HELP!!! Ungodly PH spike

[trido]

I was doing some work on my KALK reactor and my return chamber in the sump got about 2 gallons low by the time I hooked back up. I didnt realize the time and the mixing pump turned on when it was refilling the sump and it put about a gallon of pure milkey kalk mix into the tank. At first I didnt think it was bad but I tested my PH anyway. It was blue off the charts. Now, 15 minutes later the tank is getting cloudy and the corals are sliming out bad.
I was in the process of filling my make up bin with RO/DI. I poured my usuall amount of salt in but the water is cold and the SG was only reading 15.

Is there anything i can do other that pray in the next hour? I have all my usually pumps and a limewood air ston in the mixing tub. How long should I wait to do a wter chang? Any ideas?

 

[-=dieseldave=-]

Big water change 30% or >, cross you fingers.

 

[Ashlar]

10ml vinegar doses every 30 minutes until the ph gets to a safe level (8.6-ish).. a local reefer did something similar while collecting caulerpa to take to the LFS.

 

[trido]

Thanks. I added two pounds of carbon in a filter sock right in front of the return pump and set the skimmer to skim real wet. I am set to do a 20% water change now but that is the best I can do. for now....I have my finger crossed. I will od another 40G in the morning if anything is still alive.....



9:30 I think the PH is down to 8.6ish I hope that 45 minutes didnt kill everything in the tank. Its just to cloudy to tell if anything, including the fish are even alive.

 

[Slickdonkey]

Yikes, this is why I don't use kalk anymore. That stuff is really dangerous.

 

[DonW]

Yikes, this is why I don't use kalk anymore. That stuff is really dangerous.

Not if its setup properly. Accidents like this can be prevented. I would be concerned the same would happen if the skimmer went nuts, something to think about.

Don

 

[trido]

Thanks for the input all. This happened due to my carelessness. I was busy working on my 30G softy tank and was in a hurry trying to do a mod on my 120 kalk reactor. Other than the PH spike which I quickly got under control. I just had a severe snowstorm . Things werent as bad as I thought. I did a 30G water change last night and a 40g change this morning. My Ca. and alk are a little low but everything looks physically fine. The tank however looks like crap.

DonW is right regarding the skimmer. I dont think this is the point he is trying to make. But, in my case, I have a drain and 4 gallon skimmate storage bin. A valve shuts when it is full (think Ill downsize it to 1G after this). If the skimmer goes crazy, I get 4 gallons of Kalk top off to compensate.This has never caused issue before and that is why I paniced. Ive done a few things to stabilize the skimmer but obviously my work of setting up fail safes isnt done yet.

 

[Slickdonkey]

Yes, there's no question kalk can be used safely. So can nitro-glycerin. My personal preference is not to have it around at all; it's an accident waiting to happen.