fine tuning ALK supplement by adding CO2 to reactor??

[cwegescheide]

Hi Randy,

Hey I just recently got a Neptune ACIII and got a probe for my reactor. Once upon a time you told me to bump up my CO2 to my reactor to get a little stronger effluent out of my reactor (I thought you did anyways)

The reason I ask is I'm trying to tweek my reactor to keep up with my CA/ALK needs and it seem when I adjust my drip rate I either get my ALK too high or too low. I was thinking if I could just adjust my effluent ph a little bit I could "fine tune" my efluent so I don't have to add b-ionic on a weekly basis and not worry that my ALK is either getting too high or too low (of course I will test my ALK and Ca regularly regardless)

What do you think? Sound good to you?

Thanks,
Chris

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

You should be able to tweak it up or down (by adjusting CO2 addition and the effluent flow rates) to match the demand as long as the reactor is appropriately sized.

These may help:

Calcium Reactor setup calculator (CaCO3/CO2 reactors)
http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/reactor.html

A Guide to Using Calcium Reactors
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-05/sh/feature/index.php