Official: Masterflex Calcium Reactor Setup Thread

lol, yeah i thought it was pretty relaxing myself. :D
And now there is no more squeaking in the background while I sit there and watch it spin!
 
d2mini said:
lol, yeah i thought it was pretty relaxing myself. :D
And now there is no more squeaking in the background while I sit there and watch it spin!
Click to expand...

Yeah, that was definitely not the clicking I had imagined from the tabs on the pump head connections.

Seeing and hearing makes all the difference some times....
 
I have not been able to get my setup dialed in, I've continued to have alk swings for the last few months. Trying to run steady around 9dkh but the reactor seems to want to drive over 14 dkh no matter the settings. I keep unplugging for 3 days to let it drop... right now I'm measuring 8.3 dkh but calcium is at 500 and mag is around 1470. These are the numbers after 3 days unplugged and letting the alk drop.

I'm running at 19rpm and 10 seconds per bubble with 5 psi on the gas. PH stays right around 6.7 in the chamber. Any thoughts?
 
Try 12rpm and 3psi. Your demand has to be pretty low with these settings. What does the tank look like? Any coraline algae? What do your phosphates measure?
 
I'm getting small spotty coralline (shows up like a small pimple on the glass and I remove it) but I have about 30 sps colonies in the tank, a soccer ball sized elegance coral, a volleyball sized hammer, 8 inch maxima clam and a bunch of other corals. The only thing I can think of is my total water volume is around 800 gallons with only about 250 of those gallons actually being used in the display... My alk will drop (as shown above) if the reactor is unplugged though so I am really at a loss here. Calcium is constantly high...

I just ordered a phosphate kit and it will be here tomorrow.
 
Just an update (I feel the need because this thread saved me from headache and a huge loss of money).

Got my reactor dialed in with my masterflex.

20ml/min (dead silent, have to look at it to even make sure it is running)
PH set between 6.81 - 6.76 on controller - controller turns it off about 3 times a day
5 psi bubble with 1 bubble every 9 seconds on the Carbondoser regulator

Calcium has been 420, DKH is 156ppm (hanna checker) and mag is 1320 for 6 days straight now. Not a single parameter that I mentioned has moved one bit.

My ph in the tank is between 8.15 - 8.25 through out the day.

Thanks again for helping me get things squared away.
 
dburt520 said:
Just an update (I feel the need because this thread saved me from headache and a huge loss of money).

Got my reactor dialed in with my masterflex.

20ml/min (dead silent, have to look at it to even make sure it is running)
PH set between 6.81 - 6.76 on controller - controller turns it off about 3 times a day
5 psi bubble with 1 bubble every 9 seconds on the Carbondoser regulator

Calcium has been 420, DKH is 156ppm (hanna checker) and mag is 1320 for 6 days straight now. Not a single parameter that I mentioned has moved one bit.

My ph in the tank is between 8.15 - 8.25 through out the day.

Thanks again for helping me get things squared away.
Click to expand...

I'd like to take these numbers to discuss a question I touched on a couple pages back, regarding Co2 efficiency.
Can these numbers (effluent rate and bubble rate) be adjusted to use less Co2 but retain the same 156ppm results?
I wonder if anyone has ever figured out the best ratio of effluent rate to bubble rate?

Not that it really matters at these rates, but if someone had a large tank with lots of extremely fast growing sps, it could make a substantial difference.
 
There are a lot of factors there that I am not sure anyone could check:

How much CO2 is actually being released with every bubble (it is obviously not 5 PSI each time it opens/closes... my 5lb CO2 bottle (roughly 900PSI when full) would only last 180 bubbles, or roughly 27 minutes from completely full to completely empty with my current settings.

It all has to do with pressure (incoming from water feed and CO2, as well as reactor efficiency).

I would assume the most efficient use of CO2 is when the reactor is dialed in so perfectly that it never shuts the regulator off. To accomplish that, you would need the perfect effluent rate to bubble count, and at the same time dialing that in to match your tank needs (AKA - a lot of trial and error, and some VERY fine tuning)
 
Last edited:
Co2 is liquid inside the bottle, as you use it the liquid is able to change from its liquid to gas state thus the pressure remains relatively constant inside the bottle until there is no more liquid. You are actually getting 5psi from the reg, volume is a little more difficult but the ap reg does a good job keeping bubble size consistent. If you took it one step further you could get a digital flow rate setup but that is another sticker shock item as it is generally used in much more sensitive and critical situations.

Glad to hear your system is rock solid dburt!

I'll touch on some more mentioned points later this evening.
 
If anyone has an extra L/S 17 easy load head or know where to get one at a good price let me know.
Everything on ebay lately costs more than I've paid for two heads WITH a pump!
I'm one head short of getting my AWC going. :(
 
what does that mean?!
And why do i need it?

I already have two identical heads that I was going to use on the AWC digital pump.
They came with the fixed rate pump I'm using for my ATO.
 
It allows you to adjust the pinch on the tube to compensate for varied head pressure differences or slight differences in the heads due to wear or manufacturing.
 
oh those little black plastic pinchers.
Yeah, i have those.
Didn't realize they are not on all heads!
So yeah... i need one of those! :D
 
The little black pinchers are on all of the easy loads. Those just hold the tube in place. This is the pinch between the rollers and the rolling surface.
 
They come around but yea you aren't going to get lucky like that steal of a deal you got on your top off pump :lol:.

The knob on top adjusts it.
7760100OL.jpg


Or a knob on the side with an adjustment window on top
IMG_2306.jpg
 
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