Dialing my GEO reactor

racermike27

racermike27

Premium Member
Hey everyone,

Well I finally got my GEO Ca Reactor up and running last night. I am using the ARM media and have the pH on the controller set for 6.5. So my question is all I now need to do is regulate the effluent drip rate correct? I would simply just watch this till it holds my Ca and ALK consistently? I know this was covered a few montsh back with gasman but I can't find the post. If you guys could help out I would really appreciate it.

Thanks,

Mike
 
Hey mike any time. This by far has been d easiest to dial in. I have not as much experience and others but a while back i tried to dial in a knopp and it was quite dif. With a ph probe and this reactor, patience and time u should be ok.
 
Hey Mike...I have the Geo reactor and have been using it for a few years now. First I would get my Alk and Ca where you want it to be using buffers and you want the reactor to maintain your levels. I am also using ARM media and keep the PH at 6.5. Increasing the bubbles per minute will raise the effluent alk. Increasing the effluent drip rate will lower the effluent alk. Once you get the reactor dialed in, it will hold your ca and alk. Any ajustments made to the reactor usually takes 12 to 24 hrs to effect your tank. If you need any help shoot me a email. Steve
 
Well I am on Day 2 of dialing in my reactor and I think I have it set pretty good.

Ca is at 450ppm
ALK is at 9.6DKH
Tank pH 8.10

BPM 30
Effluent ~53 ml/min
Effluent pH 7.14
Effluent ALK 17dkh

I am going to leave it here and continue watching it to ensure no changes occur. Everything seems stable so far. It really wasn't that bad to set up. Only question I have is if I should push to get my ALK up to 10 or if I should just be happy with the 9.6

-Mike-
 
Hey mike just forget about your calcium for now wait a couple of days and measure your tank alk. That should be the only parameter of importance as of right now. If you recall my previous thread, it has been a while since i played witth a reactor(about 8 years ago and gave up quick in favor of two part) but to be honest with u its been an eye opening experience in terms of less work and hassle with my tank.
Anyways just folow your alk and make adjutments accordingly, Roger and Chris were very helpful as well as anal regarding this issues , but they were 100 % right in their assesments.
A good start point is 50 and 50 meaning 50 BPM and 50ml/min. Hoping that your tank is populated enuff to sustain this.
DONT MAKE CHANGES DAILY TAKE YOUR TIME AND B PATIENT!!!
 
Hey Manny,

Well my tank is pretty well populated LOL, so there is no worry there. But when I checked it yesterday evening my alk was around 7dkh. this morning after tweaking the setting yesterday my alk is at 9.6 dkh. Which is a substantial gain over the previous day. Ususally with the two I get it at around 8dkh. So right now I am over what I normally am. It has not risen either. I know that ALK is more important now but I fgured i would test the Ca anyways. LOl. Things seem stable so far and theere has been no significant change in the tank pH. I am going to leave it here and watch it for a few more days. If the Alk gets lower then I know i need to decrease the effluent to increase alk content right? or increase bpm... I have a decent idea of how it works now and am getting there slowly.

I will post here for any changes.

Thanks,

mike
 
JUST BE PATIENT _WAIT BEFORE U TINKER WITH IT TOO MUCH. EASIER SAID THAN DONE LOL

JUST BE PATIENT _WAIT BEFORE U TINKER WITH IT TOO MUCH. EASIER SAID THAN DONE LOL

http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/reactor.html
Measure and record alkalinity every few days and compare the readings. If the alkalinity level is falling, increase the amount of CO2 so more of the medium is dissolved. Conversely, if the alkalinity level is rising above the level you want, reduce the amount of CO2 so less of the medium is dissolved.

Of course, making adjustments to the CO2 rate will affect the pH level inside the reactor. A quick fix to keep the pH stable is to make the same adjustment to the effluent flow rate as you make to the CO2. For example, if you double the CO2 rate, double the effluent rate, too; this is only a rule of thumb, but should prove effective.
 
I'd reccomend a PH controller to keep things stable in the reactor itself. With ARM media especially the potential for media melt down is there. I've had it happen a couple times over the years. I'd also reccomend a Rotameter (lab grade flow meter) you can run your effluent thru to accurately control MUCH better than that supper cheapo plastic ball valve.
 
Thanks for the tips Manny. Well I ended up doing a 10bpm increase in the CO2. I am not at 40bpm and 50ml/min effluent. The tank pH is the same and the tank ALK is at 9.0DKH now. I increased the CO2 10bpm to cover the loss in ALK after 12 hours. I will test again in the morning to see where m ALK level is. I mean so far the ALK in the tank has remained in the 9's.

Anyway, Manny after I get the ALK dialed in what do I do for the Ca?
I have not tested that since I did it this morning. I hope to have the ALK around 10dkh....only time will tell though LOL. Ca reactor take some patience he he he.


I am using a pH controller on the reactor by the way. The pH in the reactor is 6.78 and has remained there since increasing the bpm. I have the reactor set to turn on the CO2 at p 6.5, bu since the bpm is so slow the controller never really closes the solenoid. So in essence the solenoid is acting like a fail safe in case for some reason the CO2 begins to increase dramatically; then it will just shut off. I think running it this way will increase the life of the solenoid so it does not have to turn on and off so much. Even though my effluent pH is kinda high the effluent ALK is still high at about 17DKH.

Thanks for the help everyone,

Mike
 
I'm at 6.5.
U may need to find that happy medium in terms of alk and ca. In my case I'm dripping at 60ml/hr now and my alk seem stable at 3.5/ 9.5-10 dkh over the last two months.
As far as my calium in january i decided to check continuoulsy and it was around 350-375always so i decided to manually boost the level.
My last 3 measures have been 475-455-425
I'm I believe at 60-70 ml min(measured in a shot glass as suggested by the anal but right Mr.Aggie LOL)
And about 50 bpm
To be honest I have not checked params over the last 3-4 wks but all is well. maybe i'll ch4eck today after work and find out i'm dealing with a mess. Over and out.
 
Well I am watching the setting I have now. I am at about 60bpm and 75ml/min.
ALK stable so far at 10.2DKH

I have not checked the Ca yet. My consumption might be a bit more than your even though my tank is smaller... I have some 40 various acros and montis in my tank. I get good growth with what i was doing before but it was just too time consuming. LOL.

Well I am going to keep watching the params for the next couple days. I was using the calculator link you sent me and it said if I kept my pH level the same and was able to increase the effluent drip to 76ml/min I would be able to hold a value of 10DKH.
It has been working so far so only time will tell in the end.
Thanks for the help Manny and everyone else it is really appreciated.

Mike
 
Ok so since yesterday....

The tank has remained stable with an ALK level of 10.2-10.6DKH

The pH in the reactor is at a steady 6.80

Tank pH is 7.95-8.10
Effluent pH is 7.1

The bpm did decrease a little... it is now around 53bpm but the pH is stable and has been for the last 12hours.
Also the effluent drip rate is about 75ml/min as before.

I hope this is it!!! Gasman so if it holds this setting then all I have to do now is adjust the Ca to the right level, right?
I have to check everything again once I am home.

-Mike-
 
Mike LOL b patient . This setup is a ptience game. Anyways since u started with adequate params(the way it should b done) all seems to be ok. give it a week and c WITHOUT MAKING CHANGES-JUST KEEP AN EYE OF YOUR ALK .
If after a wk all seems well u r getting there, the rest is just minor changes as yout tank goes as it relates to population
I checked mine and i'm at 70/70 wich seems low but it is what it is. I have 10-12 colonies and tons of frags. If you ask me mature setups such ans for example Rogers and Mr. Aggie b about 3-4 times that and somotimes they have to manually adjust their calcium for output. Anyways good luck and happy reefiing.
 
Hey manny I want to add a frag tank to the reef tank but have it plumbed to the same tank just sitting beside the tank on a nother smaller stand... I hope that made sense LOL.

Well anyhow my main concern is having to go through this again once the frag tank is set up. I mean the tank will only be filled with cutting from the main tank as the corals eventually fully grow out. SO I was thinking that theoretically since I am in no way adding bioload to the Ca ALK regime that I would probably not have to tweak any settings. Then again this may not hold true because i know as each of these frags grow and sit in the frag tank they will increase their Ca and ALK uptake. Will the increase be large enough to say warrant a change in the settings of teh reactor?

-Mike-
 
Yeah I kind of figured that would have been the answer LOL.

Anyways that is not for a littel while because I still have to figure out how I am going to plumb the second tank.
 
I'm looking forward to that setup and taking a look at your colonies.Perhaps this weekend if its ok with u and i get some time off.
 
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