I just spiked my pH

[zibba]

I forgot to plug in my ATO this morning after the water change. When I got back, I plugged it in without thinking and my ATO just put in about 2.5 gallons of Kalkwasser. My tank has gotten pretty cloudy. pH just tested at 8.6 with saliferts.

What can I do to lower it? How much trouble am I in?

[SugarFox03]

Water change? Did you test your calcium too, I'm sure thats high as well! Do a big water change to bring everything back to normal.

[funman1]

Do a big water change ASAP.
You've got to get that PH back down quickly and safely..

What do you have in the tank?

[zibba]

I used up the last of the saltwater in my storage bin with this mornings wc. I would have to mix fresh and I'm worried that it could be harmful.

There is a lot in the tank. Fish, SPS, LPS, softies, clams, anemones. I can test everything. But I'm assuming that the cloudiness is precipitation

[zibba]

I had 20 gal of RODI made up. That is mixing and being temp adjusted. I'm assuming that new saltwater would be better than high pH.

[funman1]

Yep let it mix for 20-30 mins..
I've been mixing mine in that short amount of time MANY of times with no side effects. As long as the water is clear (not cloudy) and the temp is right, it should be ok.

[zibba]

Should I do a 10 gal change then another 10 gal change if needed after that? or should I just do the whole 20? I did a 20% (15 gallons) change this morning.

Also, should I worry about adjusting the newly mixed water for alk, ca, mg? I use Reef Crystals and usually have to adjust for ca and mg, alk is normally around 11ish.

LMK what you think.

Thanks for all your help

[scaryperson27]

The oceans natural PH is sometimes around 8.6-8.4. I wouldn't worry about to much as long as your other parameters are in order. A spike up and then another spike down is going to shock them twice.

[dtaylor123]

don't worry about the pH, just do as many water changes as you can. Changing 10% is good 20% is better. You can use fresh salt mix, it's not ideal, but it will be OK. Look at your tank, let your eyes guide you, if corals look a little stressed they will bounce back, if they look a lot stress, try and do as many WC's as possible. If the calcium did precipitate, you will know it, there will be white film on everything and I mean a very hard white film that only comes off with scrubbing. Your glass will be opaque and there will be no doubt that the calcium precipitated. Your fish should be fine, try and get the cal and alk in line the pH will follow. I hope it all turns out good for you.

Dan

[zibba]

I noticed the cloudiness starting around 4:45 and immediately tested pH. At that time it was about 8.4. 15 minutes later it was 8.6. Now it's difficult to tell exactly where it is since the salifert test only goes to 8.6 - but the color is more of a grey/blue rather than the blue (for those familiar with this test kit).

This morning when I was matching pH for the wc, the tank was at 8.0, which is normal for my tank in the morning.

Currently I'm mixing new saltwater - normally I allow my saltwater to mix for at least 2-3 days before doing a wc, so I'm worried about the effects of that. I'm also worried about the pH being to high, and the effects of a wc on the pH.

It will probably be about another 30-45 minutes before temp of the new saltwater is ready.

Any other suggestions? I can certainly test ca, alk and mg if needed.

[zibba]

Originally posted by dtaylor123
don't worry about the pH, just do as many water changes as you can. Changing 10% is good 20% is better. You can use fresh salt mix, it's not ideal, but it will be OK. Look at your tank, let your eyes guide you, if corals look a little stressed they will bounce back, if they look a lot stress, try and do as many WC's as possible. If the calcium did precipitate, you will know it, there will be white film on everything and I mean a very hard white film that only comes off with scrubbing. Your glass will be opaque and there will be no doubt that the calcium precipitated. Your fish should be fine, try and get the cal and alk in line the pH will follow. I hope it all turns out good for you.

Dan

Thanks.

Should I wait to adjust the ca and alk after the wc and the cloudiness is gone?

[scaryperson27]

Yeah, those are the general characteristics of a kalk explosion. The PH peaks really high and then comes down within a day. Check your calcium, and alk. Where are they residing?

[zibba]

Tank is still cloudy, but I just tested the pH @ 8.1. Strange to see that it is so low so fast. There is definitely a white precipitation over the powerheads and on the front glass that I can see. Not extremely thick, but noticeable. I will test Ca/Alk and report back.

[zibba]

Ca = 200 (this morning I tested at 440)
Alk = 9.0 dkh (this morning I tested at 10.2)

Definitely had a Ca precipitation. How must damage am I to expect?

[scaryperson27]

Probably none. I've had this happen to me before. Nothing happened to my SPS corals. Thats what kalk does; Makes everything spike and then plumet.

just keep a close eye on everything. keep testing every four hours and see whether or not the corals act abnormal. If they do you can initiate plan B, Water changes.

[zibba]

Should I just wait for the precipitation to settle (how long can I expect?) before attempting to raise (slowly - I would imagine - correct?) my levels?

[scaryperson27]

Just keep cleaning your glass rocks, overflow. It'll eventually go away.

[zibba]

Things seem to be settling down. Certainly still cloudy, but definitely getting better. Should I go ahead with the water change to get some of the precipitation out of the water column or just allow things to stabilize then adjust Ca/Alk levels?

[scaryperson27]

allow things to stabilize first. A big part of this hobby is to enhance stability as much as possible. Don't screw with your tank until it needs it. Follow with your normal water change schedule. adjust the Ca/Alk in a couple days.

[usmc121581]

OK I dont feel bad now. I did that twice. I plugged my in at night 2x and forgot well woke up in the morning and over 5 gallons of kalk in the main tank. Just what I wanted before work. But I just removed some water back to normal and everything was good.

[pledosophy]

White vinegar is basically acetic acid which is a weak acid. It gives off H+ ions.

High pH, too many OH- ions. Low pH, too many H+ ions. H+ + OH- -> H20

In other words, adding vinegar will mop up all the extra OH- ions that are making the pH too high. The acetate ion which is also in acetic acid doesn't do anything and is already present in seawater.

Easy and cheap fix, you can get white vinegar at the grocery store for a couple bucks. I always have it on hand as it also is great to clen acrylic tanks with.

HTH

[zibba]

I have white vinegar which I use for cleaning all my pumps, qt tanks, etc. The reason I didn't want to use this until the last resort is that I've also read others have had problems with drastically reducing the pH too quickly by adding vinegar. On top of that, others have stated that they suffered algae blooms due to the fact that it acts as a carbon source (similar to the vodka/sugar method - but not added for the same purpose).

Pledosophy - I really appreciate your incite, but I think that I will hold off on the vinegar method since the pH has seemed to already drop. Have you actually dosed vinegar in an attempt to drastically reduce your pH after a spike? If so, how much was required? How high was your pH at the time? Did you experience an adverse effects from the rapid increase/decrease? Did you have algae blooms?

This is all just for future reference at this point, but I am interested. So thanks in advance.

[tmz]

You are wise to wait it out as far as a ph reducer dose goes. If you must reduce either carbonated water,vinegar or another CO2 source will work. Since you won't be dosing vinegar regulary and will only dose small amounts the carbon source is not likely to cause problems and will probably be consumed by bacteria. The ph will usually come down without any help as calcium hydroxide precipitates as calcium carbonate without any help. It may even go lower than what you wan't .Give it a few days. Water changes would do no harm and may help stabilze things. Good Luck

[bureau13]

This has happened to me a couple of times. Its really not nearly as catastrophic as it sounds, I had no losses either time. Basically, the pH spikes, causing carbonate precipitation, making the tank cloudy. However, a byproduct of the precipitation seems to be that the pH drops pretty rapidly and the whole thing pretty much self-corrects within a day.


jds

[zibba]

Thanks tmz -

I plan to wait things out a bit and do a 10-20% wc tomorrow afternoon then continue without the use of kalkwasser until my parameters are where they should be. I will be taking my kalkwasser reservoir off line from my ATO and replace it with regular RODI until my levels are where they need to be. Should take 3-4 days to raise them since they fell so far. I'm concerned with the effects that the calcium precipitate has on the corals. I can clearly see the precipitate on the powerheads, glass, and overflow. It must have precipitated onto the coral tissue as well. It will be interesting (hopefully not too overly stressful) to see how they react. The precipitation must have some adverse effect on the symbiotic zooanthellae. Wait and see I guess...wait and see.