Korallin Calcium Reactor

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smoke15

smoke15

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This is new to me, please be gentle, as you always are. This post may make NO SENSE.
I have just purchased a new Korallin C-1502 calcium reactor for my 240 gallon reef tank. I bought the "whole package deal complete, from marine depot. I have it all hooked up and it is running. I want to confirm that I am running it optimally.
What should be my starting points.
1) How man bubbles per sec. should I be counting? I am currently set at 1 bubble every 3 seconds.

2) How many drops per sec of water should be coming out of the reactor? I am currently dripping it at a rate of one drop per second

Any other special insights anyone can give me, regarding my calcium reactor? I am mainly keeping soft corals, leathers, and things only requiring P.C lights for now.
My calcium currently test at 410 and alkalinty at about 9.8, using salifert test kits. I was dripping Kalk for about two years.
 
I am thinking that is a good start. Do you have the manufacturer's instructions for setting the unit up? If not, they are available online at MD website.

If I remember, they recommend 10-15 bubbles/min and a effluent drip around 40 drops/min.

I have the same unit and love it.just wait 24-36 hours and test the alkalinity of your effluent. It should be approx 3 times your target.

Paul
 
I have the same reactor and the advice above is sound and exactly what is quoted in the manual. Works great and corals love it!
 
Remember to change your media every six months or when the level of the media drops 2 centimeters.
 
I also agree with the above posts. I am currently dripping about 40 drops per minute with about 1 bubble per 8 seconds. This keeps my effluent PH around 6.68. I am using a pinpoint PH controller but it rarely shuts off the Co2 since my effluent PH rarely moves. The KH typically ranges from 35-45 and my calcium tests at 650.

I am also running a Neilson Kalk reactor which is fed by my Tunze auto topoff.

You can email me if you have any questions.

Good luck.
 
I have the same reactor also. I run it at 1 drop every 6 seconds and my effluent line runs at about 50 drips a min. I only run mine for 6 hours a day. 3 at night, 3 in the day. I had to start doing this to bring the Calcium down. It was at 650. It has now stabalized at 480 with 9 Dkh. This is on a 125gal. It took me a little while to find a good set point. For some reason also when I first got the reactor I couldn't get the bubble rate to be constant. It would start bubbling more as time went on. This problem stoped about 1 month in. Maybe it just had to break in. Anyway good luck.
 
i've got a K2R, but a question for you guys anyway

i've got a K2R, but a question for you guys anyway

I have had mine running for a month. rock solid with no adjustments. i didn't count the bubbles, but effluent ph was 6.6 i was quite happy with that. just added 300 # of rock. can't seem to keep the efluent down without adding more co2. again, i haven't counted the bubbles, but a new bubble is release every time the former bubble hits the surface of the counter. it's pretty quick. not sure what's going on. for some reason, it's all i can do to keep the effluent ph down to 6.6 range. it keeps wanting to skyrocket towards 7.
 
I must be doing something wrong. I cant seem to stop getting gas in the reactor chamber where the media is. I also cant seem to get the drips coming out of the reactor to be consistant.
More stupid questions. What is the "effluent"? I know these are VERY basic questions, I appreciate the help.
 
check out the online sites like Preium Aquatics or Marine Depot to see what they look like you should be able to find a good one for under $100. and it will continuously monitor pH for you. Your reactor can drop the pH in the aquarium very quickly if not set up right. = dead tank
 
Ah where to start..........

its best to count your CO2 BPM over the time frame of a min (hence the M in BPM) because they come at erratic rates and over the course of the minuet you get a more accurate count.


the best way to adjust it to your system is to test your dKH levels to see if they drop from one day to the next, if they do then you need more effluent from the reactor. do this by upping the drip rate, which I measure in ml/min rather then drips because drips can be different sized depending on a lot of factors that change with your tank daily.

any time you up your drip rate, you need to up your CO2 as well. if you keep your reactor at 100% CO2 saturation you get better use of your CO2 and your media. you should have a dKH of the effluent around 45-60 in the koralline reactors at saturation.

if your getting a build up of 'air' inside the top of the reactor there are several causes. could be excess CO2 build up due to your adding to much CO2, could be your pump is picking up micro bubbles and feeding them into the reactor. if its the micro bubbles then you need to find a way to prevent this, either use a sponge over the pump, or move the pump. if its a build up of CO2 you can do two things.

first is to lower the BPM a little and see if it builds up again after you evacuate the excess. second and the best is to use the primary and secondary effluent valves together. the primary set at a much lower drip rate then the secondary and the excess CO2 goes out this line and vents.

it will take daily testing of your tank to set up a reactor of any kind to a perfect setting that requires no adjustments. they work great when adjusted properly and are very maintenance free for months at the time this way. the exception is if you add anything to the tank that up's your demand of Ca/Alk. and with time as your corals/clams/coralline grow.

also the optimal PH of your effluent varies with the type of media you use. as will the dKH of the effluent at CO2 saturation.

hope i didnt leave anything out, if so fell free to ask.

hth
kc
 
Last edited:
Nice synopsis of what you need to do. Like Dragon Slayer said, set it up and keep an eye on it. Don't make the mistake I made and let the CO2 tank run dry and keep you media fresh.
 
Dragon Slayer: What parameters are you using for the shut down and start up of your reactor? Are you time of day based, pH based or what? I run mine at night or when the pH creeps up by my Aquacontroller
 
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