URGENT!! Help D/kh massive OD

[surferjoe86]

hi

Basically I have been using the Balling lite method for over 3 months without a hickup.

I woke up this morning to find that 4 liters of my D/kh buffer (Brightwell aquatics alkalin 8.3-p KH buffer) solution had been pumped into my tank through the night!!!
1ml of the mixture raises 4liters by 0.36D/Kh my system is 336 liters.

my previous D/Kh was 8.9 so i'm tipping its up to 25 D/kh right now!

I have fish, rock, lps, sps and softies. I've done a 90 liter water change.

Fish seem happy enough corals are open..


Just need to know what the best course of action is from here... I'm devastated by the anticipation of loosing everything I've worked so hard and invested so much money! I could cry

anyway any advice would be great

cheers
Joe

 

[ccCapt]

You tested the water and it shows 25 dKH? I don't think that's possible. That massive amount of carbonates would definitely precipitate out of solution and your tank would look like a snow storm inside.
If you are worried about potential problems, do a 25% water change every day for the next couple days.

 

[MikeYQM]

I'm guessing that you arrived at 25dKH by calculation, not measurement. I would suspect a lot of what was dosed has precipitated out of solution. Even still, large changes in alkalinity can have negative effects so a large water change is in order.

 

[Schism]

I agree with the others as well, there will be precipitation before 25dkh. Water changes are going to be the best course of action. However ideally dropping dkh 1 point a day is preferable to prevent stressing out corals even more.

First order of business tho is to test the water and see what your dkh actually is.

Once you get dkh below 12 youll need to test calcium alk and mag and rebalance things out to proper levels.

You should also test pH right now, if your ph rose significantly then its important to also drop that slowly also, usually .2 is the recommendation for change in a day.

You can go faster at lowering these levels but just remember the faster you go the more you will stress out coral.

Good luck

 

[surferjoe86]

cheers for the quick replies

I calculated that figure, my test kit only goes up to 15. I doubled the amount of the test solution (syringe in salifert kit) but solution wouldn't change color.
I will do another large water change tomorrow morning and test again.

thanks again

Joe

 

[MikeYQM]

What you should do is dilute your aquarium test water with 1/2 RO/DI water, run the test then double your results.

 

[surferjoe86]

cheers for that. I have just completed the test in this way. I used the full ml of soloution = 15 D/Kh doubled 30??
another water change is in order.
Thanks joe