Need advise on Calcium Reactor.

[greenhead]

Alk and calcium might have spiked because of the low mag. Back your drip rate down a little and if your using the controller to turn the regulator on and off then leave it. That's the nice part about the controller. You can figure bubble count later. Just turn effluent down slightly and raise mag by 50 today and another 50 tomorrow.

Also try re checking your numbers tonight right before lights go out. You would be surprised how much mag fluctuates throughout the day. And if you don't want to worry about it after you get it right then throw some neo mag (dolomite) in your calcium reactor.

 

[robert s b.]

Well, I left for 2 days and had tank crash. Thought I had my reactor on point, think my solenoid is broken or needle wheel. Had the bubble rate at 1 per and came back and the bubble rate was like an uzi. And effluent was flowing really good. My dkh was above 18 for the better part of the 2 days. Lost most of my SPS.

Bummed!

 

[Saltwaternooby]

Oh ship, that beyond sucks Rob. If you want anything let me know.

 

[TOM BLEVINS]

Sorry to hear this Rob

 

[tfp]

oh man rob, sorry to hear this . NEVER trust them brass regulators...extremely erratic devices that are mission critical to a calcium reactor setup .

 

[NittyGritty]

Man, sorry to hear man.

 

[psykobowler]

I got his back. Not a problem with sps.

 

[robert s b.]

Thanks guys, just waiting for my new regulator. Bought a Aquariumplants regulator, should be here Thursday. Tank starting stabilize 550 calc, 12 dkh, mag 1350. I fragged what I could. Hey Glen ill take you up on that offer, greatly appreciated!

 

[psykobowler]

No problem. Once your system is stable again just give me a call.

 

[Poriferan]

Thanks guys, just waiting for my new regulator. Bought a Aquariumplants regulator, should be here Thursday.

Great investment for Calcium Reactor use. I have never had an issue once everything was dialed in. I just have my controller set up to turn off the CO2 if the PH in the Reactor chamber gets too low. For my new set up I will have redundancy by monitoring the tank PH as well.

 

[robert s b.]

OK, I want to put my Calc Reactor back online. I did water test today.
Calc 500
Dkh 9
Mag 1350
Po4 .07
Nitrate 0
Ammonia 0
Salinity 36 ppt

Question is, should I wait until my calc drops to 450 or am I good to go?

 

[HV1990]

I would test daily to see what your consumption rate is. Once that is determined then you can see if your Calcium Reactor is meeting your demands.

Having Calc that high really wont adversely affect most coral. Remember that a Calcium reactor is mainly to replenish your daily drop in alk\calcium. I think that you will probably see that Calc drop from water changes or a small surge of coralline algea.

 

[robert s b.]

I would test daily to see what your consumption rate is. Once that is determined then you can see if your Calcium Reactor is meeting your demands.

Having Calc that high really wont adversely affect most coral. Remember that a Calcium reactor is mainly to replenish your daily drop in alk\calcium. I think that you will probably see that Calc drop from water changes or a small surge of coralline algea.

Thanks! I will test a few more days before I put it back on line.

 

[greenhead]

Starting while your numbers are a touch high is good in my opinion. You can start slow. Especially since your system has less demand due to your recent losses. You could start at the recommended 1 bubble and 1 drop per second rate. Your system is most likely going to need more but it's a good start. Don't worry too much about your calcium numbers but test KH every day. Make sure it's at the same time each day. I bet your going to end up around 2 bubbles per second and 3 to 4 drops per second.

 

[robert s b.]

Starting while your numbers are a touch high is good in my opinion. You can start slow. Especially since your system has less demand due to your recent losses. You could start at the recommended 1 bubble and 1 drop per second rate. Your system is most likely going to need more but it's a good start. Don't worry too much about your calcium numbers but test KH every day. Make sure it's at the same time each day. I bet your going to end up around 2 bubbles per second and 3 to 4 drops per second.

Thanks Sam!

 

[greenhead]

Rob, I am sure you have already done it but since you have the geo and are most likely using your apex to monitor the ph in it make sure you have the ap.com regulator plugged into your eb8 and set to shut off if it sticks open. Mine is set to 6.5 and it shuts down the regulator and feed pump as a fail safe. I had a brand new aquariumplants.com carbon doser stick open on me. I disassembled it and found 1 grain of sand stuck in the diaphragm. Another dumb move of not having a back flow valve on the co2 feed line.

 

[robert s b.]

Rob, I am sure you have already done it but since you have the geo and are most likely using your apex to monitor the ph in it make sure you have the ap.com regulator plugged into your eb8 and set to shut off if it sticks open. Mine is set to 6.5 and it shuts down the regulator and feed pump as a fail safe. I had a brand new aquariumplants.com carbon doser stick open on me. I disassembled it and found 1 grain of sand stuck in the diaphragm. Another dumb move of not having a back flow valve on the co2 feed line.

I don't have a feed pump, it's on a manifold. They gave me 2 check valves when I ordered, they said the best ever made. Will see..

 

[HV1990]

thats fine to have it manifolded off. The check valves are for the intake of CO2.

 

[robert s b.]

thats fine to have it manifolded off. The check valves are for the intake of CO2.

Thanks Hugo, yeah I have a cheap $3 check valve on there now, going to replace it with the new ones I have now.

 

[robert s b.]

Well I got my New regulator and Electronic Carbon doser up and running. Wow, what a difference from the needle wheel from the Milwaukee, Mine was probably broken cause I could not get a steady bubble from it, new one is so precise. It lights up when a bubble is produced. I started off with 20 bpm and 30ml of effluent. and ill adjust from there.

<a href="http://s576.photobucket.com/user/booman_13/media/Cube%20Build/11-8-14/reg.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i576.photobucket.com/albums/ss202/booman_13/Cube%20Build/11-8-14/reg.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo reg.jpg"/></a>

I opted for a remote electronic doser box.
<a href="http://s576.photobucket.com/user/booman_13/media/Cube%20Build/11-8-14/CD.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i576.photobucket.com/albums/ss202/booman_13/Cube%20Build/11-8-14/CD.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo CD.jpg"/></a>