Official: Masterflex Calcium Reactor Setup Thread

Awesome thanks for the info. Found a 7518-10 head for a good price so snatched it up. Having a hard time finding LS17 tubing that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. I found some ls16 though for real cheap. Can choose between platinum and peroxide cured. Can I get away using this? Reactor is a geo 612.

You really want the LS17 stuff. I just sent you a PM.
 
Got my pump in today. Put the pump head in and noticing the drive motor is running kind rough at super low rpm. Does the tubing need to be rubbed with some silicone grease so it runs smoother?

IMG_20151222_143307.jpg
 
Got my pump in today. Put the pump head in and noticing the drive motor is running kind rough at super low rpm. Does the tubing need to be rubbed with some silicone grease so it runs smoother?

IMG_20151222_143307.jpg

You don't need to use any silicone lube on the hose. Is it just clicking you are hearing? If so, it's kind of normal for some units. If you remove the head, you will see the motor shaft has a slot on it. If you look at the back side of the head, you will notice it's keyed to fit into the slot on the motors shaft. There is in some cases enough play between the pump head and the motor that it causes some clicking. Some people get some thin adhesive backed tar like paper from Home Depot and put it into the key slot to tighten the fit between the two parts. Others have used Teflon tape over the male keyed part on the head side to address the noise.
 
You don't need to use any silicone lube on the hose. Is it just clicking you are hearing? If so, it's kind of normal for some units. If you remove the head, you will see the motor shaft has a slot on it. If you look at the back side of the head, you will notice it's keyed to fit into the slot on the motors shaft. There is in some cases enough play between the pump head and the motor that it causes some clicking. Some people get some thin adhesive backed tar like paper from Home Depot and put it into the key slot to tighten the fit between the two parts. Others have used Teflon tape over the male keyed part on the head side to address the noise.

Yeah kinda. I will try the teflon tape trick to see if it works. Thanks.
 
Anyone using the Kamoer continuous duty pump with their reactor? If so what are your opinions of it.

I've wanted to try it but I haven't found any replacement tubing or heads for those units yet. I was worried that I would have to buy a whole unit in 6 months to a year when the tubing wears out.
 
I've wanted to try it but I haven't found any replacement tubing or heads for those units yet. I was worried that I would have to buy a whole unit in 6 months to a year when the tubing wears out.

Their website is almost not useful all I found for the model sold at salty supply was:

"KCS peristaltic pump
The wall thickness of the pump tube is 1.6mm or 0.85mm.flow rate could up to 352ml/min."

Salty Supply sells the tubing so you'd probably just have to ask for tubing specs. Looks pretty standard, supports different tubing sizes as long as wall thickness is the same, of course now you have to guess, is it 1.6mm or is it 0.85mm?

I've got a small Watson-Marlow head very similar to that, incredibly easy to change the tubing which is a huge plus over some of the Cole Parmer and other pump heads around.
 
Anyone using the Kamoer continuous duty pump with their reactor? If so what are your opinions of it.

I just bought one and am having a hard time setting it up.

My CaRx, MRC 6, has an inlet feed of 1/2". The pump tubing is tiny. Ive managed to reduce it to fit, but now at a setting of 100ml/min I get 28ml out. and yes ive done the available "calibration" option.

regular air supply tubing is to big (3-4mm ID) even with wire ties, but I bought a "mini airline tubing" (2mm), it fit perfectly to fittings. . Im almost sure its related to tubing size.

If i can get this fixed im sure it will be OK. Very well built and is supposed to be ok for continuous use.

I know some have had success with this pump. Please advise.
:headwally:
 
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I just pulled the trigger on 7553-50 with 7518-00 head. Will this model work for me?

That pump is not going to be ideal. It's minimum RPM is 50 RPM. That's very high high. With LS17 tubing which is what most of us recommend because it's easy to adapt to 1/4" tubing, that would be 140ml/min. To put that in perspective, I run at about 26ml/min on my tank. I don't think you would even want or need over 50ml/min flow and at that, you would be consuming much more Co2 than you need for most tanks just to keep the reactor pH down. 25ml/min is a good starting point for most tanks in my opinion and that wouldn't be a pump I would recommend. Even with LS16 tubing, that's 40ml/min which is still pretty high in my opinion for most tanks. Especially as a starting point. It's also an odd tubing size. At 50 RPM, that pump will also be very noisy. If I were you, I would try to sell that thing or cancel your order. That or use it as an ATO pump. The 7518-00 pump head can be saved as it will work fine with most any Masterflex pump and it supports LS17 tubing.
 
I see a 7543-30. How about this pump?

Nope. It's fixed speed. You ideally want something that is from 1-600, 6-600 rpm or 1-100 RPM. Variable speed is a must. The higher max RPM pumps use a gear back which reduces the motor speed and reduces wear and tear. I would suggest reading through this thread to get a better idea of what people are using.
 
I have been waiting for this thread for a while, thanks for all the hard work and links. I will be needing to get the Aquarium Plant Carbon Doser and peri pump From MasterFlex. The peri pumps can be daunting so the links are very helpful.
1xpjb
1xpmd

Don't get the aquarium plant carbon doser. For that kind of cash you can get a dual stage regulator setup that will last you forever and be 100x better.
 
Don't get the aquarium plant carbon doser. For that kind of cash you can get a dual stage regulator setup that will last you forever and be 100x better.

Uh, it's not that bad. I have a SS regulator I assembled from used parts on ebay and it cost me nearly $500, and of course it will work for the rest of my life.

However, I have the Aquarium plants doser installed in 6 separate installations right now going on about 7 years without having to touch them. The clippard solenoids along with the analog circuitry inside of them make them a very reliable piece of equipment that I will always recommend to people who don't want to spend $500 on a regulator.

I dunno, I've never seen any reason not to recommend them as a viable, reliable option for hobbyists.
 
Uh, it's not that bad. I have a SS regulator I assembled from used parts on ebay and it cost me nearly $500, and of course it will work for the rest of my life.

However, I have the Aquarium plants doser installed in 6 separate installations right now going on about 7 years without having to touch them. The clippard solenoids along with the analog circuitry inside of them make them a very reliable piece of equipment that I will always recommend to people who don't want to spend $500 on a regulator.

I dunno, I've never seen any reason not to recommend them as a viable, reliable option for hobbyists.
I got my Victor dual stage setup for 200 all in. Sure its brass but that doesn't matter. People sell full dual stage units for 250-300 all the time. Dropping $500 for a setup is quite rare nowadays. What I'm saying is that for the price of the carbon doser a much better setup can be had.
 
I'm quite surprised you were able to get a decent dual stage setup for $200 all in when the burkert valve alone is $100 shipped (with the power cord, and new), and a worthwhile needle valve is anywhere from $75 to $200 used. That is nearly your total, and thats without the rest of the apparatus.

The only thing I wouldnt buy used in these setups is the burkert valve. That's $100 right there, maybe $80 if you're lucky. Getting the rest together with decent used equipment that will last longer than the carbondoser, for less than the remaining $100, is very rare indeed.
 
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