Dosing pump calcium issue/failure...

SaphosBro

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While I was gone today the relay stuck on my Apex's eb-832 and my calcium dosing pump stayed on - form the best i can tell it was on for about 4-5 hours and dosed about 2 weeks worth of calcium... Needless to say i have a giant mess/very white murky water. I obviously need to do a big water change but it will most likely be tomorrow morning before i can do that as I need to make some RO water (i used most of it on water changes yesterday). Anyhow any pointers or anything I need to do until i get the water change done tomorrow? Also any pointers on cleaning up all the precipitation after the fact?Thanks for anyone who has advice in advance!View attachment 3966
 
I have around 80 gallons of rodi made up if you need some right away.  I live near denton.  Feel free to text me at 940-536-5208.
 
Hey Mike,Thanks for the offer. I came up with about 20 gallons I had for top off water and its helped a little and ill do a second 40-60 gallon change tomorrow. PH is stable at 8.3 and calcium is currently only testing at 480 which is not as bad as i expected for how cloudy the water is. The glass on the sump, tank and inside of pipes i can see are coated in calc precipitation so im sure its going to be a nightmare to clean up esp if i need to take the plumbing apart and soak it but we will see.thanks again I really appreciate the help.Shane
 
Ah man that stinks! Just do a water change as soon as you can. Hopefully you have an extra powerhead and can stir everything up each time before you do a water change. Get it in the water column so you can get it all out.
 
Thanks Chris, it is clearing up slowly. I can see all the rock where a few hours ago i could not so that is progress. Some of the calcium has turned into a dust/power and my filter socks are pulling it out slowly. The real pain is going to be all the glass, pumps and plumbing. I am sure the glass will clean easy enough but the bales in the sump will be a pain - the pumps i can soak but the plumbing will be a nightmare if i clean it.  I may try to ignore the plumbing but i do hate seeing the inside of the return pipes being white but maybe it will clean up in time. Thanks again for everyone advice tonight.I thought having my dosing pumps on the apex was a good level of protection, the alk pump will turn off by PH or alert me by text if my PH goes over 8.35 but i need to figure out some way to be alerted if calcium gets stuck on again - maybe an alert on power for its outlet if its on for more than 2 minutes I will have to think about that. I have a call with neptune in the morning - lucky its apex is than a year old so hopefully they will replace the failed parts and have some suggestions. 
 
Sounds like you got a good plan. Let us know how it goes an if they figure something out or if something else comes up.
 
Everything looks to have survived the first night/day - but I realize it will take some time to see the real extent of any damage from the calcium over dose. I spent a ton of time with Apex on the phone today and looks like my EB832 is bad, during one of the test the tech ran it lost connectivity, shutdown and would not reconnect afterwords. I did not realize how much I depend on my apex until I went to take the bad eb832 out. Thankfully i had another EB832 I was not using on a new tank I am setting up and planned to fill this weekend but another week or so wont kill me while I wait for Apex to send a replacement. I do think after this I will pick up an extra energy bar (maybe the older model) just to keep on stand by like I do return pumps because it would be a real mess to live with out for an extended period of time.Thanks again for everyones advice.
 
That is exactly what I do, I have an extra eb8 on standby as well. Glad to hear everything is surviving. Sounds like you are being diligent to solve the issues, good job! 
 
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