Accidentally Overdosed 2 Part

[aros]

Hi everyone need some advice on what to do.

So I have a reefer 350 with 91 total gallons. I took calcium and mag tests with an expired kit and ended up dosing way too much.

As of right now my calcium reading on a new Salifert kit is 500 and Mag on a new kit is between 1500-1600.

My Alk is measured with the Hanna checker and it’s at 6.6 I am having to dose huge amounts of soda ash in order to get it back up to 8.

Should I continue to only dose soda ash for alk while I wait for Calcium and Mag levels to drop or should I take more immediate steps like a huge water change?

Thanks

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Hi Aros

Let’s not rush, first question, was this an all at once overdose or just crept up over a week or so by just too much each time..

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Also, let’s tack on

What are you normal parameters for ph,alk,calc, and mag
What are you dosing and how

 

[aros]

Thanks for your reply.

I made the correction all at once about a week ago. Iknew I screwed something up when my sps instantly pulled in their polyps and released a bunch of slime.

My normal perimeters are
Ph- 7.8-8.2
Alk- 8-8.5
Ca- 400
Mag- I don’t often check but I dose how the same amount as I dose soda ash

This all happened because I was having doser issues where it wasn’t dosing a consistent amount. I bought a new doser and tested my water and tried to bring all my levels up to snuff before implementing it.

Right now I have my apex DOS turned off and dosing the BRS 2 part manually. Only using the soda ash.

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Ok,

Just to be clear, you said correction a week ago. That was when the overdose actually happened, and it was all at once. What product did you use and how did you introduce it into your tank?

I am actually not so much worried about calc and mag right now as alk. Moving the alk around to quick is going to make the quickest impact

 

[aros]

Brs calcium chloride and magnesium chloride. Just poured it all in at once.

 

[Magellan]

Only dosing for alk will pull the calcium back in line, a big water change will cause a big parameter swing and further stress your corals. But maybe a small water change to start. Just don’t try and correct everything all at once, slow and steady wins the race. (Gently correct alk)

 

[Mastiffsrule]

I would double check the alk just to be sure. You will need 3 tps baking soda to get you to 8.

Check your ph now. DO not dose the 3 tsp all at once. How much have you dosed and when.

 

[Mastiffsrule]

 

[Mastiffsrule]

I would check ph to make sure you are safe there. If you just dosed a lost of soda I would also wait. I would wait about 24 hours depending on how much soda you dosed last then start adding the 3 tsp. I would add 1 tsp. Let that sit, next day test, maybe do 15 gallon water change, then 3rd dat test and if still low dose another tsp., and kinda go that route making slow adjustment dosIsn’t and water change.

The water changes will help raise the support the raised alk and dilute the calc and mag. Let us know if you need help on the new doser.

Use this calc as use go to help get dialed in

Reef Chemistry Calculator

 

[aros]

The BRS calculator called for 91ml of liquid soda ash. I did kinda dose it all pretty quickly to be honest but it only impacted the ph by .1 right now is at 8.14.

 

[aros]

If I only do 1 of 3 tsp of baking soda a day would my alk keep dropping further and further down? Would I be able to catch up to 8 at that rate?

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Duh on me, I don’t know why but I was thinking baking soda. The Brs calc is right for the 2 part. I would still do same approach, change amount . I should have asked what is in the tank since yes, we would want to add the additional 91 onto your normal amount


This is what I would try, maybe someone else may have other ideas. Also you will need your doser or a few minutes of your time.

Wait 24 hours from that last dose. Check and double check alk and ph first. Use Brs calc to confirm amount you still need. Take that amount and dived it over 4 days . So if you need 100 ml, dose extra 25 a day.

Add that 25 onto what you normally would dose daily . If you were dosing 20 before now dose 45. I would dose 10 ml every 2 hours.

Next day same.test and watch ph. If your not making headway you will need to bump it up since your tank is using more than thought. Keep an eye on coral as well as test. After day 3 you should be close. Personally once I got close to 8 I would do a 15 gallon water change. It should help get that last bit of alk and dilute calc a little

 

[Magellan]

Duh on me, I don’t know why but I was thinking baking soda. The Brs calc is right for the 2 part. I would still do same approach, change amount . I should have asked what is in the tank since yes, we would want to add the additional 91 onto your normal amount


This is what I would try, maybe someone else may have other ideas. Also you will need your doser or a few minutes of your time.

Wait 24 hours from that last dose. Check and double check alk and ph first. Use Brs calc to confirm amount you still need. Take that amount and dived it over 4 days . So if you need 100 ml, dose extra 25 a day.

Add that 25 onto what you normally would dose daily . If you were dosing 20 before now dose 45. I would dose 10 ml every 2 hours.

Next day same.test and watch ph. If your not making headway you will need to bump it up since your tank is using more than thought. Keep an eye on coral as well as test. After day 3 you should be close. Personally once I got close to 8 I would do a 15 gallon water change. It should help get that last bit of alk and dilute calc a little

Whatever he normally doses daily is potentially not what his tank is currently using, since his corals are stressed and probably not using up as much alk as they normally would be. I wouldn’t dose more than a typical daily dose, at least not for the first couple of days. Test and retest to find out what’s happening. Once your corals start looking normal again, their alk consumption will return to normal as well, and a slight increase above the daily dose would then be the right move to continue to raise your dkh to the target level. Keep an eye on your Ca levels as well, by only dosing alk, that will drop quicker than you expect.

 

[aros]

I tested yesterday at 8pm so I’ll wait till 8 again to test everything and let you guys know. Thanks for the help!

 

[aros]

alright so here are my test results for tonight

Dkh- 6.7
Ca- 500
Mag- 1500+

My Dkh today is only .1 more that it was yesterday and I brought it up to 8 after I tested last night. I read Randy's article about imbalance. Could I be getting a false alk reading? It feels weird to me to be dosing 90 ml of Soda Ash everyday.

 

[aros]

Ok so tested my dkh today and it’s 6.4 and it’ll take 103ml to take it back up to 8. Over the last 3 days it’s taken an average of 93ml to bring my levels back up to 8.

So according to mastiff, I’ll dose the 103 in addition to 25% of my average dose to bring up my total daily dose to 126ml of soda ash.

Doses throughout the day it should bring my dhk up. My question now. Once my big 3 are in ideal ranges do I stop everything and manually dose and test to find my new baseline?

Thanks