Alk crash

[greybolt03]

So I had my BRS dosers set on a digital timer.
Everything has been going great for months now ,but I woke up to find all my sps with completely white or the skin literally pealing off... So I start looking for the culprits I see my gallon Alk container which was 1/2-3/4 full completely empty.....so I tested my alk and its off the charts high. 15+ so I start going crazy trying to figure it out both dosers were connected to the same timer so I start looking closer. And my only explanation I can come up with is that either my 2 or 3 year old got under my cabinet and started hitting buttons on the timer cause there was a timer set to turn on @ 12 and not shut off which would explain the empty alk container and they must of pulled the tube out of the cal container cause it was disconnected from the doser which explains why the cal was not empty only the Alk..
So besides water changes are there anyways to lower my Alk?

 

[redfishbluefish]

Wow Mike, sorry to see this. Your best bet are water changes. High calc will do it too, but you start getting about 550 and you now have calc issues. Again, water changes.


In regard to the cause of the problem, I shall quote my father, who repeatedly said this to me over the years, “You’re the one who wanted to play house!”


Time for kiddie locks on the tank stand.

 

[jgraz]

Man I'm sorry this happened. I have a feeling I'm going through a very similar issue. Not quite as drastic though. Really the only way would be to do WC's. Ive been trying to bring mine back down as well since my dosers ended up increasing my Alk to fast as well. Same exact results as you. Skin peeling off acros and STN from base up. Good luck, hopefully you can get it under wraps before its too late. You could do a large WC then some smaller ones over the next few days.

 

[jgraz]

Ha As I was typing all that, Paul answered nicely. And second the locks.

 

[SirFragalot]

I agree with the locks. I have caught my 3 year old opening the doors to the stand.

 

[greybolt03]

Yea with these doors shut I have trouble opening them they seal so tight.. But of course with the hot temps and we have window units not central air I was fighting heat issues with fans on the sump i couldnt close the door..hence the little fingers were they shouldn't be!!!

I just did a 20 gallon change and I have another 20 gallons being made right now.
should I stick to 20 gallon changes every day for a few days till it comes back into range or is that to much should I do every other day? How much per day?

 

[Ultimate Corals]

Yea with these doors shut I have trouble opening them they seal so tight.. But of course with the hot temps and we have window units not central air I was fighting heat issues with fans on the sump i couldnt close the door..hence the little fingers were they shouldn't be!!!

I just did a 20 gallon change and I have another 20 gallons being made right now.
should I stick to 20 gallon changes every day for a few days till it comes back into range or is that to much should I do every other day? How much per day?

I would do every other day to slowly bring the alk back down. You don't want to fast of a drop.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Now I speak with the greatest of ignorance, but I would have a tendency to rip it back down as fast as it went up. Keeping it high can’t be helping. I think I’d be doing a good 50% water change and then fall back to doing smaller ones. Just an opinion of an ignorant person!



I know when I had a Paly/Zoa war in 2008, I wasn't thinking small water changes. I went big to get that toxin out of the tank. I think this is similar. JMTIC