Korallin Calcium Reactor
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Sorry... I re-read what I wrote and it is wrong. Up; Down, Up, Down got confusing ....
thrlride
Aka lemmywinks
So, in other words... The longer the tank water stays in the reactor the lower the PH will be?
I've got it almost dialed in with the CO2 off. The drip of the CO2 purge is near 2 per minute and the output 2 is near 40 or so. After I get the CO2 flowing again I will tweak and test. I think I may need another DKH test kit though!
I've got it almost dialed in with the CO2 off. The drip of the CO2 purge is near 2 per minute and the output 2 is near 40 or so. After I get the CO2 flowing again I will tweak and test. I think I may need another DKH test kit though!
jdieck
New member
thrlride said:
No, the longer the water stays in the reactor without further addition of CO2 the higher the PH will be until PH, dissolved ions, carbonic acid and dissolved CO2 achieve a balance in the water which is at the PH point were Aragonite no longer dissolves. I think is about 7.6
Lets assume the process without water flow for a moment. You have a bucket with media, you add aquarium water and then bubble CO2 trough the media and then stop the CO2.
Here is what I see happening:
CO2 dissolves in the water and turns into Carbonic Acid lowering the PH. As the Carbonic Acid dissolves the media Calcium and Bicarbonate Ions are now dissolved in the water and the PH starts to increase until everything achieves a balance (saturation) were no more Calcium and Bicarbonate Ions can be added to the water Aragonite stops dissolving (Dissolution depends on the PH level as well as the amount of alkalinity in the water), free CO2 in the water has either escaped back into the air or turned some of the Carbonic Acid into Bicarbonate Ions etc.
Now let's make it dynamic. Take some of the saturated water out, add new tank water bubble more CO2 and the reactions start again but this time you do get the water out and add new water and CO2 continuously.
The reactions will try to increase the PH but the continued addition of CO2 keeps it at a lower level thus maintaining the process going. The level at which PH stabilize will depend on the ratio of the amount of water added and removed, and the CO2 added and consumed.
For example oversimplifying if you have a water flow of 25 ml/hr and a CO2 bubble rate of 20 bpm and the PH stabilizes at 6.5, Then the PH will approx. stay at 6.5. If you double the flow to 50 ml/hr and the CO2 to 40 bpm the PH will tend to remain at 6.5
but there is a limit. You can continue increasing the flow and the CO2 and this will happen as long as the water stay in contact with the media long enough to complete the needed dissolution.
At certain point the water will pass trough the media too fast to dissolve and you will start to carry CO2 and carbonic acid out with the effluent water. The PH can stay low but the water will not be saturated with ions so the alkalinity in the effluent starts to drop.
So until the point were the flow is too high, the total amount of alkalinity added to the tank will depend of the following:
a) The higher the flow the more alkalinity
b) The lower the PH the more alkalinity
If the flow exceeds the retention time for a given PH the alkalinity in the flow starts to decrease. At one point the reduction in alkalinity in the effluent is faster than the increase in flow so the total alkalinity added starts to decrease and the non-reached Acid and undissolved CO2 starts to increase in the effluent thus starting to lower the PH of the overall tank.
Sorry it might be confusing but is difficult for me to explain how the several variables interact with each other.
This article may help to explain better than I could:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-04/rhf/feature/index.htm
minsmarine
New member
Kc, boat & jdieck,
Really appreciated your help. Now my CR's functioning well. My tank dKH maintain @ 10.6 3.77 mg/L. Great.
I didn't use addition pump to drive CR. I use the return from my FR ( which is driven by 5,200L/Hr ). So far so good. After CR is preasurized, suddenly everything are easy to maintain
Great help guys. Really appreciate.
Really appreciated your help. Now my CR's functioning well. My tank dKH maintain @ 10.6 3.77 mg/L. Great.
I didn't use addition pump to drive CR. I use the return from my FR ( which is driven by 5,200L/Hr ). So far so good. After CR is preasurized, suddenly everything are easy to maintain
Great help guys. Really appreciate.
thrlride
Aka lemmywinks
I got the controller in today and calibrated with the 7.0 solution it came with. I put the probe in my effluent cup and the PH is 6.8 now. Funny, my hanna pen said 6.1!!!!
I checked the DKH of the effluent and it was 35. I will now monitor the dkh of the tank and see what it does long term.
Thanks everyone for your help!
I checked the DKH of the effluent and it was 35. I will now monitor the dkh of the tank and see what it does long term.
Thanks everyone for your help!
jdieck
New member
The sms122 requires two calibration points for PH 7 and PH 4.
Use the calibration trim in front of the controller for calibrating to 7 and use the one on the back of the controller for calibrating at 4.
Note that this controller is a single control set point meaning that rather than open at certain high PH and close at certain low PH it will only close and open at the same set point. In other words if you set it say at 6.6 the controller will turn on the CO2 when the PH reaches 6.6 or higher but if the CO2 flow is too high the PH will drop imediately and the controller will imediatelly close. The higher the CO2 flow when the solenoid is open the faster the controller will switch On and Off.
If the controller turns On and Off too frequently it will put a lot of stress in the contact switch and in the solenoid shortening their life so try to reduce this effect setting the CO2 flow to the minimum necessary to very slowly (Say, take about 1/2 an hour to reduce the PH from 6.8 to 6.6) lower the PH towards the set point.
Use the calibration trim in front of the controller for calibrating to 7 and use the one on the back of the controller for calibrating at 4.
Note that this controller is a single control set point meaning that rather than open at certain high PH and close at certain low PH it will only close and open at the same set point. In other words if you set it say at 6.6 the controller will turn on the CO2 when the PH reaches 6.6 or higher but if the CO2 flow is too high the PH will drop imediately and the controller will imediatelly close. The higher the CO2 flow when the solenoid is open the faster the controller will switch On and Off.
If the controller turns On and Off too frequently it will put a lot of stress in the contact switch and in the solenoid shortening their life so try to reduce this effect setting the CO2 flow to the minimum necessary to very slowly (Say, take about 1/2 an hour to reduce the PH from 6.8 to 6.6) lower the PH towards the set point.
jdieck
New member
I think your friend is using the controller as a safety feature. In his case the reactor is adjusted manually to maintain certain PH by balancing the effluent and the CO2 Bubbles to maintain it stable. If something happens in the reactor or the CO2 regulator fails to close or something like that then the CO2 is closed before it can create damage in the main aquarium.
This situation is ideal if you can maintain a CO2 bubble rate and an effluent flow stable enough to keep a fixed PH in the reactor.
In other words you need to be able to set up the reactor without a controller.
The controller will never close under normal circumstances. I know this is the preferred method used by Dragon Slayer
This situation is ideal if you can maintain a CO2 bubble rate and an effluent flow stable enough to keep a fixed PH in the reactor.
In other words you need to be able to set up the reactor without a controller.
The controller will never close under normal circumstances. I know this is the preferred method used by Dragon Slayer
dragon_slayer
In Memoriam
jdieck said:
:thumbsup:
Thanks for all the responses jdieck things have been hectic around here the past few so i've just had a moment here and there to breeze over some of the above posts without time to comment.
kc
jdieck
New member
JMDAKAN said:
Here you go...
http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/pr...SPlastic&category_name=15615&product_id=15616
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