Calcium reactor PH buffering concept

[cjchris47]

Hi everyone, I've been searching the web for this and I havent turned up with any results. I'be been doing saltwater for a quite a few years now, but have just recently started with corals. I'm concidering a calcium reactor and have been doing a lot of reading on the cal reactor vs. dosing pros and cons, which leads me to my idea that I'd like to ask for opinions on. It seems like the only major con to a cal reactor (besides up front cost) is the negative effect on PH. Now before everyone just jumps on the "œKalk train" just hear me out and please keep your thoughts around this concept....

Here it goes....I'm thinking that dripping the cal reactor into what I'll call a "œbuffer tank" of small to medium size running air stones could help raise the PH of the reactor output before it later "œoverflows" back into the sump. I understand this would be difficult in compact setup running under a stand, but that's not a concern for me as I have my equipment in a fish room in the basement below the main tank. Has anyone done anything like this or are there any opinions on the effectiveness of this concept??

Info on my set-up
320G mixed reef (basically all new small corals at this point but in the process of growing and adding)
110G 1st sump for filtering and skimming
300G refugium
150G fish only also plumbed in.

Approximately 750G of actual total water in the system

All thoughts and opinions are appreciated

 

[jamie1981]

Maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong but increasing the pH of the effluent will cause precipitation of calcium and alk before it gets into the tank where the concentration is diluted down to normal sea water levels.

 

[reefkeeper2]

I have done this myself and it does work but there are some problems. It takes time for the pH in the blow off tank to rise. This is because it needs a lot of exposure to the fresh air from the air stones to drive off the CO2. So the water needs to go into and exit out of the blow off tank slowly. The longer the effluent is exposed to the air, the more CO2 you will get rid of. I used to use two buckets in my sump, one leading into the other with large air stones going in each. To do this you need a large air pump and very large air stones. I found over time the air stones clogged pretty quickly, and I needed to use large pond sized air pumps. It's a hassle really. I found a better way. I drip the effluent through a 4" wide pvc pipe filled with crushed coral. The effluent is exposed to the air as it trickles down the tube. There are two outlets at the bottom of the tube. One for the effluent to exit, and the other for fresh air to enter via air pump. It is best to get air from outside your house. It makes a big difference. The longer you make the tube and the longer the effluent is exposed to the fresh air, the higher the pH will be when it exits. I tested the pH of the effluent going into and out of the tube I built. It's 6.5 going in and 7.5 when it exits. For extra effect, I attached some tubing to the tube exit and have the effluent from it enter my skimmer as well

 

[tkeracer619]

I think the ph hit is overblown for most people. I've never seen it to be much of a big deal. I do run kalk in most systems and think it really is a great way to start off. It's so easy but when not running kalk and using a calcium reactor i've never had an issue. I'd be more concerned with getting a quality carx setup than trying to offgas the effluent.