Dosing pump or Ca reactor? Readt to toss the reactor!

Aquaduck

Aquaduck

New member
Frankly I am getting fed up with my Ca reactor after 1.5 years for the following reasons:

1. It drops my Ph at night.
2. It won't maintain a constant drip rate, I've tried feeding it using a pump and I have a needle valve on the effluent line.
3. As a result of #2 my Alkalinity and Cacium levels rise and fall.
4. As a result of #3 I am having to test and adjust every few days.
5. It's noisey, every bubble of CO2 causes a swooshing sound as it's chopped by the impeller.
6. The pump adds heat to the effluent. It comes out of the reactor +4 degrees F higher than the water going in.
7. It's a PITA to remove and change the media.
8. It's taking up too much room under my tank.
9. I think the PO4 coming from the media is starting to build up. I now have to use a Phosban Reactor.

Can I keep the Ca, Alk, Mg, and Sr at proper levels using a dosing pump? Would I need a doser with 4 pump heads? Would this be more of a hassle to maintain? I have an Aquacontroller to do the timing.
 
if you combine your ca reactor with a Kalk reactor you should be fine. the kalk reactor will get the PH to 8.3 and stabilise the all system.
 
Can I add to this?

Can I add to this?

I have a Knop reactor and it too is a pain at times. I purchased a Geo Kalk reactor to replace evaporated water and raise my ph at night because of the calcium reactor running 24/7
Can I just have my Kalk reactor run 24/7 and take my calcium reator off line all together yet mailtain the correct levels?
 
What brand of Ca reactor are you using? That sounds like a lot of negatives from one source. ARM brand of media has a very low level of PO4. I read in another thread yesterday that is was tested out at 0.02. IMO another reactor brand may help, you are having too many problems with this one. If you wish to use a dosing pump, do a search for the balling method for more info. There is some great info on the number and amounts of supplements to use. HTH
 
It's a Marine Aquarium Systems reactor. The smallest they make. So ARM has 0.02ppm of phosphate, what would that accumulate to over the course of nearly two years if no PO4 remover was used? I've used up 1.5 large containers of ARM.
 
Think that you can't add more than the evaporated water. so if you have a low ca demand, running only the Kalk reactor should be fine but for more ca keep both. try an other media.
 
a new valve would fix your drip problems or you could even use a dosing pump to feed the reactor

a smaller feed pump would reduce back pressure and would help with the heat problems and probably drip problems as well. What pump are you using?

running the effluent through GFO would solve PO4 problems

running kalk topoff would help the pH problems

It's tough to maintain levels with kalk alone and dripping 2-part is PITA IMO
 
Calcium reactors suck. Yeah, I said it, they suck. If you like them, good for you. I spent a ton of money on one and all its accesories only to have to fiddle with it constantly - bubble counts, drip rates, lifter pumps, hoses everywhere, low PH, blah, blah, blah. Too much hassle and not enough room in the stand for a small system like mine. Perhaps if I had something the size of our beautiful tank of the month, I'd be willing, but for anything 180 gal or less, why bother?

I just want folks to know there is another very good option.

A Liter Meter, or similar dosing pump, makes life very easy, easy, easy. Randy's two-part is cheap and effective. I make up a gallon of part one and part two monthly, drop the tubes in, and let 'er ride for a month straight - no problems whatsoever.

This hobby can be very expensive and hard to maintain for the basic hobbiest, or it can be tolerably expensive and fairly easy. I've tried both, and I'll stick with the latter.
 
Adding food or a death in the tank would raise the PO4 level significantly higher. Also, methods of export such as water changes, skimming, and PO4 remover would take out some as well. The point being that ARM contributes a low level of PO4 to the system, and should not be a major contributor to any phosphate problems. Phosphate removing media does not have to be used in a reactor, but could be placed in a bag similar to carbon. This works less effectively, but you do not have to buy new equipment to get you PO4 levels down. HTH
 
A peristaltic feed pump would take care of your instability issues. It sounds as if you're constantly adjusting the reactor, which negates the benefit of running a reactor. Your effluent rate should never change unless you change it. It doesn't take much for a reactor to not work properly.

Have you considered a peristaltic feed pump? One of RC's sponsors had the aquamedic SP3000 on sale for $67 recently...

Personally, I've ran reactors for 5 years. The last 2 years have been with a peristaltic feed, and I'd not every fuss with a reactor without one again. That being said, I rarely touch my reactor, and my Ca and Alk have been the same for a long time. If it does test high or low, it's usually a waterchange that was the culprit.

They are excellent pieces of equipment, but they will just be extremely expensive headaches if you cannot meter the CO2 and effluent with consistancy.

My reactor is known for requiring a feed that can stand up to pressure... I've convinced quite a few folks with the same reactor to switch to a peristaltic feed. Give it a try.

-Rob
 
Well, I had my reactor being fed from a tap off my return pump. So it had lots of pressure. I've also had it gravity fed, never noticed a difference running it either way. I've never tried a peristalic pump. If I had to do that I would get rid of the reactor and use a Gro-Tech III or similar three head dosing pump. I found that the CO2 rate has an effect on the effluent rate. It changes the internal pressure of the reactor and as a result, you have to fiddle with the effluent control and the CO2 needle valve to balance it out. Changing one always affects the other.
 
A tap from a return doesn't typically have as much pressure as you would think. A small Tee tends to act as a venturi.

I've got a long thread in the lighting/filtration forum that deals with various feed methods on the schuran jetstream 1. The progression is similar, I too tried various methods until I found the peristaltic feed to solve my issues. This came with much help from the nice folks at ultimatereef (the UK site). Eventually, I noticed that more and more reactor setups all over the world used peristaltic pumps. For one reason or another, it's not as popular in the US.

But if you have your mind set on a reactor OR a grotech peristaltic pump, I'll stop now.

-Rob
 
Well I have hated my reactor too until I purchased two things to monitor my tank. The best thing was my Aqua Controller III. I have that to monitor the Ph in the reactor and the tank and shut off the CO2 when my ph in the reactor < 6.63 and then I got a ROTOMETER!!! This thing can tell you EXACTLY how much effluent is coming out of the reactor and is INFINATLEY ADJUSTABLE. With these two additions I've had a much better time of dialing in the reactor (I recently added the rotameter, cost about 100 but you can find cheaper units) and I'm MUCH HAPPIER. I hated fiddling with that cheapie ball valve. That sucked bigtime. Same thing Alk/Ca swings all over the place. Now I am getting much closer to SOLID ALK/Ca levels. I will tweak it every few days now to dial this puppy in!!! much much better indeed.

Try it. I think you'll be glad you did. I found that with the combination of adjusting the effluent PH and the drip with the rotameter I've almost got it drilled :thumbsup:

Chris
 
I use a mag 3 with a valve to pressurize my reactor.. Only way I could get mine to work.

I have a geo copy 2 chamber reactor, I bought the parts for 150, but It too me months to get it to work right...

I use sprinkler drip valves from home depot... and when they start to clog I throw them away and put on a new one...

Works great, I change them when I add media, or about every 6-7 mos.

I tried an aquamedic on a kalk reactor ,.. didnt work too well, ended up shutting it off for it raised my alk too high..
 
I gave up my reactor and run DIY 2 part on a dual aquamedic doser......I like this method better then messing around with my calcium reactor all the time.
 
Oh I forgot to mention I T-d off my return to feed the reactor. The return is actually throttled back a lot on my tank (Its a pretty big return pump) and initially I almost blew the lid off my reactor!! :lol:

I used to have problems with air buildup in the reactor from the powerhead. I agree it really takes a while to figure out how to use the reactor correctly I guess. In my case I really had no choice because I am away from home m-f so that was the only way I could supply supplementation. I think if I could have dosed in the beginning I would have went that route. I am finally after fiddling with this darn thing over the course of two years think I've got it figured out.

I am waiting for the day that I don't have to dose anything in my reef except water changes and cleaning the skimmer cup! :D

Chris
 
I ended up using stainless steel on my reactor top to get it tight enough to not leak.

I dose nothing cept water changes, and cleaning skimmers every other week! :)
 
peristalic pump here but I have a very small system

www.innovativeaquatics.com

i use it simply for kalk and it keeps up with demand but Im not closed to fully stocked yet also i can change tubing and pump a two part if i like

very versatile, reliable(as long as you remember to turn it back on when you refill your reservoir) and wont back siphon or overdose, easy to use, low maintenance

Only way i would consider a CA reactor is in a couple of years when i get a huge system but right now its peristalic pumps for me

i prefer the refurbished medical pumps(make sure you get the alarm disable if you decide to go this route)
 
i use it 24/7 pumping to keep CA/ ALK/ Salinity constant

ph still fluctuates at night but you cant do anything about it..but it stays fairly tight ranged...

8.17 at night and 8. 29 during the day...sometimes it goes down when the limewater becomes degraded(you gotta change it out every 2-4 days depending on how big a reservoir because lime degrades in potency) but if the ph goes down it keeps the same swing and never goes below 8.1
 
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