Coral Tank from Canada (1350gal Display Tank)

[Reefski's]

it works great. yes, the two are separated so the positive and negative anions can be removed in the separate chambers. it makes it possible to recharge them.

it will produce a few thousand gallons of 0 TDS water before needing recharging.

the setup is 10micron filter, 1 micron filter, AC filter, RO, then the two DI chambers.

 

[advanced reef]

looking good Shawn/Peter. Have you considered the balling method as opposed to a ca reactor?

 

[mr.wilson]

looking good Shawn/Peter. Have you considered the balling method as opposed to a ca reactor?

A lot of people are happy with the balling method but I find the extra labour, expense and chemistry work to be a deal breaker. You need to use special salt with less chloride and Buy & store bulk chemicals which are highly corrosive. It opens the door to human error and batch variation.

The equipment cost of a calcium reactor is about the same as the dosing pumps required for chemical dosing (balling). The annual cost of media and Co2 for a calcium reactor is about $50, and labour is about 1 hour. With a well built CA reactor you "set it and forget it".

Our tank will be heavily stocked with SPS so we have added a Kalkwasser (Nilsen) reactor in the even that the calcium level cannot be maintained by the Schuran reactor. We will not add any calcium hydroxide powder to the kalkwasser reactor until we see a demand.

The CA reactor has 85% (large) Caribsea media, and 15% dolomite. The dolomite is there to keep magnesium high which is sometimes a challenge with CA reactors. Alkalinity is never an issue with CA reactor use, but I add sodium carbonate and bicarbonate to bump it up for the first six month to encourage coraline algae growth.

Mistakes happen and chemical roller coasters can result with any form of chemical dosing. I have found in my experience that a properly sized and designed CA reactor is all you need to cross water chemistry off of your list of reefkeeping duties.

If you ever get into trouble with reef chemistry, this calculator can be your best friend. http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

 

[mr.wilson]

I'm glad you liked this pump. I did say it was the best pump I had ever seen. I'm a little concerned the other pump you mention may have similar issues to Klaus Jansen's fated RD2 pumps. His RD4 pumps seem to be a step up as well, but there were issue with rusting impellors on the RD2, which sounds similar to the early issues you are noticing with your other pump?.....

Mo

The DC pump in the photo does in fact share the same motor as the ill-fated RD2 pump, but the moving impeller and bearings etc, have been replaced with grade 2 titanium and carbon parts made in the EU. The Chinese titanium impellers were made of an inferior grade of titanium which led to the corrosion and failure of the RD2 pumps.

I found some very slight pitting on the magnet of the DC pump, but only enough to feel with the tips of your fingers. I will continue to monitor the corrosion issues, but the long term plan is the switch to a Royal Exclusiv 75 watt "Speedy" DC pump once hey are available in North America.

 

[mr.wilson]

Thanks fr the quick reply. I emailed the company to let them know about the issues I've had. If they do not give me a new membrane I will probably bite the bullet and get a whole new setup. If you or Chao wouldn't mind filling me in on a better brand it would help me tremendously. I'm looking for a 100 gpd or better.

Chago can send you in the right direction. We wasted a lot of resources on the original RO/DO unit. Now it's dead simple, efficient, and reliable.

 

[mr.wilson]

Direct Acting, Normally-Closed PTFE Bellows Seal Solenoid Valves
True Blue® Solenoid Valves Series EASMT & EASYMT for pressure, drain, and vacuum service; designed for all types of aggressive chemicals, salt solutions, acids, caustics, and ultrapure liquids such as deionized water.


Features:
1,000,000+ cycles tested under laboratory conditions; some applications report over 2,000,000 cycles in field use. Your results may vary.
No metal parts in wetted area.
Rugged molded construction.
Patented Fail-Dry® vented design.
Resistant to atmospheric corrosion.
PTFE bellows design eliminates the problems often encountered with highly aggressive chemicals, also eliminates the need to have multiple types of valves on hand.
Molded corrosion-resistant coil assembly.
IP-54/Nema 4 water and dust tight enclosure.
All valves are individually inspected and 100% tested.
Optional coil connector light indicates when valve is energized.
Supersedes Series EASM, EASYM, EASMD & EASYMD.

Thanks a lot. That's what we need!

 

[mr.wilson]

i have a Kati Ani unit that has separate DI for the two anions. it is rechargeable cheaply with NaOh and muriatic acid (HCl). i forget what you are using for the DI component.

Carl

We are using a large disposable mixed bed DI cartridge. Peter can post a pic soon. I have used regenerable DI anion & cation resin before but I don't like the hassle of regenerating with acid and caustics, as they can be messy and I have heard horror stories of poorly rinsed resin and residual caustic and acid spiking PH up or down.

If we were to go the regenerable route, I would pay the extra money and have the cartridges professionally regenerated just to be safe. I have a very expensive 5 gallon bucket of cation resin that I keep moving every few years. One of these days I should find a home for it.

What's with the post-apoctolyptic aquascaping theme Are you doing an overhaul again?

 

[Reefski's]

the picture is three years old from the first build. it is not that much work every several months to recharge and monitor the effluent until 0 tds is reached. 1.5 gallons of muriatic acid and 800 grams of NaOH to recharge.

do you have 5 gallons of both resins?

 

[Elliott]

A lot of people are happy with the balling method but I find the extra labour, expense and chemistry work to be a deal breaker. You need to use special salt with less chloride and Buy & store bulk chemicals which are highly corrosive. It opens the door to human error and batch variation.

The equipment cost of a calcium reactor is about the same as the dosing pumps required for chemical dosing (balling). The annual cost of media and Co2 for a calcium reactor is about $50, and labour is about 1 hour. With a well built CA reactor you "set it and forget it".

Our tank will be heavily stocked with SPS so we have added a Kalkwasser (Nilsen) reactor in the even that the calcium level cannot be maintained by the Schuran reactor. We will not add any calcium hydroxide powder to the kalkwasser reactor until we see a demand.

The CA reactor has 85% (large) Caribsea media, and 15% dolomite. The dolomite is there to keep magnesium high which is sometimes a challenge with CA reactors. Alkalinity is never an issue with CA reactor use, but I add sodium carbonate and bicarbonate to bump it up for the first six month to encourage coraline algae growth.

Mistakes happen and chemical roller coasters can result with any form of chemical dosing. I have found in my experience that a properly sized and designed CA reactor is all you need to cross water chemistry off of your list of reefkeeping duties.

If you ever get into trouble with reef chemistry, this calculator can be your best friend. http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

I must have had the wrong CR. I ran a CR for a couple years but could not keep my alk stable, mainly due to the instability of the CR effluent rate and C02. For me, it was anything but set and forget. I then changed to 2 part from BRS and use 40g containers, which last 7 months. Chemistries are stable with very little maintenance.

 

[mr.wilson]

the picture is three years old from the first build. it is not that much work every several months to recharge and monitor the effluent until 0 tds is reached. 1.5 gallons of muriatic acid and 800 grams of NaOH to recharge.

do you have 5 gallons of both resins?

I only have the one bucket of Kent Marine cation. It was $500 when I bought it 15 years ago. One of the local discus breeders wiped out a bunch of his fish after recharging his DIY DI so I didn't bother buying the other cheaper anion resin.

I figured the picture was a developmental shot. Peter nixed my Planet of the Apes theme with the Statue of Liberty burried half in the sand

 

[Chago09]

Im sorry for the delay Baldwin. I have been really busy and have been spending a few nights catching up in the thread. So I was a couple days behind what was currently happening.

My discussion starts on page 207 and runs I think about 4 or 5 pages from there. There are pics of the entire design and I explain the method behind my madness.

In short we created a 200GPD unit that was ultra efficient and gave us 100% automated operation. No need to manually flush TDS creep, this sytem uses a controler and a solenoid to do it automaticly. The entire room including storage tanks, sump for DT and Mars bars, mangrove walls and other various units that even I'm not sure what they do are all automatically filling throughout the day and night. Take a look through those pages. If you have any specific questions maybe its best through PM so we don't disrupt the thread.

 

[dainiusiva]

This thread will not be disrupted with additional information about one of it's components IMHO...

 

[bruce922]

I know I have commented on this build before, but I want to say again....incredible!

 

[golf nut]

I know I have commented on this build before, but I want to say again....incredible!

Not to be confused with my wife's cooking.... inedible

 

[advanced reef]

Ive never had a set and forget calcium reactor. cost in no comparison as by the time you compare a good doser to a ca unit they are roughly the same, im after ease of use, i can attest ive used the balling light in a couple of larger systems and have not had any variations in ca or mg. my issue with kalk is over time kh drop and the oh so common clumping of substrate that can occure with larger amounts of saturated/non saturated kalk, just suggesting an alternative method.

 

[nanonubey]

This build is mind blowing! I can't wait to see pictures when the coral fills out!

 

[jeno]

tag... so I find my way back here

 

[zaheda]

Advanced Reef I dont know what calcium reacter you had but a good quality reater one can just set and forget. Can you imagine how much one had to dose on this monster system? I believe that the calcium reacter the way to go for large systems.

 

[dave.m]

A whole week without any updates. Must have my reef fix. Any news?

Thx,

Dave.M

 

[Moser]

The DC pump in the photo does in fact share the same motor as the ill-fated RD2 pump, but the moving impeller and bearings etc, have been replaced with grade 2 titanium and carbon parts made in the EU. The Chinese titanium impellers were made of an inferior grade of titanium which led to the corrosion and failure of the RD2 pumps.

I found some very slight pitting on the magnet of the DC pump, but only enough to feel with the tips of your fingers. I will continue to monitor the corrosion issues, but the long term plan is the switch to a Royal Exclusiv 75 watt "Speedy" DC pump once hey are available in North America.

The Speedy pump surprised me as Klaus never mentioned it. It looks very neat!.

He did mention a massive external pump series that are non-submersible and apparently will blow the socks off any other pump on the market.....

I think the early probs with the RD2 pumps was pitting, so I'd watch the other pumps you have carefully....


Mo