lime overdose!!!!!!!!!!!????
 

somebody please help me....for the first time I decided to add picking lime to my top off system....I have a 29 gal tank w/a 20 gal sump/fuge....I poured about 8 oz. of lime into a 5 gal bucket for the top off...my pump is suspended above the bottom of the bucket....welll......I mixed the lime with a stick...but didnt let it settle...It dosed my tank and everything is solid white..I cant see into my tank....what do I do? will it be okay? I unpluged the top off, and just let everything settle. will it all settle down, did I kill my tank? where should I go from here?

Oh, me---you're ok, should be, but watch your ph especially over the next hour, and stand by to take corrective measures. Ph is going to be the worst problem. Topoff only with fresh water for a few days, and I'd do a 20% water change tomorrow. I've shot a sizeable load of pure slurry into my system twice, and survived with no problems.

Probably with that small a bucket the actual saturation dose would have been 10 tsp, and one hopes not all that 8 oz actually entered the tank. If it did, it may take a few days to settle, but again---use your ph meter and correct as needed, but cautiously---don't over-correct. The worst of the crisis should settle in a few hours. If the whole dose went in at once you put in about 48 teaspoons, or 4x the useful amount per 5 gallons of ro/di water. Ergo, 10 tsp dissolved as it should and 38 tsp would have been in the total left undissolved. Your 30g tank would take up a certain amount, inasmuch as it 'needed' some calcium. That's as best I can figure it. I'd hold off using kalk until that's had some time to go through the system. Encourage evaporation, perhaps, by leaving sump area well ventilated; but watch temperature.

jade, information says use vinegar very cautiously...but seltzer water does it more gently re organisms.

From this article

[url]http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.php[/url]

Randy Holmes-Farley states.

"In such cases of acute overdose, here is my advice:

1. If the pH is 8.5 or lower (as it often is since a precipitation event itself reduces pH even if it was much higher to start with), there is little that can or needs to be done. Just wait a few days for the white calcium carbonate to slowly disappear. A water change is not necessary, although once the water is clear, testing calcium and especially alkalinity is in order (don’t bother to test the cloudy water as it will give false high readings as these tests detect solids even though they are not truly in solution). Few aquarists suffer the loss of organisms from such events. I’ve had several such events without any apparent losses.

2. If the pH is above 8.5, some action to reduce the pH is warranted. The higher it is, the faster and greater the needed action. Since such events may happen when few tools are available to solve them (e.g., New Year's morning when few stores are open), I’ll provide a number of options, although some are better than others. In all cases, reduce the pH only to 8.5 to avoid overshooting.

The best option is to add carbon dioxide, either by bubbling the gas directly, or by adding soda water/seltzer (or blowing into a skimmer inlet if it is your only option). At least in the normal aquarium pH range, a teaspoon of soda water per gallon of tank water will lower pH by a couple of tenths of a pH unit. Overshooting with carbon dioxide, while undesirable, is less of a concern than is overshooting with any other option.

A second option is to add vinegar. Be especially careful to not overshoot pH 8.5 or so, because when bacteria begin to metabolize the acetate, the resulting CO2 will further lower the pH, and oxygen will be consumed (equation (14)). For this reason, it is especially important to maintain aeration when using vinegar in such a fashion. I’ve added vinegar to my aquarium in similar situations without difficulty, although the pH was only marginally high and I did not need to add much.

A third rung of options involves adding a mineral acid such as muriatic acid (HCl or hydrochloric acid) or sulfuric acid. I’ve added HCl to my aquarium in similar situations without difficulty. When performing such a mineral acid treatment, be very careful not to overshoot, and to monitor the pH during any acid additions. I would intervene in this fashion only if I could monitor the pH in real time, and could add the acid to a high flow area far from any organism. Diluting the acid in water (say, 20:1 or 100:1) prior to adding it to the tank is highly recommended for the safety of both the aquarist and the tank’s inhabitants (diluting vinegar, which is already dilute, isn’t necessary). One other drawback to adding a mineral acid is that it reduces the alkalinity. In such a case, the result may be elevated calcium and reduced alkalinity that will require significant correction."

Thank you so much, M3424.

Sure, no problem.

jade76, I hope things work out.

thanks everyone...I did add seltzer and vinager...(read the entire holmes article) in its respective doses and my ph is dropping...and the tank is starting to clear...although everything has white goupy strings ....Ill keep everyone informed..thanks again ...

Organisms may slime a bit and throw off any kalk that settled on them. Re adding buffer or carbon at this point, go very, very slowly, by half doses. Remember that some of this effect is transient and rapidly so and it is consequently very, very easy to overdo---like steering on ice: a little can go a long way. You want your critters [passengers] to have as smooth a ride as possible.

Re: lime overdose!!!!!!!!!!!????
 

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11578265#post11578265 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jade76 [/i]
[B]I poured about 8 oz. of lime into a 5 gal bucket for the top off...[/B][/QUOTE]

We all make mistakes, I have done the same thing also.

However 8oz to 5gal of water is way too much. Just do 1 tsp per gal of water. If you need more you can do 2 tsp per gal.

Good luck.

Dave