Official: Masterflex Calcium Reactor Setup Thread

Tygon is the brand. IE Sony, Panasonic, Honda. Pharmed is the type of tube IE Walkman, Plasma TVs, Accords. Can't read the label so no idea what you actually have. Many of them are not suitable.
 
OK, I finally bought a Pan World 30PX as a recirculating pump for the reactor. I saw it on bulk reef supply for $99 plus shipping. Then I found the pump for $65 plus shipping on Ebay being sold by aquariumsupply. I sure don't know anything about bidding but I waited until the last twenty some seconds and entered a bid for $70 and confirmed it. Ebay accepted my not-bid at $65. Then via e-mail, Bulk Reef confirmed the order at $65. Hmmmm

I also went ahead and bought a Masterflex Easy Load pump 7518-10. Now I just need a motor and controller to drive it.

Of course I am still putting molding and trim on the cabinet. I don't even have water in the tank yet so I have some time left.
 
Hey Guys ..

Got a question , I have my unit MFlex running for 2 weeks ,But when i test my alk .it keeps dropping to 7.3. I have to keep adding alk manually to bring my levels up.

My cal is high like 500.
 
Official: Masterflex Calcium Reactor Setup Thread

Hi there!

Just to share with you guys out there! I just got my second unit of Watson - Marlow pumps (323S) with 2 pumps heads (313X , 313D) to be use for my AWC.

Just sharing with you guys and start working on that said thread concerning this subject.

Thanks again a million for guiding me more thoughts about Peristaltic pump .

7c09dfe552118ed55b799170dd29e85a.jpg


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Cheers,

MD
 
Do the CO2 bubbles get completely broken up by the recirculating pump? I don't see anybody using a venturi or anything. That might not help either but I read about bubbles pooling at the top of the reactor. Do they just coalesce up there or do they come through the media whole?
 
oshanickreef said:
This shimming is a good idea! i will be doing this tonight. i reversed the flow in my reactor last night and i didnt find any leaks... in order for this to expose a leak, do i have to swithc out the tubing? or would just putting both effluent and feed lines in the water and hitting the reverse flow button work?
Click to expand...

i reversed the flow and I did not find any leaks... but air still accumulates in the chamber really badly.

im stumped.
 
That is a nice clean setup. It looks like you have a Kalk reactor. Can you comment on it? Do you think that you will be keeping it in operation once everything else stabilizes or do you think that it will help smooth things out, long term?
 
Herring, I plan on keeping the Kalk reactor. I had to relocate last year so the tank is still young plus I had to go fallow because of Brook or Velvet. Just started putting in frags late 2014. It helps off set the lower ph the CaRx would give me if I used that alone.
Thanks for the kind words.
Rich
 
I switched the flow and the tubing so my masterflex pushes through the reactor and it pushed out all of the bubbles... so i think this will work... but my question is: will this make a difference since i know it was recommended that the effluent be pulled vs pushed?
 
oshanickreef said:
I switched the flow and the tubing so my masterflex pushes through the reactor and it pushed out all of the bubbles... so i think this will work... but my question is: will this make a difference since i know it was recommended that the effluent be pulled vs pushed?
Click to expand...

Either way will work just make sure you check the effluent line for any blockages periodically because if it gets plugged the MF pump will keep pushing water in and it will usually push it past the O-rings and cause the reactor to leak. That is the benefit of pulling is that if there is a blockage it just creates a vacuum in the reactor. It doesn't mean the pushing won't work, it just means that maintenance must be performed to make sure there are no blockages.
 
Krazie4Acans said:
Either way will work just make sure you check the effluent line for any blockages periodically because if it gets plugged the MF pump will keep pushing water in and it will usually push it past the O-rings and cause the reactor to leak. That is the benefit of pulling is that if there is a blockage it just creates a vacuum in the reactor. It doesn't mean the pushing won't work, it just means that maintenance must be performed to make sure there are no blockages.
Click to expand...

+1

As Krazie said, it works fine either way. The downside of pushing is that if the effluent line gets blocked, the Masterflex will pressurize the reactor and can cause a leak.
 
slief said:
+1

As Krazie said, it works fine either way. The downside of pushing is that if the effluent line gets blocked, the Masterflex will pressurize the reactor and can cause a leak.
Click to expand...

okay so i assume the blockage would be at the end of the effluent line? i can just use a needle or something to unplug it weekly. i will write it down to do every time i water change.
 
oshanickreef said:
okay so i assume the blockage would be at the end of the effluent line? i can just use a needle or something to unplug it weekly. i will write it down to do every time i water change.
Click to expand...

Mine has always been at the output end where the high Ca/Alk effluent is exposed to air and can build up deposits. Just clean the end, inspect the rest of the line and you should be good. Ca Reactors have been used in push mode for years so it's not anything new.
 
Krazie4Acans said:
Either way will work just make sure you check the effluent line for any blockages periodically because if it gets plugged the MF pump will keep pushing water in and it will usually push it past the O-rings and cause the reactor to leak. That is the benefit of pulling is that if there is a blockage it just creates a vacuum in the reactor. It doesn't mean the pushing won't work, it just means that maintenance must be performed to make sure there are no blockages.
Click to expand...


I agree on this ! Last weekend when I trying to re arranged my pump I make a mistakes of interchange the tube of inlet to outlet and that makes like pushing it back but I have a check valve in one of the tube and this cause blockage and water leaking out from the lid with o ring as well as the circulating pump of my second chamber and water all over .

I wonder it will cause any damage to my reactor ( will it ?) although now it is not leaking after I corrected the connection .

Cheers,


MD
 
tkeracer619 said:
Most of the reactors currently use is the 1/4" John Guest tubing. For longer runs or commercial units use 3/8 JG tubing. These are my suggestions for LS17 tubing. Each situation might require something different but for most of us this first group will be the one. The best tubing I am aware of right now is Pharmed Tygon supplied by US Plastics. It has a long life exposed to this environment. I change the tube once every quarter. It will last longer but... its cheep to be proactive. The qty suggested is good for about 2.5 years if kept away from radiation.

**** For 1/4" OD John Guest to LS/17 ****
(QTY3)http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=36204

(QTY3)http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=42009

(QTY4)http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=34082

(QTY10)http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=25534



**** For 3/8" OD John Guest to LS/17 ****
(QTY3)http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=34898

(QTY3)http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=42012

(QTY4)http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=34082

(QTY10)http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=25534
Click to expand...


Hope this is not a stupid question but will these fittings work for LS/24 tubing too?
 
Emmanuel75 said:
Hope this is not a stupid question but will these fittings work for LS/24 tubing too?
Click to expand...

FWIW, if you have a Do It Center near you, I was able to find the barbed fittings along with the 1/4" OD John Guest style fittings to mate to the barbed fittings there. Home Depot may also have them. I saw pretty much the same selection of John Guest to female threaded fittings and male threaded to 1/8 fittings at HD to fit the LS17 tubing.
 
Hi guys,
I haven't really been keeping up with the thread lately. Seems like it's still on fire though.

Just a couple days ago my Masterflex 7523-70 with easy-load LS head started to click every second or so. The noise is coming from the easy-load head. Any thoughts? I'm going to take the head apart today to see if I can find anything out of the ordinary. My pH in the calcium reactor has slowly started to drop since I started to hear the noise (I believe that it isn't pushing as much as it says it is).

EDIT: I took off the easy-load head and it was pretty obvious what the issue was. Somehow a very thin shaving of metal was stuck right around the head and gear assembly connection. I have no idea how this happened though, or which part it exactly came from..?? My wife and I recently moved some electronics (including the masterflex pump) into a new cabinet that I built, that must have been it? Do you think this is anything to worry about guys? Also, the pH in the reactor has already gone up 0.02 since moving the metal shaving out 10 minutes ago.
 

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