Calcium reactor adjustment help please

T

twabatman2004

New member
I have a calcium reactor on my 75 gal reef. There is an assortment of sps frags in it but wouldn't consider it a heavy draw of calcium at this point. The problem is, I cant get my calcium above 380. I have even checked the effluent straight out of the reactor and it came to about 380. Maybe a tad higher closer to 400. The only test kit I have right now is calcium (I know I need to test for more). The way the reactor is adjusted right now I get about 2 bubbles of co2 to 1 drop of effluent every second. How can I raise the calcium output on it? Should I add more co2 or should I up the drip rate of the effluent a little?
 
First off get a alk test kit tomorrow. Do not attempt to run a CaRx without it.

You really need at minimum.

Alk
Ca
Mg

A calcium reactor should not be used to raise the levels. It should only be used to keep them steady.

You need to be testing alk, get it so it stays the same. Dose calcium manually. You should be good to go after this. Test daily and adjust until you get levels that do not change.

Try to shoot for
8dkh
420ca
1300mg
 
tkeracer619 said:
First off get a alk test kit tomorrow. Do not attempt to run a CaRx without it.

You really need at minimum.

Alk
Ca
Mg

A calcium reactor should not be used to raise the levels. It should only be used to keep them steady.

You need to be testing alk, get it so it stays the same. Dose calcium manually. You should be good to go after this. Test daily and adjust until you get levels that do not change.

Try to shoot for
8dkh
420ca
1300mg
Click to expand...

I will grab these over the weekend and keep you posted.
 
You should test both tank and effluent. The effluent to verify that it has a high enough KH and the tank to verify that the effluent rate is keeping up with your tanks demand.
 
FWIW,
Measuring your effluent by drops is a recipe for disaster. Your effluent needs to be at minimum a "broken stream". If you are going slow enough to count drops there is a chance of clogging from calcium buildup and that will melt your media.

Secondly, if your at 2 bubbles of co2 per second and your only at 1drop per second of effluent, then there is something wrong with your setup. I am running one large bubble every 7 seconds and my effluent is at a broken stream. Your media should be mush if your adding 2 bubbles per second and only dripping 1 drop of effluent. Are you sure of those measurements? Or is there less co2 going in?
 
You dial in the reactor based on your alk not your calcium. When making adjustments on your cal reactor, just watch your alk NOT your cal. If your alk lowers increase the effluent or bubble count. If you alk rises increase the effluent or bubble count.
 
salty child 79 said:
FWIW,
Measuring your effluent by drops is a recipe for disaster. Your effluent needs to be at minimum a "broken stream". If you are going slow enough to count drops there is a chance of clogging from calcium buildup and that will melt your media.

Secondly, if your at 2 bubbles of co2 per second and your only at 1drop per second of effluent, then there is something wrong with your setup. I am running one large bubble every 7 seconds and my effluent is at a broken stream. Your media should be mush if your adding 2 bubbles per second and only dripping 1 drop of effluent. Are you sure of those measurements? Or is there less co2 going in?
Click to expand...

It is in fact 2 bubbles to roughly every drop of effluent. The media still looks fine after several months of use. I'm going to check to make sure the co2 is actually making its way into the reactor. Judging from what you are saying it almost sounds like its not.
 
fishguy597 said:
Do you have a ph probe to monitor the ph and shut off your solenoid?
Click to expand...

No, I don't. I just took the reactor out and cleaned all the lines and pump ect. I can tell it is breaking down the media as I can see it in the bottom of the reactor. The line that caries the co2 to the pump works off venturi like a skimmer air line does. The pump has a fresh water inlet, what looks like a inlet for recirculated water inside the reactor, and the air line for the co2 in between them. I expected there to be a decent amount of pull on the air line kinda like my skimmer has but it does not. You can stick the end that would normally attach to the bubble counter in the water and it wont even suck in water. You can blow in it and tell that its not clogged. Is this normal for it to not have that much pull?
 
I'm sorry if I'm not getting what your saying. are you having a hard time getting the co2 into the reactor? I have had this happen in the past when the pump got air bound from the co2. I would shut off the co2 and shake the reactor to free the air. then open the recirc line at the top to bleed the air out and let the water fill it again.

When I didn't have a control to shut off my solenoid I had one bubble per second and opened my effluent more to keep the ph a little higher. I had to test my alk. a few times a week and adjust it as needed.
What pressure is your co2 coming out of your reg? I keep mine at 6-8 psi. At some point you are going to want to get a controller to maintain your ph . it will help a ton to keep steady parameters.
 
fishguy597 said:
I'm sorry if I'm not getting what your saying. are you having a hard time getting the co2 into the reactor? I have had this happen in the past when the pump got air bound from the co2. I would shut off the co2 and shake the reactor to free the air. then open the recirc line at the top to bleed the air out and let the water fill it again.

When I didn't have a control to shut off my solenoid I had one bubble per second and opened my effluent more to keep the ph a little higher. I had to test my alk. a few times a week and adjust it as needed.
What pressure is your co2 coming out of your reg? I keep mine at 6-8 psi. At some point you are going to want to get a controller to maintain your ph . it will help a ton to keep steady parameters.
Click to expand...

I believe it is getting co2 into the reactor. I guess what I was trying to ask is if you unhook the air line from your bubble counter, does it feel like it has a good bit of suction like a protein skimmer would have? Mine feels like it doesn't have any suction.
 
On mine I don't feel very much if anything. The pressure of the co2 is greater then the water pressure so it shouldn't matter.there is probably a neg psi that you can't feel.
 
Just tested a few peramiters. I adjusted the effluent rate to a few drops per second the other day to give me a fresh slate to work with. The effluent PH is at 7.6ish so I slowed down the effluent rate to get it to drop a little. The KH in the tank is at 9.5. I havnt tested calcium yet and the LFS didnt have a MG test kit. I will test the effluent PH again later tonight or tomorrow to see if it dropped any. If it hasnt by much I will add a little more co2 to it.
 
Finally got the PH in the reactor to around 6.6 - 6.7. I tested the calcium coming out of the reactor and it was at 520. The KH in the tank was a little high at 12. How will that effect everything in the tank? The calcium in the tank is still only 380-400 but considering the fact that I just did the final adjustment on the reactor to bring the PH down last night, im sure it will take a few days to really have an effect on the tank calcium. Thoughts?
 
I have to agree that getting a pH controller is a must. It is a great failsafe to have. I think 12 is probably a little higher than you would want also. I'm not sure what media you are using, but if using ARM, it requires a pH of 6.5 to break down. I know you have adjust your effluent drip rate, but the 2 bubbles CO2 to 1 dro effluent seems way off. Don't make drastic adjustments, but try to get the pH in the reactor to be as close to 6.5 steadily as you can, then adjust your effluent to dose your tank itself properly.
 
It is ARM. The media should be breaking down as the calcium coming out of the reactor is 520. It is not at the original 2 bubbles to every drop of effluent. It is now about 1-2 bubbles to a broken stream of effluent.
 
That ratio definitely sounds more like it. I'm pretty sure you would have had a reactor full of play-dough if you hadn't changes it. lol Sounds like you have it under control now though. Best of luck. Once your reactor is dialed in correctly, you will absolutely love it. Very low maintenance system once dialed in.
 
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