which I attributed to GFO use). I went from around 8 before using the GFO, to 6 after a couple weeks of running it even with 20g/wk water changes. I installed the reactor to bring it back up. I didn't use much, I just used 3/4 cup of kalk in the reactor and it brought it consistently from 6 to 8 again after a couple of weeks. The calcium shot up, it's been over 500 for the last two weeks, So either I'm going to drop the kalk amount to like 1/4 cup every 2 weeks and hope I hold at 7 with it, or just ditch it entirely and hope for the best. Just not sure if it's worth it to risk to bring the alk up two whole points.

Groan.

[Lucky Lefty]

Hopefully it works out and everything makes it. Posts like this are the reason I refuse to use an ATO.
Good luck Bent!

[Bent]

It would have been fine if it wasn't for the kalk reactor.

[Dkuhlmann]

Do you know what's strange/odd/funny? This exact thing basically happened to Sk8r last night as well. What are the chances?

[d2mini]

Reason I ask because it's possible your alk didn't shoot up that high.
If it went from 8 to 9, not really a big deal. If it's at a 11 or higher though...
This would have been the first thing I checked.

[m0nkie]

Originally Posted by Bent

I'm still thinking about permanently taking the reactor out. I used it because my alk was low (which I attributed to GFO use). I went from around 8 before using the GFO, to 6 after a couple weeks of running it even with 20g/wk water changes.

interesting.. I've never heard of GFO stripping Alk out of water.

good luck to your tank man. maybe prepare a larger salt water container for next rounds!

[Xxero]

Originally Posted by Bent

Thank you!

Reading that made me feel 100x better.

Cool! I bet you get home today and find that it's cleared a lot. I'd do another water change (like you're already planning), and at some point you'll have to vacuum up the Kalk "dust" from your rockwork, etc. Any testing done for the next few days will probably be useless. I believe the PH will balance out fairly rapidly. And definitely make sure your SG is okay when you get home.

[DDon]

How big is your system?
2 - 3 gallons of lime water may not be as bad as you think. I would check levels before I did anything else and not overreact. Doing massive water change and swinging Alk the other direction is still an Alk swing. May be better to let it drop on it's own or keep the water changes small.

For what it's worth I have hit my tank pretty hard with kalk and the livestock didn't blink an eye.
Good luck.

[ericarenee]

Originally Posted by DDon

How big is your system?
2 - 3 gallons of lime water may not be as bad as you think. I would check levels before I did anything else and not overreact. Doing massive water change and swinging Alk the other direction is still an Alk swing. May be better to let it drop on it's own or keep the water changes small.

For what it's worth I have hit my tank pretty hard with kalk and the livestock didn't blink an eye.
Good luck.

This i agree with .. Also Kalk will cloud the water a huge amount with Undiluted Kalk powder..

Being this the case use the smallest micron filter pad or socks you can find Change them out every few hours . syphon the sand bed any rock work to remove excess.
If you keep changing out lower alk water in a tank with non desolved Kalk powder will likely raise your Alk Levles more then just cleaning the tank Put a fan on the water surface and let run its course ..

I dose Kalk in my ATO Water with a Simple mechanical float Valve. no switches no electronics.. and i only keep 10 gallons in my ato tank...that dumped would NOT Crash my now 600 plus gallons of water..
for your tank 2-3 gallons i do not think is as bad as you assume

[Bent]

Thanks so much guys for all the encouragement. I've been getting update pics from my wife and everyone seems no worse for the wear, but I won't know the extent of the damage until I get home.

I somehow have to figure out how to siphon this stuff out of the display without pulling water out of the system.

I think I'll run a loooooong tube and gravel vac to the sump from the display and into the sump through a 100 micron sock. Then I can suck that stuff out to my hearts content without worrying about removing any more water.

That sound like an idea?

[MondoBongo]

you could try some GAC to help pull out the excess kalk? that in conjunction with what you mentioned using a filter sock and a gravel vac should do a decent job removing particulate matter.

[ericarenee]

Originally Posted by Bent

Thanks so much guys for all the encouragement. I've been getting update pics from my wife and everyone seems no worse for the wear, but I won't know the extent of the damage until I get home.

I somehow have to figure out how to siphon this stuff out of the display without pulling water out of the system.

I think I'll run a loooooong tube and gravel vac to the sump from the display and into the sump through a 100 micron sock. Then I can suck that stuff out to my hearts content without worrying about removing any more water.

That sound like an idea?

you can do . or siphon it into another container and let it sit then pour the water off the top back into the tan...... (not ideal solution..) But Could help lower absorption.

Just get as much out as you can before water change.The new water will immediately absorb the Kalk. This will defeat the purpose .

For Events such as this is one of the biggest reasons i have 150 gallons of ro water at ALL TIMES..

[Bent]

Ok, so heres my new plan.

Before I left the house I did that water change and ensured that the SG was normal. It was around 1025 so I was ok. Which leads me to believe that not that much lime water was dosed. If it was a significant amount, then my SG would have been much lower. It really didnt budge. Furthermore, theres only about 2-3 gallons between the main switch and the emergency shut off switch. So I really cant imagine it getting more than that.

So like I said, before I left I made sure the SG was good. I left the ato off and I will address it when I get home.

Really my only big concern is the pH. With it running on the higher end at 8.0, there isnt much wiggle room. So hopefully it didnt raise it too much, but seeing some pics today from the wife, Im hopeful.

So heres the plan after being forced to step away from it. Which I think having to go to work was probably a blessing in disguise. Its hard to tell what I would have done and probably would have made the problem much worse. Walking away from it for most of the day was probably the best thing that could have happened. Anyway.

1: open that case of PBR in my fridge.
2: Refill the sump to where its supposed to go.
3: take the reactor off line.
4: Test the pH. Fingers crossed that its not off the charts.
5: using a gravel vac routed to the sump, through a 100 micron filter sock, start siphoning out the parcipitate that I can get to.
6: Clean the float switches with vinegar.
7: test the alk, pH and Ca daily and watch for spikes or dips.

How does this sound for a plan? Should I even worry about trying to get the parcipitate out of the system or will it just cause problems?

[Bent]

Originally Posted by MondoBongo

you could try some GAC to help pull out the excess kalk? that in conjunction with what you mentioned using a filter sock and a gravel vac should do a decent job removing particulate matter.

I am. I actually took my GFO out of my reactor so I could pump some volume through the GAC. I probably started putting about 1000gph through it before I left the house, so hopefully that helps a little.

[d-man]

Just watch ammonia spikes too. Hopefully all will be ok, however if you get home and see larger amounts of tissue receding, pull them out and put in QT and check ammonia

[d-man]

Lol, step 1

Originally Posted by Bent

Ok, so heres my new plan.

Before I left the house I did that water change and ensured that the SG was normal. It was around 1025 so I was ok. Which leads me to believe that not that much lime water was dosed. If it was a significant amount, then my SG would have been much lower. It really didnt budge. Furthermore, theres only about 2-3 gallons between the main switch and the emergency shut off switch. So I really cant imagine it getting more than that.

So like I said, before I left I made sure the SG was good. I left the ato off and I will address it when I get home.

Really my only big concern is the pH. With it running on the higher end at 8.0, there isnt much wiggle room. So hopefully it didnt raise it too much, but seeing some pics today from the wife, Im hopeful.

So heres the plan after being forced to step away from it. Which I think having to go to work was probably a blessing in disguise. Its hard to tell what I would have done and probably would have made the problem much worse. Walking away from it for most of the day was probably the best thing that could have happened. Anyway.

1: open that case of PBR in my fridge.
2: Refill the sump to where its supposed to go.
3: take the reactor off line.
4: Test the pH. Fingers crossed that its not off the charts.
5: using a gravel vac routed to the sump, through a 100 micron filter sock, start siphoning out the parcipitate that I can get to.
6: Clean the float switches with vinegar.
7: test the alk, pH and Ca daily and watch for spikes or dips.

How does this sound for a plan? Should I even worry about trying to get the parcipitate out of the system or will it just cause problems?

[Bent]

Originally Posted by ericarenee

you can do . or siphon it into another container and let it sit then pour the water off the top back into the tan...... (not ideal solution..) But Could help lower absorption.

Just get as much out as you can before water change.The new water will immediately absorb the Kalk. This will defeat the purpose .

For Events such as this is one of the biggest reasons i have 150 gallons of ro water at ALL TIMES..

I typically keep about 30 gallons on hand of saltwater and 30 gallons of R/O, but from where I just finished up my sunday maintence and did my 20 gallon water change that night, I did not have much left since my RO is slow.

I think all in all this will have forced me to change out about 50 gallons in the last 12-24 hours. Not too bad I dont think. Im just glad I was forced to walk away from it before I did something stupid.