Calcium Reactor Setup Question

[Jasonf08]

I am putting together a calcium reactor setup for my tank. I did the long calculations and determined the reactor is my best solution for this reef & the next larger tank in the planning. However, here is my queston.

Where is the best place to put the PH controller & why? Should it be in the reactor to stabalize the effluent? or in the tank to minimize the risk of a hazardous PH drop? If you have any better ideas than the options i put up here please let me know.

 

[Rizing]

definately in the reactor. you cant acurately adjust the c02 with it in the tank.

 

[Bcollins111900]

i agree with rizing 100%. Mine is in my reactor directly on the top. I would go with a milwaukee PH controller (s122 i think is the model number). It is made for aquariums and is very user friendly.

 

[Jasonf08]

I agree that the only way to get stable output is to put the probe in the reactor. I like the idea that this provides stability in the reactor and maximizes the output of the effluent without causing problems in the reactor such as over bubbling and suchforth. My gut instinct tells me that i should leave it in the reactor. However, i still have some reservations about the effect of the effluent on my tank. I have a 29 gallon tank and worry about the ph effect on the tank. i dont want to wipe out my entire tank with the reactor because of a low ph error. Ideally i would pick up a controller that handled two probes but that is a bit pricey for me at this point.

 

[Rizing]

blowing off the c02 from the effluent is as simple as dripping into the skimmer intake. as long as you arent way overdoing the co2 i wouldnt worry about it. what are your daily alk needs?

 

[mattyice]

hmm i would say the best bet would be to just get something like a reefkeeper 2 to control the stuff in the tank and a pH probe from milwaukee to control the pH in the reactor

it might be more money but i think its the way to do it

i know im just going to be getting two pH probes for my profilux to control my reactor and to send me alarms about the tank

 

[Jasonf08]

Rizing, i debated over the reactor issue vs. the dosing pump & currently i go through approx 100ml of bionic a day. This seems to be increasing as i keep up on my levels and the growth rate increases. Yeah it would be pretty cheap using randy's recipe, however i work in compressed gasses and was able to get the regulator, and tank at cost, & a used reactor so it workes out about the same price as a dossing setup depending on a rk2 or milwaukee controller.

matty, if you setup a rk2 & a milwaukee wouldnt the milwaukee only control the co2? Do you think you could plug the milwaukee into the rk2 and controll both that way? I thought about that, however your pushing close to the price of just going with a aciii & thats a bit pricy.

 

[Rizing]

i think its being made too difficult. what kind of reactor? is it dual chamber? if not adding a secong DIY chamber would be cheaper then a reefkeeper or ac. You can also set the silenoid to only be open during lights on. and set the reactor to fill the tanks needs in that period of time. although a good reactor with second chamber is perfect.

 

[Tbohinc]

I use 2 PH controlers 1 in the reactor and 1 in the tank if the one in the tank goes low it will start to drip calc water to bring the PH back in line

 

[Jasonf08]

I guess i just wish the RK2 or the ACjr was able to handle 2 ph probes. I'm ok with spending 200 bucks to make the unit rock solid and would spring for the rk2 or acjr for the extra controlability or safety. I think i am going to pick up a milwaukee for know. In the future i'll probably pick up a controller and plug the miluakee into it for safety sake. During setup i'll use the milwaukee on the tank at first just to overcome my fear of droping ph too much on the tank then move it into the reactor. I like to invest wisely into my reef as if its a large system (plans for the future) but a 2 probe controller is just way too much of a price jump compared to the others.

 

[Jasonf08]

I wanted to thank everyone for all their help in deciding on what to do with my new setup. Today i finally put all the last pieces together. It seemed like the more i dosed the more it used from being used to kept up levels. The tuning period should be fun. I wanted to let everyone know i decided to go with a millwaukee controller with the probe in reactor. In the future i'll get a controller for the system and use the tank probe to cut off the controller if the tank drops way too low as an additional safety. But thats in the future.

I put some pics up for you to look at.

 

[GSMguy]

looks good Jason. show us a Full tank shot.

 

[Rizing]

i must be missing something how does this work with the probe in the tank and the controller set to 6.6? wont the c02 stay on until the tank hits 6.6? i dont have a monitor or controller so im interested in how this setup works.

 

[Jasonf08]

oops, i corrected the typo... the probe is in the reactor. Right now i have the controller set to 6.5 & I am slowly tuning the bubble rate. The controller turns off the regulator if it hits 6.5 then turns back on if it goes over 6.7. However, currently its turning on and off more than i like but thats ok temporarily until the levels balance out in the tank and i can tell if i need it lower or higher to match my demand.

I'll take a FTS tomorrow when the lights are back on. Thanks