carbon dosing overdose

[downreef]

I'm in fall river if there is anything I can help with, if you need pumps powerheads or anything.

 

[danzig]

should have shut return pump off and did W/C to the whole sump as soon as that happened. Good luck though hope everything works out.

 

[dannyp02908]

Hindsight. Didn't think it would be that bad. Plus it was like 10 pm. Was getting ready for bed.

 

[frank180reef]

do u have a ph meter? guessing ur ph is pretty low due to all the bacteria?

I guess when it came back it would be an indication that the system is close to being normal.................???????????????????????

 

[dannyp02908]

No meter but I have kits and can add a buffer.

 

[GobyWanKenobie]

Wow, that's awful. Like downreef already said, let us know if there is anything we can do to help.

 

[dannyp02908]

Appreciate all the help and offers. So far, I have completed a 40 gallon water change. I'm running heavy carbon and skimming. I found 3 of the 4 fish. Couldn't find one small chromis. Hermit will find it. My 3 fish that are left (4 stripe damsel, yellow tang and pj cardinal) seem to have slowed their breething and are swimming. All I can do is monitor. Water is still cloudy. Very cloudy. Ph is at 8.0. Ill pick up some buffer tomorrow. Half the coral is back in the tank. Finishing up the rest. Doesn't seem I lost any although some look unhappy. Hopefully the water clears and everything bounces back. Then I can add my fish back. Much as that clown bit me, it was hosting a BTA and a GSP colony on the opposite side of the tank. Was kool to see her go back and forth to defend them.

 

[frank180reef]

I was thinking that the low ph is an indication of the bacteria in the tank , when it clears it self up the ph should go back up.... this is related to the lack of oxegen I think

so I wouldnt raise it neccesarry..................

 

[dannyp02908]

Regarding the bacteria. Do you guys think it is beneficial bacteria bloom? Or bad bacteria. Reason for the question, I have probiotic on hand. Worth it to add? Tank still very cloudy. On a side note, I lost no inverts. All snails, 1 hermit and 1 peppermint shrimp are still alive.

 

[stingythingy45]

Have you checked for ammonia?

 

[dannyp02908]

I haven had a chance yet. Worked the tank til 3am and had to go to work. However, I feel if there was an ammonia issue I would have lost my inverts right away. I will check tonite when I get home. Last ammonia check was 0 2 days prior to this event.

 

[dannyp02908]

I almost feel that this is more a result of the die off of the brown algae (which may have been dinos) rather than the overdose. Agree? Disagree?

 

[JohnK]

It's not good or bad bacteria, it's just bacteria that's always present. You just have more of it than normal at the moment.

Carbon dosing wouldn't cause a lot of nusiance algae to crash after 2days, overdose or not.

 

[dannyp02908]

Tank has been fine though. Where did the bacteria come from? The only corresponding even was the dose.

 

[JohnK]

Our tanks are full of all sorts of bacteria all the time. Available organic carbon becomes a limiting factor, meaning it gets effectively used up and when it does the bacterial growth is limited. Add organic carbon and the bacterial growth is no longer limited so it blooms (reproduces super fast).

 

[dannyp02908]

Ok that makes sense. What you are saying is that I effectively killed some bacteria with the carbon by limiting available nutrients to the bacteria. As the carbon was used up, skimmed, etc, there was nothing limiting bacterial growth and that caused a bloom. That bloom then used up the available oxygen and in turn, lowered my PH. The bacteria should die off and setle back to acceptable levels and my water will clear? Am I understanding correctly?

 

[frank180reef]

I think so

I would be interested to see if the bacteria "precipitates" out and forms on your rocks . this may seem crazy but I am pretty sure this happened to me a few years ago

you also hear of people getting that stringy stuff on the rock due to OD of the carbon dosing

 

[frank180reef]

ps if you have softies and LPS you really dont want to carbon dose (IMO)

hopefully others will chime in to this and my last post

thanks

 

[dannyp02908]

I have a mix of soft, lps and sps. Mostly lps. My 2 favorite are my elegance and large frog. They survive, I'm happy.

 

[frank180reef]

I think that the LPS and softies thrive in the organic (waste?) that carbon dosing removes...................