Kalk OD in New Tank Question

[Anonymous]

In my angst to get my new tank filled, I needed about 10 more gallons to get it filled. Saw my 32G brute/kalk mixer sitting there and thought, hmm, I could finish filling it with some of that CA enriched water. Salt mixes are generally low in CA anyways, so what harm could come from it. I had my power-head in the brute half way down, so I shouldn't get too much powder in the tank. Wrong. The tank is completely cloudy now. Not that it was completely clear yet having just added 2.5 buckets of Instant Ocean to the new RO water, but it's a hell of a lot cloudier that it was.

What should I do?

Should I wait for it to clear, test it and not worry anymore?

Will it never clear?

Is this whole 420G of brand new saltwater ruined?

I feel like an ass for doing this, but I had no idea that the water in the center part of the brute would possibly have this much kalk powder in it.

I am mad as hell, dammit! And embarrassed.

Louey

 

[Ben1]

I would have added some vinager right away, that may bring down the pH and prevent some of the crud from forming on everything.

You may need to soak the impellers if they have a crust on them now.

No live stock in there yet, so thats one good thing!

 

[Anonymous]

How much vinegar should I add?

Do you think this water can be salvaged?

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

No live stock in there yet, so thats one good thing!

This is true. Of course, I would have never even considered adding that much limewater if there were any livestock. I just had no idea that there was that much kalk in the middle of the brute.

Louey

 

[Ben1]

if you have a pH pen add enough to get the pH into the right levels.

 

[Anonymous]

Check the PH. It's been a few hours, so I bet it calmed down a bit. Once you have a reading where the PH is, you have a reference as to how much vinegar.

B

 

[Anonymous]

It's still cloudy as hell, the PH is 9.2 and I only have maybe a quart of vinegar on hand. I added half of that. We'll see what that does. I'm not going out tonight, so the most I can add would be the rest of the quart. It might be closer to a pint now that I think of it. It's the bottom of a one gallon jug of white vinegar.

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

The tank cleared up quite a bit overnight. I ran out and bought more vinegar and added about another quart. PH is now at 8.25. My SG is right about 1.026.

Is there anything else I need to be worried about regarding using this water, or did I just get away with one?

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

If you have a CO2 tank and regulator, try to bubble CO2 in the tank with an air stone.

 

[Ben1]

I think you should be fine now, but if there is a white chalky build up on the glass and stuff now I would soak the impellers in vinager.

 

[Anonymous]

The water is fine, you just had a precipitation event. It wasn't kalk powder that clouded your tank is was Calcium carbonate precipitation. While adding the limewater it quickly ate up all of the available CO2. Once that happens your PH climbs above 8.5 and Calcium carbonate begins to precipitate.

These events also use up Magnesium. I'd suggest testing for Magnesium and adding Magnesium chloride to get levels at least above 1250ppm before starting the cycle.

 

[Anonymous]

Will do Guy. Thanks for the tip!

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

I recently had the exact event in my RDO Nano contest tank. It has a more negative effect in a fully stocked tank but it wasn't a disaster. Out of expediency I simply did water changes but it's easy to swap out 5 gallons of water vs 400

 

[Anonymous]

Not to mention throwing out 2.5 buckets of IO. That would suck.

My biggest problem is that it would take my RO another 5 days or so to produce the new water.

I am leaving work early today and go and check the tank again. I expect the water to be completely clear by now. I am going to test it and if it tests okay I am off to the LFS to get my first load of liverock

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

Okay, got home and the water is almost clear.

The test readings are as follows:

Mag - 1500 PPM. The Salifert kit changed colors just as I added the last drop.

Alk - 3.43 meq/l

PH was at 8.4 so I added a tad more vinegar and now it's 8.23.

CA - 310. Not surprising that the CA is low. We all know where it went. Plus I don't think IO has much more than 360 to start with.

I am off to the LFS unless one of you cyber-slaps me in the next few minutes

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

{SLAP}

"good Game!"



B

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Bingo.

I got 80 pounds of rock tonight. 3 Tonga deep water large rocks are awesome. Got another twenty pounds of Fiji that look real nice, but they are small. 6 pounds each.

I'll post pics in my 300G reef thread once I finish the aquascape. I think I need another 160 pounds or so, and I am going to go all over town looking for it.

My LFS had a 49 pound Tonga rock that I decided against because I was afraid it wouldn't fit. I am going to measure that bad boy and if it'll fit, it is mine.

Large rocks are da bomb.

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

I'm suprised you didn't order a couple of boxes.

A Petco here in NYC has slabs of LR. and I mean slabs. 1" thick perfectly flat, larger than a dinner plate. And they won't sell any of them!@

B

 

[Anonymous]

I just like picking out my rock instead of just settling for what comes in the box.

Bought that 49 pound Tonga rock today along with a few more 6 pound Fiji rocks that looked kind of interesting.

I may order some Marshall Island from PA to finish it off.

Louey