Kalk disaster
- Thread starter mojo
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I have been using the AC for years. I actually just upgraded my original AC to the new ACIII Pro. The only problem I ever had was with one of the CSL Power Compact Lights. The ballast noise was interefering with the X10 control. I try an X10 noise filter and it did not help at all. The AC would try to turn them off and they would come right back on. I ended up using a plug in timer back then. The interference was only "loud enough?" to cause probelm for that one device. Now I am using the DC-8 for the PCs and no more problems. I am wondering what the problem could be with the DC-8 since it is not using X-10 there should'nt be any interference problem. You may have had a problem with the program, you can sometimes get the wrong results if you are not careful with the logic and sequence of the commands.
Yes the web server pages are still limited in their functionality but I do get to remotely see the systems parms, change the program and turn things on and off.
I am hoping the future software upgrades will allow access to all of the controllers functions and settings.
David
Yes the web server pages are still limited in their functionality but I do get to remotely see the systems parms, change the program and turn things on and off.
I am hoping the future software upgrades will allow access to all of the controllers functions and settings.
David
Chris, I am very sorry about the tank, its something I dread about Every morning when I first approach my tanks.
Reckon we can sidetrack a bit though, What meager reading I have done has lead me to believe that Calcium Reactors were kinda the upgrade to having to dose with Kalkwasser, I know everything depends on the bioload of the tank. I test the basic parameters and have a Calcium Reactor - I havent yet been convinced that it is needed. Surely dont think I will now, but I was wondering do most Reefkeepers here use Kalkwasser, and is it really a must for a thriving tank?
Reckon we can sidetrack a bit though, What meager reading I have done has lead me to believe that Calcium Reactors were kinda the upgrade to having to dose with Kalkwasser, I know everything depends on the bioload of the tank. I test the basic parameters and have a Calcium Reactor - I havent yet been convinced that it is needed. Surely dont think I will now, but I was wondering do most Reefkeepers here use Kalkwasser, and is it really a must for a thriving tank?
For every piece of equipment, there will be a group of people that have great tanks and people that don't, and half of each will say that you do or do not need that equipment. In other words- every tank is different and has a different set of requirements.
I personally use a calcium reactor and a kalk reactor. The calcium reactor is used to keep my calcium elevated, but I run into problems with chronically low pH (from having to use a lot of CO2 in the Ca reactor). To combat this, I use kalk. There's also an ionic balance benefit that you get from running kalk, but I'd suggest talking to Tom Wyatt about the details of that.
I relate the calc reactor and kalk reactor to a 2 part solution - one is for calcium and the other is for alkalinity. You can accomplish the same thing with baking soda, frequent water changes, 2 part solution, or other ways - a kalk reactor is just more automated (and obviously prone to problems, like any piece of equipment).
I still think it's stable and a good piece of equipment to have, and will continue to use mine going forward.
Hope that made sense...
I personally use a calcium reactor and a kalk reactor. The calcium reactor is used to keep my calcium elevated, but I run into problems with chronically low pH (from having to use a lot of CO2 in the Ca reactor). To combat this, I use kalk. There's also an ionic balance benefit that you get from running kalk, but I'd suggest talking to Tom Wyatt about the details of that.
I relate the calc reactor and kalk reactor to a 2 part solution - one is for calcium and the other is for alkalinity. You can accomplish the same thing with baking soda, frequent water changes, 2 part solution, or other ways - a kalk reactor is just more automated (and obviously prone to problems, like any piece of equipment).
I still think it's stable and a good piece of equipment to have, and will continue to use mine going forward.
Hope that made sense...
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Chris,
Sorry to hear about your recent Kalk/Tank disaster! :sad: Just goes to show everyone reading this that it can happen to anyone. I managed to do the same thing to my 120g reef tank about 6 or 8 months ago. I dumped about 5 gallons of Kalk into my tank over 2 hours on accident. When I came home I saw an absolute white out Blizzard in the tank! You have to be very careful with the stuff that is for sure.
Make sure that you check your pumps and give them all a good cleaning... I'm sure that the impellars have a good coating of Ca build up on them after the event.
Hope you get everything back in order soon.
Sorry to hear about your recent Kalk/Tank disaster! :sad: Just goes to show everyone reading this that it can happen to anyone. I managed to do the same thing to my 120g reef tank about 6 or 8 months ago. I dumped about 5 gallons of Kalk into my tank over 2 hours on accident. When I came home I saw an absolute white out Blizzard in the tank! You have to be very careful with the stuff that is for sure.
Make sure that you check your pumps and give them all a good cleaning... I'm sure that the impellars have a good coating of Ca build up on them after the event.
Hope you get everything back in order soon.
JustOneMoreTank-
Interesting that you went through the exact same thing. What did you specifically to get your tank back up and stable?
Good point on the pumps - I'll wait until the water changes are done and give them a good soak in vinegar...
Interesting that you went through the exact same thing. What did you specifically to get your tank back up and stable?
Good point on the pumps - I'll wait until the water changes are done and give them a good soak in vinegar...
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MojoI think that my pH went up to about 9.7 but I cannot remember for sure. Complete white out in the tank. It looked like I had 120g tank full of whole milk. You could see the Ca precipitate coating all over everything in the tank even the glass! The kalk was done dripping so I got the entire 5 or 6 gallons. I immediately just did a water change. I just changed 40g because that is all of the RODI water that I have. The fish and corals all did fine. I think that I got a little bit of RTN on one of my SPS colonies at the base. I did not loose any fish. They all seemed normal just a little confused??? The the following day I did a second 40g water change and that was it. Each water change I think that I took out 5g of water more than I was replacing so now the sump was a little low. Over the next week I just let the top off (kalk water!) catch it back up to normal operating level. I did not try to aggressively rebuffer or adjust the pH back. I hate to say it but I think that you *might* have done more harm by forcing the pH to swing back down and overcorrect then get it back up again. I dont know. I think that I have read from Randy HolmesFarley that an overdose of Kalk is pretty common in the hobby and it should not be catostrophic. A friend told me that I needed to clean my pumps and that would be the worst of my worries. I was like 'yeah ok sure whatever' and figured that I would 'just get around to it someday' Well he was right and about two weeks later my return pump seized up (PanWorld 50 PX-X) and I never could get it to run right after that. I actually had to send it to PanWorld to get fixed! It cost me a pretty penny. I was pretty upset but it was my own fault.
Thanks for the writeup. Whether or not the pH swing was a bad thing is something I suppose I'll never know. I do know the corals and fish were dead or dying by the time I found them anyway, so I'm not sure how much worse it was to swing that fast. Oh well - the damage has been done either way now...
I'll plan to take my pumps apart and clean them this weekend....
I'll plan to take my pumps apart and clean them this weekend....
Here's a picture of the corals I've taken out so far. All of these are completely dead or inevitable that they would be dead soon...
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Wow Chris sorry to hear and I'm sure the new will be even better!
I have thought for years, literally, about putting a kalk reactor on my system. In fact I have the acrylic tubing and flanges to make one sitting in my garage but haven't for this exact reason. I think I'll just stick to my calcium reactor and the chronically low pH it produces!
I think the only way I would run it would be something independant of my topoff that only comes on a couple minutes, 2 or three times a day on a controller that if the pH is to high it doesn't come on! To many klak horror stories. I nuked a 20G myself last year because I was leaving for a week so I put kalk in the topoff water. dual float switch fail and bam!!
If there is anything I can do let me know.
I have thought for years, literally, about putting a kalk reactor on my system. In fact I have the acrylic tubing and flanges to make one sitting in my garage but haven't for this exact reason. I think I'll just stick to my calcium reactor and the chronically low pH it produces!
I think the only way I would run it would be something independant of my topoff that only comes on a couple minutes, 2 or three times a day on a controller that if the pH is to high it doesn't come on! To many klak horror stories. I nuked a 20G myself last year because I was leaving for a week so I put kalk in the topoff water. dual float switch fail and bam!!
If there is anything I can do let me know.
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Mojo
If you saw them in the tank like that then yes they were already gone (obviously). Maybe had caught the tank just after the last of the kalk was put in so I was taking it out immediately??? I dont know. I do remember that it happened while the wife and I were out and I saw it immediately when we walked in the front door! Perhaps my tank somehow was really buffered well against the ph 12 or 13 coming in from the kalk??? I cannot really say.
Again I am so sorry about the coral and fish that you lost. You had some really nice pieces I can tell from the picture. So tell me a little about the replacements that you are getting. I have not heard or maybe I am out of the loop.
If you saw them in the tank like that then yes they were already gone (obviously). Maybe had caught the tank just after the last of the kalk was put in so I was taking it out immediately??? I dont know. I do remember that it happened while the wife and I were out and I saw it immediately when we walked in the front door!
Perhaps my tank somehow was really buffered well against the ph 12 or 13 coming in from the kalk??? I cannot really say. Again I am so sorry about the coral and fish that you lost. You had some really nice pieces I can tell from the picture. So tell me a little about the replacements that you are getting. I have not heard or maybe I am out of the loop.
Some of the new ones, so far, I've gotten from Kayla. Tony is holding them for me for now. She was breaking down her 50g cube, and needed to move out the corals. That's all I've been able to aquire since the tank crashed - I've got some other places earmarked as well...
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Not to get off topic of this thread but I picked up some really nice corals from Melissa that I am very happy with.
Everything is going well. Kayla is dismantling her 50g cube tank, and since she needed to move her corals out and I wanted to restock my tank, I was able to provide them a new home.
jmaneyapanda graciously donated a 5" powder blue tang from a tank where it was getting terrorized, and the fish is doing very well so far.
After the first ~400g of water changes, the tank was doing ok, then I had an algae bloom (the first since starting the tank). Now I've got only a little algae left.
I need to get some more fish at some point, but otherwise, everything is going well.
jmaneyapanda graciously donated a 5" powder blue tang from a tank where it was getting terrorized, and the fish is doing very well so far.
After the first ~400g of water changes, the tank was doing ok, then I had an algae bloom (the first since starting the tank). Now I've got only a little algae left.
I need to get some more fish at some point, but otherwise, everything is going well.
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Let me know if you're still planning on setting up your frag tank. I may soon have some various stuff to cut up.
