20+ dkh and losing coral

[Plata01]

Almost sick to my stomach. I had an unfortunate problem with my tank. My apex dosed my tank with alk for 58 1/2 minutes per hour for twelve hours instead of 1 1/2 minutes per hour for 12 hours and my alk got as high as 20+ dkh. I did about an 80 gallon water change on my 150 and have gotten down to about 12 dkh. My favorite coral, an 8 inch Hollywood stunner, turned completely white and other coral died too. Hoping some of them come back. Below are some before and after.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Oh no! That sucks, sorry that happened to you. But I hope most if not all pulls through

 

[Robink]

So sorry to hear! Do you know what caused the malfunction on the apex? After a power outage, my apex reset back to original factory setting and turned the heater up. Did your ph go way up also?

 

[Grey Ghost]

That sucks man!!! Another member on here had the same issue with his Apex dumping massive amounts of two part into his system.

 

[Plata01]

Thank you. I hope most of it pulls through too. As for the malfunction, I'm not sure. I'm thinking it was autocorrect that changed the program from on to off. The ph to my surprise didn't go crazy.

 

[Plata01]

That sucks man!!! Another member on here had the same issue with his Apex dumping massive amounts of two part into his system.

dang, I wonder how often it happens.

 

[Plata01]

My tank before the crash.

 

[Brew12]

Beautiful system, I hope it recovers for you!

 

[TheEngineer]

Oh no! Sorry to hear your troubles! You’re doing the right thing with a big water change. Add extra aeration because you’re likely to get an algae bloom and you don’t want your o2 levels to drop.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

If you want, we can guide you how to lower the alk with acid such as muriatic acid or Seachem acid buffer.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Here's a typical thread on lowering alk:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/changing-salt-to-have-lower-alk.336827/

 

[Plata01]

Thanks for the replies. It is down to 11.6 dkh this morning. Not where I kept it, 10, but much better than 20+. Debating if I should put the coral that is left in a smaller tank with fresh saltwater to avoid any other parameter swings?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I'd leave it, but check calcium, since it likely declines unless you overdosed both parts.

 

[Dom]

That sucks man!!! Another member on here had the same issue with his Apex dumping massive amounts of two part into his system.

I think I'd rather supplement manually to avoid the consequences of such malfunctions.

 

[Myka]

I think I'd rather supplement manually to avoid the consequences of such malfunctions.

The trick is don't fill the dosing containers too high. I never add more than a week of supplement to the containers. Sure, it's a pain to refill them every week, but it's less of a pain than manually dosing (plus better for the corals), and less of a pain than having a doser malfunction kill off the tank. Doser malfunctions are fairly rare - they are almost always user malfunctions.

 

[Dom]

The trick is don't fill the dosing containers too high. I never add more than a week of supplement to the containers. Sure, it's a pain to refill them every week, but it's less of a pain than manually dosing (plus better for the corals), and less of a pain than having a doser malfunction kill off the tank. Doser malfunctions are fairly rare - they are almost always user malfunctions.

Good idea. In the event of a malfunction, instead of dumping a month of supplement, you only dump a week.

 

[Devan Petersen]

Wow that sucks, very sorry. My cousin did the same thing a month or so back. Good news it that all of his coral is recovering.

 

[tnc112105]

This is a big fear of mine with using an automatic doser. I'm sorry for your losses and I hope things start to recover soon.

 

[Plata01]

Needless to say, I started putting less supplements in the container like myka suggested.