White haze in tank. Help........

[pdnyc69]

I noticed a white haze on my live rock and glass this morning. Some of my zoas were open some not. I tested my water. Nitrates 5 phos -1 alk 3.5 CALCIUM 750. O don't know my magnesium level. Test kit ran out. Any ideas? Thanks Pete

 

[NYreefNoob]

u dosing kalkwasser or running a doser or cal reactor ? alk and cal are way off i would do a huge water change asap before you lose everything

 

[pdnyc69]

Yes I am.

 

[pdnyc69]

I just for work. Do u think they will last the night?

 

[RoyalAqua]

+1 on the alk and calcium levels. However are there micro-bubbles coming from anyone on your system? that could be the cause of it as well...

 

[pdnyc69]

Its def not micro bubbles.

 

[pdnyc69]

What should my alk be?

 

[juiceguy]

hey pete your alk should be between 8-10 but your calcium is way off, that should be between 380-450. that is why you are getting white residue.

 

[pdnyc69]

Is that 8-10 dkh. My kit says2-3.5 is good but I'm not sure if that's dkh

 

[juiceguy]

8-10dkh or 2.7 - 3.5 meq
here is a conversion sheet:

http://ozreef.org/library/tables/alkalinity_conversion.html

 

[SevTT]

I noticed a white haze on my live rock and glass this morning. Some of my zoas were open some not. I tested my water. Nitrates 5 phos -1 alk 3.5 CALCIUM 750. O don't know my magnesium level. Test kit ran out. Any ideas? Thanks Pete

It sounds like a lot of kalk got dumped in. You -can't- have dissolved Ca of 750 in seawater that'll support life -- it being that high means that that white clouding is really fine particles -- precipitate -- of calcium carbonate.

It should clear out within a day or two, and not cause too much of a problem. Run your skimmer wet, it'll pull out some of the precipitate, and you could put a filter sock with polyfloss on your overflow's return to help clear it a bit faster. If you have a diatom filter, that'll clear it too.

 

[NYreefNoob]

It sounds like a lot of kalk got dumped in. You -can't- have dissolved Ca of 750 in seawater that'll support life -- it being that high means that that white clouding is really fine particles -- precipitate -- of calcium carbonate

this is what crashed my tank

 

[pdnyc69]

I got the ca down to 600. I just got my mag up to 1300. It was at 500. The white haze cleared up. Thanks for the help guys.

 

[DHaut]

you raised your mg from 500 to 1300 in one day?

 

[mray]

Check your salinity. Raising magnesium from 500 to 1300 takes a lot of magnesium.

 

[SevTT]

this is what crashed my tank

It's actually the pH spike that likely caused the crash, not the Ca. Ca+ can't really get above about 450-500 in seawater with any kind of rational magnesium & aeration levels. It (almost) immediately precipitates out into calcium carbonate. That's the same stuff your sandbed and corals are made out of; it's not a problem except it may foul some delicate critters' gills. However, it -does- foul most test kits that test for pH/Ca+/Alk.

Hrm. A large amount of Calcium Carbonate precipitation could also drastically lower CO2 levels for a short time, too, but I wonder if that has any contributing effect.