Help emergency

[igadget56]

Ok I had a bad crash, my alk pump stayed on all night and all day.Could not see a thing. I had a 40b set up for a QT. I got all the corals out and all three Tangs. Will my live rock still be live or do I have to cycle again.I will make up new water tonight and tomorrow,empty tank and fill with new water.Will this work? Corals and fish look pretty good. Have to get the tangs out of that 40gl. more later, on my way to petco to get salt.

[igadget56]

Will my live rock still be live. Also would Biro Spira or one of those, live bacteria products work so I don't cycle again. Gotta move those tangs. Sorry to post again, but if I am going try this I would like some advice before I star wasting salt. Thanks

[*reefermadness*]

What exactly do you mean when you say alk pump? From what I know, your rock should be okay, and the live bacteria products don't seem to do that much good from what I have gathered. I am no expert, and I hope that someone with a bit more knowledge/experience can chime in, but I hope I helped at least a bit. Sorry to hear about your bad luck, and hopefully you can get things straightened out.

[*reefermadness*]

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-07/rhf/index.php

also, check this link, it may give you some insight into your situation

[igadget56]

Thank you. I have a BRS Dosing pump plugged into a RKE To PC4 to dose the alk part of 2 part and the channel didn't shut off. I had a snow storm.

[igadget56]

I was dosing 25 ml 4 times a day. I had about 3 quarts left in the jug. If my calculations are correct that would be 2830 ml. By using the reef calculator
my kdh would be 743. Thank you reefermadness for your help. But what I need
know is did that kill the bacteria on the live rock. If it didn't and I do a complete
water change (I am making water right now should take 36 hours) then the tank
should not cycle, correct?

[ChrisKirkland]

The alk is buffered by the Ca in the tank. When the alk reaches the maximum level (like 12-14dKH) what is leftover will precipitate out as white dust/particles. Do a 50% water change and post your parameters.

[igadget56]

That was the first thing I did yesterday morning. I had 30gls of sea and 30 gls RO/DI already made. I used a Hanna alk checker and the sample was so dark it couldn't get a reading. I did another test but only used half the reagent, still no reading. I'm going to
make 60 gls of sea water, take 40gls from QT, put live rock, fish and corals back in, that should fill the 125gl. Sump and fuge can wait. Should have enough water by 3:pm today. If
you see a problem with this please let me know. Thanks Chris.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Unlike a limewater overdose, a big alkalinity overdose may require a water change or a calcium boost. A water change now seems a good plan.

The solids are not hurting anything, but the residual high alkalinity may.

Unfortunately, it is hard to measure alkalinity when there is suspended calcium carbonate solids in the water.

Do you know how much you added?

[igadget56]

Ya about 3 quarts.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

OK, that's quite significant, maybe up to 100 dKH in alkalinity, before precipitation..

I'd do a couple of big water changes. Then when it is clear, remeasure alk and calcium.

[igadget56]

I have 6o gallons mixed up plus 30 gallons in the QT with the live rock that should just about fill it.. Thank You Randy, always a pleasure hearing from you.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

You're welcome.

Good luck and let us know what happens!

[igadget56]

Update. Everything went pretty well, I had the three tangs in the 40B chucked full of live rock. On the second day they started to fight and it was getting pretty nasty. I didn't have enough RO/DI water so I went to Walmart and bought 30 jugs of distilled water, that filled the tank. Lost one tang and one coral. corals look but there is one not sure what it is, that has never looked better, go figure.

ALK 9.0
CAL 650
PH 8.0
I had to add a little sodium bicarbonate to get the alk up a little.
I did not add anything to raise the calcium but it is climbing.
Correct me If I am wrong but I think I know why. The DT sat for
2 days with 6" of water keeping rock wet,everything above that
line is now white and starting to flake off and float a round. My
guess is that is calcium. I put a filter sock on but that is probably
all I can do.

[gonpostal]

Just in case you're not aware, those dosing pumps should be plugged into channel 1 or 4 on your PC4. Channel 2 & 3 are solid state relays and 1 & 4 are mechanical, and low amp devices sometimes don't shut off on channel 2 & 3.

[igadget56]

Thanks, Yup Had Cal.#1 Alk.#2