Korallin Calcium Reactor Help

[sanababit]

Well i recently bought a new korallin for my 90 gal mostly sps tank, cause i got tired of dosing every day, anyways i need help setting this thing up, i have read and investigated a little so let me run by you my set up.

Korallin calcium ractor 1502
koralith media
5lb CO2 tank
Regulating valve with solenoid
Red Sea CO2 needle valve

Fisrt i set everything up, an mj1200 is pumping water to the calcium reactor as well to other 3 reactor filters (carbon, phosban, NO NO3) i believe i am getting enough water pumped to calcium reactor to work properly; i hooked up regulator to co2 tank, tubing from regulator to red sea needle valve then to korallin bubble counter then to inlet of calcium reactor, cleaned media and reactor really well with regular tap water and filled reactor with clean media...

open valve on tank and first gauge reads 1000 psi, then slowly turned valve on regulator to get about 17-19 psi on secong pressure gauge, since o got an additional needle valve for better control, i opened the needle valve on regulator all the way and used the red sea max as my main control valve, then i start filling the reactor with water and bleed all the air out of it, then on the outflow i set it at about 50-60 drops per minute...

Now here is my problem, i want to set this thing for 10-15 bpm on the co2, but it just isn't happening, on the bubble counter i can see that the co2 struggles to go down the middle tube and when it reaches the end of the tube it accumulates and realeases little bubbles at first and then a big one, its like 2 or 3 bubbles are ok in a 4 second interval and then all of the sudden 3 little bubbles followed by one big one, this is messing with my mind, i have already returned one regulating valve...

questions

50-60 DPM with 10-15 BPM is an ok start to set it up???
why can't i fine tune the CO2???
could it be the brass check valve on korallin??
could the tubing fitting not be tight enough???
do i need more pressure on the outlet pressure gauge???

please enlighten me guys, i know someone out there must of had the same problem.... thanks

sana

 

[jdieck]

Re: Korallin Calcium Reactor Help

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12598794#post12598794 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sanababit
...questions

50-60 DPM with 10-15 BPM is an ok start to set it up???
Yes it is a good start but remember that setting it up is a trial and error. The final set up is to add the same amount of Akalinity your tank is consumming. To do so you test your tank alkalinity every 24 to 48 hours and adjust the reactor to add more or less as required until equalized.
To add more alkalinity you can either increase the bubble rate or increase the bubble rate AND the effluent flow.
I will start increasing the bubble rate until the PH of the reactor is as low as 6.5 to 6.4 from there on you need to increase both to keep on increasing the alkalinity

why can't i fine tune the CO2???
Regulators for the hobby are a pain in the butt. They are a single stage and are not good enough at maintaining a constant pressure at lower than 25 psi pressure settings. So they create a surge, presure drops a the bubbles get thru then increases and then cycle again that can create the variation in bubble rate.
If the pressure is increased to achieve stability the needle valve becomes too sensitive to be adjusted properly or easily.

could it be the brass check valve on korallin??
Yes the check valves take some pressure to open, this tied to the regulator properties can increase the surge effect, pressure drops, valve closes pressure increase valve opens.

could the tubing fitting not be tight enough???
I doubt there is any issue with the tubing.

do i need more pressure on the outlet pressure gauge???
That can help but if you do your needle valve will be more sensitive and difficult to set. Bubble count surging is not a problem unless you can not maintain a stable PH in the effluent, that PH is what really counts and what has to be measured. Need to use an electronic monitor like pin point to measure it, PH chemical test kits are not accurate enough to make adjustments.

Finally if you find out that the reactor can not cope with your alkalinity consumption even at the highest practical output (usually 80 to 100 ml/min and 6.3 to 6.4 PH) or if your tank PH drops too much, try replacing the korallith for small ARM media which is esier to dissolve at higher PH levels.

please enlighten me guys, i know someone out there must of had the same problem.... thanks

sana