Ah, it'll never happen to me. ( until today )

[k3nnyp]

Last weekend I got an Apex and started converting from my RKE. I was happy to have alerts working again, alerts on my RKE stopped ( I think ) when Digital Aquatics closed their mail service account and I never setup my own. Today the Apex started alerting me with a PH of 8.8. At first I didn't believe it and continued eating my lunch. Checked the app a few times and called my mom ( who lives with us ) and walked her through disconnecting my ( cheap ass ) dosing pump just in case. It's not connected to the Apex and my intent was to replace it, potentially with a DOS, but definitely some controls around the ph monitor. I stewed on this through lunch and then left work and headed home to investigate. Everything looked happy so I plugged my RKE back in and got my PH probe back up. It needs calibrating and wasn't 8.8 but showed high. I then ran a test with an API test kit and it matched the Apex. I looked at my Kh dosing bottle and realized it was missing 1/4g of solution compared to my calc. I'm only dosing 20ml/day for now. I plugged it back in and although it wasn't time to start the program it started pumping. Just this past weekend I was *WARNED* about this dosing pump.

Once again, luck shined on me

1) Luckily I got the dosing pump disconnected when I did. PH normal at 12:00, 12:04 first alert( PH 8.41), 12:10 ( PH 8.61 ), called mom at 12:18, 12:20 PH stabilized at 8.81 and started to drop.
2) Had the Apex up and alerting
3) decided to not ignore the alert and drive home to assess the situation.

Started with just blowing some CO2 into my skimmer which got me down to 8.6 and out of breath. Then I started to use Randy Holmes-Farley's seltzer water approach to drop the PH. Went to the store to pick up some seltzer water ( Kroger brand plain "carbonated water" ) and added 600ml at a time ( 200g tank ) spaced out to ensure it wasn't too fast and I didn't overshoot. It didn't drop as fast as Randy suggested but it might have been the location I was pouring the Seltzer in but definitely worked well.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-03/rhf/#7

Fish and coral all seem happy.

"Happy Reefing!", Randy Holmes-Farley

 

[jcook54]

What kind of dosing pump was it? I'd also be curious to hear what the warning was. Was it about the type of dosing pump or a particular brand? Auto dosing my tank is on my every-growing ToDo list and I'm just wondering what I should avoid.

 

[k3nnyp]

Jebao doser. And the warning was essentially the same thing that happened to me today, it over dosed the tank in a day. In his case it crashed his tank and killed a ton of coral. I got extremely lucky. Definitely should have had it on the Apex tied to the Ph monitor so that it shut down. I have done nearly no research into what actually happened to mine. In fact, I can't 100% rule out user error considering I touched it this weekend and changed the schedule. I will say it was several days after I touched it before this happened. I doubt I somehow programmed it to only run on Thursday and to dump 1/4g of kh solution on that day but it could be possible. For now it's unplugged.

 

[k3nnyp]

Pulled the Jebao DP-4 doser this weekend. Plugged it in and sure enough pump 3 started pumping. Double checked the program and sure enough it was setup to run 2 times a day each time pumping 10ml. pump 4 has the same config and wasn't running. I took the unit apart to see if there was any sign of water or salt creep but the inside was spotless, appeared brand new. This unit is only 1.5 yrs old. Needless to say it went in the trash. I don't have a plan to replace it yet, going to see my need now that I have AWC going and then decide. Most likely I will go with another DOS despite it's price tag.

 

[lmm1967]

Glad this didn't turn into a disaster for you - great job with the Apex coding to alert you and props for paying attention to the alarm.

 

[Adam]

Glad you caught it before it created a big problem Kenny. If you need any help with the Apex programming let me know.

It was also good to see you Saturday, thank's for coming out!