It looks like it snowed in my tank

[Mario0240]

So, came home from a little vacation and found my glass caked in what I can only imagine and figure is alk that had precipitated out from the water collumn. After I scrubbed what i could off of the glass, I found the entire tank is covered in this crud!! The sump has it caked in there, the sand, the pumps, everything. I did a 30 gallon water change on it last night and dosed 50ml of vinegar before and after the water change, so my alk is under control, for now. But how do I get rid of this caked up, powdery crap?!

 

[Katrina71]

I'd expect a bacteria bloom. Drop in airstones just to be safe.

 

[Jeff Jarry reef]

So, came home from a little vacation and found my glass caked in what I can only imagine and figure is alk that had precipitated out from the water collumn. After I scrubbed what i could off of the glass, I found the entire tank is covered in this crud!! The sump has it caked in there, the sand, the pumps, everything. I did a 30 gallon water change on it last night and dosed 50ml of vinegar before and after the water change, so my alk is under control, for now. But how do I get rid of this caked up, powdery crap?!

Do you have a picture it would help us to see the problem thanks.

 

[Katrina71]

Kalk will eat silicone, plastic, and metal. I'd vacuum any I could and clean your pumps.

 

[Jeff Jarry reef]

Did a dos pump over dos in sump while you were on vacation?

 

[Mario0240]

I got everything clean that I could. It was a dosing pump that got me. It put almost a gallon of alk in the tank.

 

[Jeff Jarry reef]

I got everything clean that I could. It was a dosing pump that got me. It put almost a gallon of alk in the tank.

Yes sir just like Kat said I would just vaccum up everything and take heaters out and pumps clean them up. and do big water change. I hope it all goes well.

 

[Mario0240]

I vacuumed up what i could out of the sump and the sand without breaking the whole tank down. Cleaned up the pumps. scrubbed out the protein skimmer. Did what I could.

But what do i do with the crud on the rocks and everything else i couldn't get to.

 

[Jeff Jarry reef]

I vacuumed up what i could out of the sump and the sand without breaking the whole tank down. Cleaned up the pumps. scrubbed out the protein skimmer. Did what I could.

But what do i do with the crud on the rocks and everything else i couldn't get to.

You might can turkey baster or a power head and get in the cracks and holes best you can. Or take the rocks out and scrub them up.

 

[Mario0240]

You might can turkey baster or a power head and get in the cracks and holes best you can. Or take the rocks out and scrub them up.

I’ll probably scrub them..

do y’all think my livestock is ok?

 

[Jeff Jarry reef]

I’ll probably scrub them..

do y’all think my livestock is ok?

Fish should be ok. Do you have any corals that's the ones that might not do well. But I have heard of ALK over dos and everything be fine.

 

[Mario0240]

Fish should be ok. Do you have any corals that's the ones that might not do well. But I have heard of ALK over dos and everything be fine.

I've got a hammer coral and some zoas and palys. That's the only stuff i'm worried about. The rest of it was SPS that i was trying to grow out, which is why i tried to dose two part.... screw that now. Just gonna stick with my purpleup every other day....

 

[Jeff Jarry reef]

I've got a hammer coral and some zoas and palys. That's the only stuff i'm worried about. The rest of it was SPS that i was trying to grow out, which is why i tried to dose two part.... screw that now. Just gonna stick with my purpleup every other day....

Do you have a QT tank for your corals. And how high did your ALK get ?

 

[troublemaker]

I actually just had this happen about two months ago. After a long moment of intense panic and a little bit of reading, I did a 30g water change on a 300g system and nothing else but change to 100 micron filter sock. It took about 24 hours for the tank to clear up the water and another couple days for the white coating on everything to clear. I did try to keep as much of it suspended as I could, and as said above, I did give the pumps a bath in Vinegar. In the end I never lost one coral.

Most everything in the tank were fresh frags from two live sales on this site so none of my stuff was what I would call well established. This is a few hours after we turned the runamuck dosers off.

 

[Mario0240]

Do you have a QT tank for your corals. And how high did your ALK get ?

I do not have a QT, but i have a biocube in my garage that i could use if i absolutely needed to. I didn't get a chance to test, i pulled a water sample, but haven't tested it yet.

 

[Mario0240]

I actually just had this happen about two months ago. After a long moment of intense panic and a little bit of reading, I did a 30g water change on a 300g system and nothing else but change to 100 micron filter sock. It took about 24 hours for the tank to clear up the water and another couple days for the white coating on everything to clear. I did try to keep as much of it suspended as I could, and as said above, I did give the pumps a bath in Vinegar. In the end I never lost one coral.

Really?! I mean the fish are acting fine, the corals were reactive when i kicked on my lights. the fish were acting fine, except for my sailfin. He seemed a little lethargic, but he was swimming. This is so good to hear! I did 30gal on a 100g tank, so hopefully it'll work out well for me..

 

[troublemaker]

Really?! I mean the fish are acting fine, the corals were reactive when i kicked on my lights. the fish were acting fine, except for my sailfin. He seemed a little lethargic, but he was swimming. This is so good to hear! I did 30gal on a 100g tank, so hopefully it'll work out well for me..

I'm also the guy that dropped an XR15 in a tank then dunked it in RO then put it in a food dehydrator this weekend so take my advice with a grain of salt.

But the more I read when my overdose happened, the more I realized panicking was just going to make things worse.

 

[Mario0240]

I'm also the guy that dropped an XR15 in a tank then dunked it in RO then put it in a food dehydrator this weekend so take my advice with a grain of salt.

But the more I read when my overdose happened, the more I realized panicking was just going to make things worse.

I didn't necessarily have the time to panic as i had to unload a car full of clothes, toys, and belated christmas present, a 2 year old and a 2 month old.. All i knew was water change. The bigger, the better... so as i had water mixing, i was cleaning pumps, soaking things in vinegar water, scrubbing my butt off, changing filter socks, etc...just trying to get everything as clean as i could without going too crazy.. Hopefully it all pays off.

 

[Retro Reefer]

What kind of dosing pump are you using?

 

[Mario0240]

What kind of dosing pump are you using?

I WAS using BRS dosing pumps, but i think the timer malfunctioned. Being that the tank isn't SPS dominant, i think i'm gonna go back to an all in one, like purple up (my coral seemed to like it), and get it back. keep my set up simple.