Re: Calcium reactor operation?
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7686192#post7686192 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by scbadiver
Ok, I finally broke down and hooked one up. Over the last few weeks my alk has come up from about 4 dkh to 9.6. This is a good thing. My PH has actually come up a bit too. runs about 8 to 8.1 for the low and up to about 8.3 at lights out. Those are both good things but....my calcium level has only moved from 250ppm to about 255 or 260ppm. Am I being impatient or am I doing something wrong? Do I need to raise it manually with calcium chloride and just have the reactor to maintain the level? Also, is my alk going to continue up off the charts? As usual I feel a little lost on this. Thanks for any input folks!
Here are some things to consider:
a) Calcium reactors are a balanced addition of Calcium and Alkalinity, For every 2.8 dKh of Alkalinity added it will add 20 ppm of Calcium. This is that if you start with low calcium in proportion to Alkalinity the Calcium will stay relatively low unless you adjust it manually with Calcium Chloride or a Calcium only supplement.
b) You Alkalinity has increased. This means your reactor is adding more than your tank requirments. The easiest method is to adjust the reactor to just keep alkalinity constant. In most cases Calcium will be maintained if Alkalinity is maintained so watch your Alkalinity during the adjustment process.
To reduce the output you can reduce the amount of CO2 being added or the amount of effluent from the reactor or both.
Here you basically have to play with two variables that affect each other; the amount of CO2 and the amount of effluent.
Note that reducing the effluent only will tend to reduce the effluent PH, if the effluent PH drops below 6.5 you also need to reduce the amount of CO2.
Reducing the CO2 only will increase the effluent PH if the PH increase to above 6.8 you may need to also reduce the effluent or increase the amount of CO2.
Never use your reactor to try to increase levels or you will never be able to keep a stable adjustment.
Reactors take time to stabilize, make small adjustments and wait at least 24 hours before retesting insuring the effluent and CO2 rates are stable during this period.
I strongly recommend using an electronic PH monitor as with a test kit it will be almost imposible to adjust the effluent PH.
To measure the effluent you can use a stop watch and a measuring cup. colect the effluent in the cup over a period of one minute and measure the amount of water collected, that will be your rate per minute.
A minimum effluent to prevent plugging and maintain it stable shall be around 30 to 40 ml/min. and a maximum of 100 to 130 ml/min depending on the reactor capacity.
A minimum effluent PH I would recommend is 6.5 and a maximum of 6.8
c) Once your alkalinity is maintain constant by your reactor regardless of the level then you can adjust your Calcium and Alkalinity if necessary using Calcium Chloride and Baking Soda.
d) A Calcium Reactor do not add Magnesium unless you use a magnesium rich media which is unusuall so Magnesium will have to be added manually as required.
e) for better results try dripping the effluent into a cup where the PH probe can be placed and let the cup overflow near the suction of the skimmer, this will help venting any excess CO2 for a better tank PH maintenance.
f) Once you get familiar with the reactor and its beheaviour to different adjustments this calculator might be able to take you to the next level.
http://jdieck1.home.comcast.net/reactor.html
g) For manual adjustments you can use the chemistry calculator, there are two versions, the traditional one posted in the link above or a flash version with added support.
http://jdieck1.home.comcast.net/chem_calc3.html
Good luck and let us know how it goes.
