New DIY - Calcium Reactor

[karimwassef]

Ok. Starting a new DIY Calcium reactor. This isn't third over the years.

The first was 6' tall and 6" in diameter single stage.
The second was ~2' tall and 3" in diameter x two stages.

My problems have usually been CO2 bubbles that slowly build up at the top which requires a burp valve and is wasteful.

Also, the buildup of gunk on the pebbles because I don't use any sponges anywhere, even in the reactors.

I'm working up the new drawings for a 2 stage: the first is 6" diameter x 3' tall and the second is a 3" diameter x 3' tall. For the CO2 introduction, I was thinking of using a Venturi from an old skimmer DIY and hooking up both the new gas and the burp outlet into it (with one ways, of course). The idea is that any CO2 in the lines will get sucked in to recycle any gas.

The pH probe is at the outlet which is after the second stage.

The idea of using the 6" for stage 1 is to maximize the uptime of the reactor with as much media as possible.

The system is ~700 gal so I expect to need a lot of calcium.

I also have a kalkwasser topoff which is all I use now for Ca additions.

 

[Poseidon]

I made a Ca Reactor based on the DJ88 design here on RC, it worked very well. I found that I could recirculate the CO2 at the top of the reactor stage one, by pulling it back into the recirculation pump. I put a small hole in top dead center of the Ca Reactor lid, and then I heated the lid in the oven, and pulled up on that hole to create a slope to the hole, where the fitting was added to bring that CO2 back to the bottom of the reactor.

When I build my next reactor, it will be much smaller, but it will incorporate that same tweak to the lid. It doesn't take much either, just a 1/4" or so has an effect.

The old one was 10x10x22 and held 50 pounds of course media, the new one will be 5x5x20 and still hold way more than I need with my current 100 gallon water volume.

 

[karimwassef]

How about using a plastic funnel in the top?

 

[DOGGIE750]

Any update?