Calcium reactor operation?

[mpcart]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7690826#post7690826 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sirreal63
I love my calcium reactor...it works perfectly. I use ARM and haven't had to mess with additives much at all, it has done what it is supposed to do. It is the best investment I made for my system. Once dialed in, which took a solid week, it has performed flawlessly.

What brand reactor are you using?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7690175#post7690175 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jdieck
Crushed coral is fine to use if it comes from the sea. Crushed coral from aquariums or coral farms were corals were grown in tanks may contain too much phosphate.
Try keeping your PH above 6.5 to help prevent the media turning into mud, that will help prevent the clogging.

I have a DIY reactor and I think the design of the bottom plate is letting the ARM clog the holes - resulting in a buildup of CO2 that is melting the ARM. I believe this is the case because my effluent measures 7.2 and I am still seeing melted media.

I am going to try larger media and if that doesn't work, I'll redesign the plate.

Scbadiver - sorry, didn't mean to hijack your thread.

-Mike

 

[sirreal63]

I went to your calcium reactor set up page, called Andy at MRC and got his suggestions and put the two together and it worked perfectly. I have steered others to the calc react. setup pages as well....kudos for a well written and easy to use website.

 

[Nanook]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7690953#post7690953 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jdieck
You were lucky! some of us mess with it for over a month before we are able to get any stability :lol:

No doubt! It will not be fun dialing in 1200g of saltwater one of these days either! I will need a chemist like you to get your butt down here to help out

dave

 

[sirreal63]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7690988#post7690988 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mpcart
What brand reactor are you using?

I have an MRC HOT1 that I got from Farmer...it easily handles the 125 and I use A.R.M. and keep the effluent at 6.5-6.6 It isn't the prettiest reactor out there but the quality and support for it are top notch.

 

[jdieck]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7690998#post7690998 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Nanook
No doubt! It will not be fun dialing in 1200g of saltwater one of these days either! I will need a chemist like you to get your butt down here to help out

dave

If I remember well you've been there, done that...

 

[sirreal63]

Dave...we need to get that tank set up. Will it be used as a kiddie pool at the pool party?

 

[jdieck]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7690992#post7690992 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sirreal63
I went to your calcium reactor set up page, called Andy at MRC and got his suggestions and put the two together and it worked perfectly. I have steered others to the calc react. setup pages as well....kudos for a well written and easy to use website.

Thanks, glad to be of service. :thumbsup:

 

[jdieck]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7690988#post7690988 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mpcart
I have a DIY reactor and I think the design of the bottom plate is letting the ARM clog the holes ....., I'll redesign the plate.
-Mike

Mike, even the larger media will eventually dissolve into smaller fragments but I do not think you need to redesign the plate. Get some 1" thick foam on top of the plate, that shall work for you.
I use a plate made of eggcrate with foam from an Eheim canister filter on top of it.
In any case I like the larger media because it allows better circulation of flow which is equivalent to having a lot longer reactor chamber (Or increased contact time).
For the second chamber I still use ARM media as it is only one pass and the media size allows for more area of contact.
I usually keep the first chamber at 6.5 and I get 6.85 out of the second chamber. with an effluent of 135 ml/min (Large reactor) and bubble rate high enough to be difficult to count but my best guess is about 180 bpm.
I consume about 5 to 6 pounds of media per month. plus about 1.5 gallons of saturated limewater per day as evaporation replacement.

 

[scbadiver]

I always used to drip kalk in my 75 and had great results. By what I read here and in other places I should start dripping again as a supplement to the Ca reactor? Will I need to completely "re-tune" the reactor if I start dripping Kalkwasser later?

 

[jdieck]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7691395#post7691395 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by scbadiver
I always used to drip kalk in my 75 and had great results. By what I read here and in other places I should start dripping again as a supplement to the Ca reactor? Will I need to completely "re-tune" the reactor if I start dripping Kalkwasser later?

I would wait until the reactor is set up and working stable. If the reactor can cope with the requirment, Kalk addition will be used mainly to balance out the PH dropping effect of the Calcium reactor but if you will not have that issue and the reactor keeps the Alkalinity while your PH stay above the reange of 8.0 to 8.1 addition of Kalk will not be needed.
If need to be then you will need to reduce the reactor's alkalinity addition in the equivalent of the Kalk addition.

 

[scbadiver]

That's good to hear. The simpler I can keep this thing the better. I tested the water at lunch. the calcium was up to 320ppm and the alk came down a skosh to 9.0dkh. Seems like that was how you said it would work! Thanks again. I'll dose some more Ca tomorrow I guess.

 

[jdieck]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7691540#post7691540 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by scbadiver
That's good to hear. The simpler I can keep this thing the better. I tested the water at lunch. the calcium was up to 320ppm and the alk came down a skosh to 9.0dkh. Seems like that was how you said it would work! Thanks again. I'll dose some more Ca tomorrow I guess.

What are you using to adjust Calcium? for a 240 gallon it will take a lot of Calcium Chloride to bring it up to 420.

 

[scbadiver]

I couldn't find plain ol' calcium chloride so I bought the big bottle of Seachem Reef Advantage Calcium. So the extra magnesium hasn't created a problem, its still right at about 1400 but I have no test for strontium. Do have reason for concern? Thanks.


Robbie

 

[jdieck]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7692381#post7692381 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by scbadiver
I couldn't find plain ol' calcium chloride so I bought the big bottle of Seachem Reef Advantage Calcium. So the extra magnesium hasn't created a problem, its still right at about 1400 but I have no test for strontium. Do have reason for concern? Thanks.

Robbie

In general the Magnesium or strontium amounts may not be of concern for normal use as they are added as a maintenance level benefit but in your special case if your Calcium is at 320 ppm and you want to bring it up to 420 in a 240 gal system you will need almost half a pound of the suff. With this significant requirment and your magnesium already at 1400 (recommended 1300) I will be concerned that it might be too much magnesium and potentially strontium added.

 

[smoknreefrs]

i hate to against the grain, but, a magnesium of 1400ppm will do no harm at all....

you would have to reach levels above 1500ppm before any negative side effects could be seen, and then that only would only be a precipitation of the mag/calcium/alk out of the water....(and even this is a long shot)

at worse powder would form on the surfaces, but would soon clear up.... go one step at a time

dont worry about the mag level.......
dont worry about the strontium, you are getting to complicated.......

worry about getting your calcium and alk up to par (manually), then dailing in your reactor.

once you get this under control, then you can do a partial water change to get all other unbalances-balanced...

 

[jdieck]

Smoke:
you are right magnesium at 1400 not being a problem, the issue here is that what Robbie is using to increase Calcium (Seachem's Reef Advantage Calcium) also contains an undisclosed amount of Magnesium and Strontium. Having to add that much of it may potentially increase Mg beyond the safe limit although most likely the amount in the additive might not be much, it is not knowing what makes it a possibility.

 

[smoknreefrs]

jdieck

this is true, but, like have said the amounts that are in the reef advantage is so trivial that it probly wouldnt even be dectectable, or in a tank of scbadiver size it certainly wouldnt raise it 100ppm...

raising mag is much harder than raising any other element in a tank simpy because it requires so much of the supplement to raise it just a minimal amount...

to raise my tank 100ppm i have to add like 2 bottles of the kent tech m....