Korallin Calcium Reactor

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Aquaman said:
I've got a Korrallin 4002, on my 120 I have a bubble count of 1 every 11 seconds.

A bottle must last forever! My count is 3 per second :D The point I'm trying to make is that all setups are different and you need to find what is the optimal for your system. Start low and keep increasing to lower the PH until you balance out the tnk alkalinity.
 
jdieck said:
A bottle must last forever! My count is 3 per second :D The point I'm trying to make is that all setups are different and you need to find what is the optimal for your system. Start low and keep increasing to lower the PH until you balance out the tnk alkalinity.

hahah, yep especially when its a 20lb bottle going on 5 years now.
 
jdieck said:
:lol: Mine is 65 pounds now and I have to replace it once a year:eek1:

Jdieck, that just doesn't sound right, these reactors are very efficent you shouldn't be going through that much C02. What is the PH of the water comming out of the reactor?
 
thoughts on the best or should i say preferred media by manufacutuer.
in other words which hove lower phosphate levels ect.

thanks
 
i run a deltec ap600, i run about 3 bubbles per second. My ph inside the reactor sits 6.3 to 6.4, steady stream of effluent
 
Aquaman said:
Jdieck, that just doesn't sound right, these reactors are very efficent you shouldn't be going through that much C02. What is the PH of the water comming out of the reactor?

I am using a custom made reactor 30+ pounds of media three chambers two of them recirculating. My effluent is at 150 ml/min continuous stream. I dissolve two pounds of media per month. in addition of the three gallons of Kalk per day.
Heavy load of sps in the main and frag tank. Some colonies are 16" across.

aqcoral.jpg
 
Chicago said:
thoughts on the best or should i say preferred media by manufacutuer.
in other words which hove lower phosphate levels ect.

thanks
I remember having read a review somewhere. In the comparison ARM had a bit more contaminants than the Koralith but Koralith was more difficult to dissolve so there might be some compromise here. The new Shuran media is basically crushed coral but I have not seen any chemical or dissolution reviews on it.
 
thrlride said:
One of my LFS's just use araganite sand for their media. Any benefit to that?

If the gravel size is adequate I would see no problem other than the quary location not having being tested for contaminants but if it is good for the aquarium I will not see why it might not be good for the reactor.
 
Hello.
New to this site, have been reading this amazing thread since i received my new koraalin 1502 last week.

i've been having the worst time adjusting the bubble count. have the m3 regulator with a solenoid and needle valve, but for the whole week, i would get the correct bubble count and it would drift to nothing over a few hours.

repeatedly.

i finally took al the plumbing apart and found a lot of water in the co2 check valve (the brass piece with the blue plastic) and since i emptied and tightened it, i have been able to get the steady bubble count at 15/min....

whew!

at any rate, i checked the effluent for the dkh and using 2cc's of effluent for the test, i needed 2.6 cc's of reagent for the color to change!!!

that would mean the dKH is 83!! i didn't think it was possible to get that high.

the tank dkh is 6.4 however, with calcium 440 by the salifert test.

what should I do?

thank you in advance...
 
Originally posted by soondubu

at any rate, i checked the effluent for the dkh and using 2cc's of effluent for the test, i needed 2.6 cc's of reagent for the color to change!!!


did you use only a single drop of the dKH regent?????

kc
 
i used a single drop...

that's what i was supposed to use, right?

edit:

despite my lights, near zero no3, nh3, po4...
orp 360, ca 440, dkh 8.... ph 8.2
salinity 1.024, temp 77.....
the sps that i add seem to not to do well.... i got a few frags of acroporas that bleach slowly over weeks.... whether they are on the middle, top or bottom of the tank....

patches of the purple coraline algae also bleach occasionally...

the soft corals do well though...

which is why i got the ca reactor in the first place....

do you guys test for other stuff like mg, iodine, etc etc?
what other tests are there?
 
soondubu said:
i used a single drop...

that's what i was supposed to use, right?

edit:

despite my lights, near zero no3, nh3, po4...
orp 360, ca 440, dkh 8.... ph 8.2
salinity 1.024, temp 77.....
the sps that i add seem to not to do well.... i got a few frags of acroporas that bleach slowly over weeks.... whether they are on the middle, top or bottom of the tank....

patches of the purple coraline algae also bleach occasionally...

the soft corals do well though...

which is why i got the ca reactor in the first place....

do you guys test for other stuff like mg, iodine, etc etc?
what other tests are there?

For some reason your alkalinity testing seems out of range. The usual effluent alkalinity is in the range of 25 to 32 dKh.
Try making the usual test but dilute the sample by half using distilled water or RO/DI water. In other words if the test calls for 2 cc of sample use one of effluent and one of distilled water. Run the test as usual and multiply the result by two.

The usual te4sts once the tank is established are basically Salinity, PH, Alkalinity, Magnesium and Calcium.
To detect problems the usual tests are Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, Phosphate, Silicate, ORP.

If you have maintain a schedule of water changes, 10 to 15% per week you do not need to add any supplements or test for them.

Now regarding the reactor setup, remember that you set it to maintain a constant alkalinity in the main tank. If the alkalinity is already maintained constant at 6.4 the setting is already balanced, increase the alkalinity using a buffer (I use baking soda) to the level you look for ~10 dKh and see if it remains there. If it drops try increasing your CO2 bubble rate to lower the effluent PH.
 
finally took al the plumbing apart and found a lot of water in the co2 check valve (the brass piece with the blue plastic)

I have the same check valve, and it doesn't work for me. I was told by others that it's no good. Can anyone recommend a good check valve that works?
 
u know, it's bubbling flawlessly now.

once i got that check valve taken care of...

so u guys don't check strontium, mg, or iodine levels at all?
 
RGibson said:
Do not used check valves on salt water reef tanks,thay will fail .

we're using them on CO2 lines not water lines, hense the title of this thread "Korallin Calcium Reactor" and they are needed peices of equipment. as for good ones, i've never had much problems out of the brass ones that i got new only secondhand ones, i do keep mine installed with arrow pointing down and try to keep it as close to the CO2 as i can which seams to help.

kc
 
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