Korallin Calcium Reactor

[Ereefic]

OK, time to get down to business. Controller is here and calibrated using the 7.01 solution as recommended by the manufacturer. Tank pH is 8.0 Effluent of drip from reactor WITHOUT any CO2 being added is 7.6

I'm getting 40 DPM from the reactor and i'm going to set the bubble rate to 10BPM. I guess just see what the pH of the effluent is after several hours? When should I first start to check the Alk. of the effluent?

I have the low point of the controller set to a pH of 6.5 and i'm using Koralith fine media.

Everything sound good? Do I need to do anything differently?

 

[jdieck]

Yes, before you start you need to find out why your PH in the tank is so low. It should be at least 8.15 to 8.2 at the end of the day otherwise the Ca reactor will make it drop to unacceptable levels.
What is your Calcium and Alkalinity right now? I also recomend to buffer them to acceptable levels before the reactor is set on line so you can better asses the consumption. You said you were going to measure the change what was it?

Did you calibrated using both ranges? 7 and 10 or 7 and 4?

 

[Ereefic]

Alk. went from 10.2 dkh to 8.6 dkh in 24 hrs.

I calibrated using 7.01 only. I do have the pH 10 solution. Should I set it to the 7.01 (using front screw to set) and then use the 10 using the back screw to set?

 

[jdieck]

You need to calibrate to both. Which brand of controller?
There got to be two adjustment screws if not marked 7 and 4/10 they may be marked center (for 7) and range for (4 or 10) Did it came with instructions? try to read them a couple of times and follow them. The calibration process imply calibrate at 7, then calibrate at 10 then return to 7 and recalibrate if necessary. You are done when at each (7 and 10) there is the right reeding an not drifting. While in the solution wait at least five minutes for the reading to stop changing before adjusting the corresponding screw.

 

[Ereefic]

It's a milwaukee SMS122. The directions say to calibrate to 7 and 4. I put the probe in the 7 and let it sit for a few minutes and calibrated it to 7, then put the probe in the 10 solution and let it sit and it settled on 10, so there was no drifting. I assume it is calibrated. I got it from Premium Aquatics and they don't sell the 4 solution so I got the 10.

The 4 and 10 should be set using the screw in the back, but I didn't need to use it.

 

[jdieck]

That is OK 10 can also be used. Then your 8.0 tank reading is fine and you need to find out why is it so low. Try bringing Alka back to 10 then set the reactor as you described.

 

[Ereefic]

I added some buffer (Kent's Superbuffer dkh) to raise Alk. and i'll recheck the Alk. in about an hour and see where it's at. The pH did go up for about a minute after adding the buffer, went up to 8.2 then settled back down to 8.0

My plan was to run the tank with an Alk. of 10 dkh and whatever Cal. is in balance to that.

I'm going to add a hose going from the air intake of the skimmer to the outside threw a window and see if it'll help raise the pH of the tank.

I would hate to have to resort to dripping Kalk again and i'm going to avoid doing so at all costs. That is the reason for the reactor so I don't have to mix kalk everyday and deal with a dripper.

 

[Ereefic]

I added a little more buffer which should bring my dkh to around 10.5 or 11, have to test in a little while, but the pH is now at 8.1

I set the reactor at about 10 BPM and 40 DPM and the effluent pH is now at 7.0

What pH should I be shooting for with the Koralith Fine Media?

 

[jdieck]

Increase the effluent rate to about 30 ml/min (use a measuring cup or something like that as DPM may be too fast to count.
Then set effluent PH setting so the range is between 6.8 and 7.0
Test PH and alkalinity daily and check bubble rate and flow to insure it has not changed. Increase the CO2 bubble rate until alkalinity does not change one day to the other.

Try to drip the effluent near the skimer pump suction so most of the effluent is processed by the skimmer, this will help remove excess CO2 or convert the carbonic acid into bicarbonate faster so the PH drop gets minimized.

If the reactor achieves stability (flow and buble rate does not change even if the alkalinity drops you can use the second section (adjust the reactor) of this calculator to readjust to the calculated parameters for the reactor:

http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/reactor.html

 

[Ereefic]

Here is what's happening as of now:

Alk. - 10.6
Cal. - 460

Both were brought back up with buffer and Calcium.

Effluent pH is steady at 6.8 at 40 DPM and 10 BPM
Alk. of the effluent at 6.8 is 18.6 dkh

I'll let it run like this overnight and see how it goes and make sure everything is consistant. I'll recheck Alk and Cal of the tank in the morning and see what they do. I'll follow your directions above although don't know if I have anything to measure 30 ml/min, but i'll find something then up the CO2 to keep the pH at 6.8

MH's have been off for about an hour but VHO actinics are still on and tank pH is 8.0

 

[jdieck]

I think your effluent amount is rather small but check it in the morning. Please check 40DPM how much it is in ml/min so I can help you calculate the required adjustments. Is the reactor feeding your 120, your 110 or your 45?.

Can you estimate the actual water volume of the system the reactor is feeding to?

 

[Ereefic]

I'm guessing the total water volume to be 125-130 gal. including sump and fuge.

I measured the 40 DPM to be 3.25 ml

I know if I open the effluent all the way, it'll do about 220ml/min. I know that really doesn't matter much, but thought i'd tell you anyways.

 

[Ereefic]

Before bed last night, I upped the drip rate to 8ml/min and left the bubble count the same. pH of the effluent was 6.6. I have the controller set to shut off at 6.5 so don't know if I hit it or not but all is running well this am. Drip rate is the same and bubble count also.

Dkh of effluent now is 28.8 dkh and my alk in the tank dropped from 10.6 to 10.2 in about 12 hrs.

Still up it to 30ml/min? Tank pH late last night was 7.9 and 8.0 this morning, lights still off.

 

[jdieck]

Your alkalinity consumption from previous test was 1.6 per day From last night to todays figures after 12 hours accounting for the reactor's addition and the difference in tank alk. your addition was 1.2 dkh per day so assuming your consumption is an average of both or 1.4 dkH per day you need an effluent flow of 25 ml/min with an alkalinity of 30 dKh in the effluent to aprox add the 1.4 dKh needed per day.

Rather than going to the end estimate and being conservative, increase the flow to 20 ml/min and maintain the same 28 to 29 dKh alkalinity of the effluent (keep the controller at 6.5 minimum).
You may need to increase the bubble rate for the alkalinity to stay at 6.5 to 6.6.
Test and then retest after 24 hours so we can make the next adjustment. Do no add any buffer in between.

 

[Ereefic]

Ok, I set the effluent to 20ml/min give or take 1ml. And I left the bubble count alone until I check the dkh of the effluent. How long should I let it run before I check the effluent for alk. again?

 

[jdieck]

In about half an hour you will see if the effluent PH increased Usually it does when increasing the flow unless the bubble rate was high and the controller kept on shuting the CO2 off.
In about two hours the effluent Alk will start to stabilize.
If you keep the effluent PH at 6.5 to 6.6 the effluent alkalinity will be back at around what you had before.
By the way I do not know if I mentioned that in order to save chemicals when testing the effluent you can dilute the sample 50/50 with distilled water then multiply the reading by two.

 

[Ereefic]

I'm doing the low resolution test with the Salifert Alk. test. Just cutting the original test in half.

 

[Ereefic]

Effluent is at 20ml/min at 10BPM with a dkh of 20.6 at 6.8 pH.

So i'm going to bump up the BPM just a touch as to keep a effluent pH of 6.6 I'll want to try and keep the effluent dkh around 29.

 

[Ereefic]

20ml/min at 20 BPM with a dkh of 24 at pH of 6.6

My alk. in the tank is still 10.2 dkh as it was this morning at 9am.

 

[jdieck]

Assuming 125 gal of effective water volume at that setting you are adding about 0.8 dKh per day so I expect the Alk to drop a little bit if the previous consumption calculations of 1.2 to 1.6 per day and water volume is OK.

It seems you are getting there. Let it run 24 hours and see how it goes. very small adjustments will be needed at this point. If needed after the next one you may need to run it for at least 24 hours to notice a difference and then you will need just to insure that the setting is kept and test Alk once a week.


If needed in the next adjustment we shall try increasing the effluent flow a bit again. I always prefer higher flow and higher PH, Helps with the flow inside the reactor and reduces the posibility of plugging the media or the tubing and the effluent has less carbonic acid and more bicarbonate reducing a bit the impact on PH

BTW You are doing a good job here!