Official: Masterflex Calcium Reactor Setup Thread

Im having the hardest time keeping bubbles from collecting in my reactor.

I can completely purge the reactor for what I can tell but after a few hours i have a big bubble at the top and my recirc pump is pumping a big mixtue of air and water.

Initially I was doing effluent at 40ml ive uped it to 80. But of course with the increase in rate i have to increase the bpm or size.

Im using the carbon doser and a geo 612x2 reactor
 
balz3352 said:
Im having the hardest time keeping bubbles from collecting in my reactor.

I can completely purge the reactor for what I can tell but after a few hours i have a big bubble at the top and my recirc pump is pumping a big mixtue of air and water.

Initially I was doing effluent at 40ml ive uped it to 80. But of course with the increase in rate i have to increase the bpm or size.

Im using the carbon doser and a geo 612x2 reactor
Click to expand...

It's pretty simple. Your issue is definitely one of the following. It's up to you to figure out which one it is.

A) You have a vacuum leak on the circulation pump or it's intake connection to the reactor or intake side of the Masterflex pump.

B) You are picking up microbubbles from inside your sump via the intake tubing for the Masterflex pump

C) You are putting in more Co2 than the output rate of your Masterflex. It might help to recalibrate your pH probe to be certain that's not part of the issue. I run at 65ml/min on my Masterflex and 1 bubble every 3.5 seconds at 3PSI to maintain about 6.75 pH in my reactor. If you have too much Co2 going in compared the flow rate of the Masterflex then you will build upon excess gas in the reactor and if your pH probe isn't calibrated properly then you will get erroneous pH readings leading you to add too much gas. Then you have a double edge sword because the excess gas in the reactor will create bubbles in the probe tip that impact the pH readings inside the reactor. Shaking the reactor when purging the air/gas will help remedy that but you should double check your probe calibration with some pH 7 solution to see what the probe reads.
 
how much should i offer?

how much should i offer?

if the ebay seller post 7523-70 with 7518-10 pump head for $565, then how much should i offer?
the other is 7523-60 with easy load 3 was $495, then how much should I?
TIA.
 
Questions on L/S7551-00

Questions on L/S7551-00

I'm wondering if anyone can help me on a few questions. I've got an L/S 7551 that I have been using to feed my deltec calcium reactor (pf501) with an aquarium plants carbon doser. I had a power surge which affected the pump and now it blows a fuse every time I power it on. Questions:

1. Does anyone have a secondhand circuit board I could buy to replace the one I have?

2. I've been using a dosing pump in the interim. One thing I have liked is that my pH is no longer depressed (even with co2 scrubber it was constantly low). Has anyone used one of these pumps as a dosing pump instead of with a calcium reactor?
3. What would I need to do to convert my l/s pump to a multichannel pump? I have an easy load head would I need different heads or can I stack multiple easy load heads. Do the heads run independently?
 
For 2, are you running the pump like a traditional dosing pump as an on/off schedule, or constantly? Curious what you’re seeing related to pH as I have a scrubber on my skimmer and still get .3 ph swings from 7.9-8.2ish max. As far as using it as a dosing pump, guess it depends on what and how much you need to dose as it’d be continuous, unless you’re switching power on and off to it from an apex.

For 3, if there’s only one motor, not sure how the heads could run independently.
 
for 3 you can stack upto 4 heads (maybe more but I've seen 4 stacked) the issue is that they are all driven from the same moter and are all driven at the same time and the same amount so you couldn't use that setup as a multi-channel doser like the ones with multiple heads.
 
networkcrasher said:
For 2, are you running the pump like a traditional dosing pump as an on/off schedule, or constantly? Curious what you’re seeing related to pH as I have a scrubber on my skimmer and still get .3 ph swings from 7.9-8.2ish max. As far as using it as a dosing pump, guess it depends on what and how much you need to dose as it’d be continuous, unless you’re switching power on and off to it from an apex.

For 3, if there’s only one motor, not sure how the heads could run independently.
Click to expand...
I haven’t tried to use it as a dosing pump yet - but if I was going to I would run it intermittently rather than constantly. For my pH it typically swung between 7.6 and 7.9/8 and that was running a co2 scrubber and a second media filled chamber. With the dosing pump I have been using pH has consistently been between 8.15 and 8.3/4 and the growth has sped up.
 
Krazie4Acans said:
for 3 you can stack upto 4 heads (maybe more but I've seen 4 stacked) the issue is that they are all driven from the same moter and are all driven at the same time and the same amount so you couldn't use that setup as a multi-channel doser like the ones with multiple heads.
Click to expand...


Ah ok, that is what I thought the problem might be, so that rules that option out.
 
Planing to setup my new geos 6x18 calcium reactor with a secondary chamber. Its a little too big for my tank which is 90 gallons acro only system but I have plans to upgrade later this year .
Got aquarium plants regulator and waiting to get my masterflex pump.
I know people often recommend to pull water from the reactor than to push it with masterflex.
Stupid question but please help me understand how do you pull water ?

Do you pull the water with masterflex pump by connecting to the input of the masterflex pump to the effluent line and then have a maxijet to push water into the reactor ? I believe i should match the masterflex rate to the feed pump ?

Sorry for such basic question !

Regards,
Abhishek
 
jolliolli said:
I haven't tried to use it as a dosing pump yet - but if I was going to I would run it intermittently rather than constantly. For my pH it typically swung between 7.6 and 7.9/8 and that was running a co2 scrubber and a second media filled chamber. With the dosing pump I have been using pH has consistently been between 8.15 and 8.3/4 and the growth has sped up.
Click to expand...

Sorry, having a hard time following the last part. What did you start dosing that increased your pH that far? That's a huge difference. Are you using a dosing pump on your calcium reactor? Is your all demand still being met? Are you dosingnon a schedule on the calcium reactor?

I'm certainly interested in getting rid of my co2 scrubber by my ph was low before I ever put in the calcium reactor.
 
abhishek@1985 said:
Planing to setup my new geos 6x18 calcium reactor with a secondary chamber. Its a little too big for my tank which is 90 gallons acro only system but I have plans to upgrade later this year .
Got aquarium plants regulator and waiting to get my masterflex pump.
I know people often recommend to pull water from the reactor than to push it with masterflex.
Stupid question but please help me understand how do you pull water ?

Do you pull the water with masterflex pump by connecting to the input of the masterflex pump to the effluent line and then have a maxijet to push water into the reactor ? I believe i should match the masterflex rate to the feed pump ?

Sorry for such basic question !

Regards,
Abhishek
Click to expand...

The effluent line is on the input of the master flex pump. The input of the reactor just sits in the water. The pump sucks the water through the reactor instead of pulling it.
 
networkcrasher said:
The effluent line is on the input of the master flex pump. The input of the reactor just sits in the water. The pump sucks the water through the reactor instead of pulling it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply man ! Am wondering if there will be issues with bubbles getting trapped anywhere . May be I am just overthinking it .

Regards,
Abhishek
 
I think you’re over thinking it. There’s little difference than pushing or pulling the water. The pull method creates a vacuum which makes leaks stay inside the reactor. The hydrodynamics of where bubbles end up should be similar to both methods
 
I think, could be wrong, most of us pull from the tank to the reactor and then back to the tank.

Tube from tank to pump then to reactor then back to tank.
 
networkcrasher said:
Sorry, having a hard time following the last part. What did you start dosing that increased your pH that far? That's a huge difference. Are you using a dosing pump on your calcium reactor? Is your all demand still being met? Are you dosingnon a schedule on the calcium reactor?

I'm certainly interested in getting rid of my co2 scrubber by my ph was low before I ever put in the calcium reactor.
Click to expand...


Hi, sorry I should have explained that better. Up until. Couple of weeks ago I was using a calcium reactor (deltec pf501) fed by a masterflex l/s 7551 for maintaining calcium / alkalinity in my tank. The calcium reactor was controlled by a pH controller which turned on the co2 when pH in the reactor rose to 6.4.

During this tume I also monitored pH in the sump and it generally sat at a low of 7.7 at night/ early morning and rose as high as 7.9 during the day.

Then I had a power surge and it blew a circuit board in my masterflex pump. As a result I had to cease using the calcium reactor and switched to dosing a two-part calcium / alkalinity mix (Randy's recipe), dosed via a bubble magus dosing pump. Since then I have had a massive pH jump and growth rates have increased. This leads me to believe that excess co2 in the effluent stream from the co2 reactor is the cause of my low pH. Now I need to decide whether to go back to a calcium reactor or switch to using a dosing pump
 
jolliolli said:
Hi, sorry I should have explained that better. Up until. Couple of weeks ago I was using a calcium reactor (deltec pf501) fed by a masterflex l/s 7551 for maintaining calcium / alkalinity in my tank. The calcium reactor was controlled by a pH controller which turned on the co2 when pH in the reactor rose to 6.4.

During this tume I also monitored pH in the sump and it generally sat at a low of 7.7 at night/ early morning and rose as high as 7.9 during the day.

Then I had a power surge and it blew a circuit board in my masterflex pump. As a result I had to cease using the calcium reactor and switched to dosing a two-part calcium / alkalinity mix (Randy's recipe), dosed via a bubble magus dosing pump. Since then I have had a massive pH jump and growth rates have increased. This leads me to believe that excess co2 in the effluent stream from the co2 reactor is the cause of my low pH. Now I need to decide whether to go back to a calcium reactor or switch to using a dosing pump
Click to expand...

I am dosing about 2.3 dKH/day with my ReefOctopus pumping 100/ml/hour and ph reaches 7.9 and I see nothing to worry about but am curious as to what would. I had been dosing saturatide Kalk but still pretty much ph stayed at 7.9,

Has the dKH level changed? What about calcium?
 
Can someone let me know if a COLE-PARMER Masterflex Microprocessor Pump 7524-10 with Easy Load head 7518-0 good enough ? Am not sure about the noise level on this one as am not sure if its brushless . If anyone has used one, please chime in

Regards,
Abhishek
 
hkgar said:
I am dosing about 2.3 dKH/day with my ReefOctopus pumping 100/ml/hour and ph reaches 7.9 and I see nothing to worry about but am curious as to what would. I had been dosing saturatide Kalk but still pretty much ph stayed at 7.9,

Has the dKH level changed? What about calcium?
Click to expand...

I still have to find the sweet spot with the dosing pump, I'm dosing 350ml a day of Randy's recipe at the moment but I'm still not keeping up with consumption, so will have to increase it further.

I had thought about dosing Kalk with the calcium reactor - so interested to hear that you haven't seen much of a boost to your pH with the Kalk.
 
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