Official: Masterflex Calcium Reactor Setup Thread
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swk
New member
Official: Masterflex Calcium Reactor Setup Thread
That's pretty common with geo reactors. When I ordered mine direct from George I told him I was going to be using a masterflex and he tapped the lid so I could vent it from time to time.
I actually just pull the efluent from the lid and forego the recirculating feature. Can post pics if you like.
That's pretty common with geo reactors. When I ordered mine direct from George I told him I was going to be using a masterflex and he tapped the lid so I could vent it from time to time.
I actually just pull the efluent from the lid and forego the recirculating feature. Can post pics if you like.
For those of you deciding between brushed and brushless, since I now have purchased a collection of these pumps I made a little video of the noise difference. People have talked about the difference in the thread, but maybe the video can add to that.
http://vid1075.photobucket.com/albums/w429/sfdantank/IMG_1866_zpsix2s8vuo.mp4
This is between a 7518-10 (brushed) and 7523-60 (brushless), both are 0-600rpm.
Cliffs: Brushed is fairly quiet, the but the hum of the motor at slow speeds is still noticeable above the sound of the reef. All my brushed pumps basically sound the same. The 7523-60 is inaudible over the reef sounds at low speeds, once it gets to 200-300rpm then it starts to make some sound (which is way above the speeds I'd be running it at).
I was going to live with the sound of the 7518-10 or try to muffle it somehow but saw a deal come across ebay on the 7523-60 and pulled the trigger on it. Glad I did after firing it up!
http://vid1075.photobucket.com/albums/w429/sfdantank/IMG_1866_zpsix2s8vuo.mp4
This is between a 7518-10 (brushed) and 7523-60 (brushless), both are 0-600rpm.
Cliffs: Brushed is fairly quiet, the but the hum of the motor at slow speeds is still noticeable above the sound of the reef. All my brushed pumps basically sound the same. The 7523-60 is inaudible over the reef sounds at low speeds, once it gets to 200-300rpm then it starts to make some sound (which is way above the speeds I'd be running it at).
I was going to live with the sound of the 7518-10 or try to muffle it somehow but saw a deal come across ebay on the 7523-60 and pulled the trigger on it. Glad I did after firing it up!
Pife
Active member
That's interesting. Does it eventually keep the recirculating pump from working?
Best picture I have ...
Masterflex pulls not pushes. I removed the float from the large cylinder and use the red tube from the lid to connect to the bottom of the smaller, second cylinder. Pump then pulls from the normal effluent output on the top of that smaller cylinder. Feed tube draws from my frag tank which is about 24 inches above the reactor which maintains about 3 psi of pressure in the unit that seems to a is in dissolving of CO2.
I also modified the circulation pump plumbing to incorporate a pH probe. Much easier than trying to drill and tap the lid. Downsisized the pump at the same time.
My masterflex is one of the older economy drive models. Grinds and chirps, and has for as long as I've had it, keeps going though. Best $100 spent in years.
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MikeTR
New member
Looks like I'm just about dialed in. 30ml/min, 6 bpm.. I'm at about 4 psi on the regulator side (AP carbon doser) holding the reactor at 6.6pH with less than .1 variation.
I'm using the 7523-60 to push the GEO 618 and not having an issue with air/co2 buildup. What's the advantage of pushing over pulling or vice versa? My other question is that in the bubble counter when the regulator clicks I see multiple small bubbles and not just a single bubble. Happens at higher PSI also, just larger bubbles. What gives there?
I'm using the 7523-60 to push the GEO 618 and not having an issue with air/co2 buildup. What's the advantage of pushing over pulling or vice versa? My other question is that in the bubble counter when the regulator clicks I see multiple small bubbles and not just a single bubble. Happens at higher PSI also, just larger bubbles. What gives there?
slief
RC Sponsor
The solenoid lets a out a preset amount of Co2 equivalent to 1 bubble per opening. That doesn't necessarily result in all the Co2 making it out of the regulator in one nice bubble. This is why you might see more than one bubble come out at once. The bubble broke up while exiting the regulator and came out at different times. The most important thing is the consistency of the amount of Co2 and not so much how it appears to be released.
As for the advantage of pushing or pulling, the theory is that if you were to develop a leak, pulling will result in air being drawn into the reactor where as pushing can result in water coming out of the reactor from the leak.
swk
New member
this is a definite advantage of the reactor is NOT in your sump. If it is in your sump, then it is really of no real consequence. I found when first setting up that pushing worked better for me, for whatever reason. And since my reactor is in the sump, I just rolled with it.
MikeTR
New member
Thanks slief.
I could see that.. when I first installed the reactor a week ago I forgot to open the effluent valve and primed the pump. Blew the impeller housing right off the eheim recirc pump, tabs broken and all. Kapow! Won't do that again!
Is either scenario less likely to lead to clogged effluent lines? I'm still using the valve on the effluent line to back it off a bit. At the lowest setting it puts out more than 30ml/min. Calibration is off I assume.
swk
New member
Official: Masterflex Calcium Reactor Setup Thread
Switch from ml/min setting, to rpms. Find out what your pump head will pump per revolution and set the appropriate rpm level. This can get the 7523-60 to lower than 30ml/min
Most heads with ls17 tubing pump 2.8ml per revolution if I remember correctly.
Switch from ml/min setting, to rpms. Find out what your pump head will pump per revolution and set the appropriate rpm level. This can get the 7523-60 to lower than 30ml/min
Most heads with ls17 tubing pump 2.8ml per revolution if I remember correctly.
slief
RC Sponsor
Neither scenario will impact effluent clogs. Effluent glogs should be a thing of the past since you aren't pinching the effluent line. With LS17 tubing, that unit is rated at 28ml/min as the minimum since your unit has a 10 RPM minimum per the flow chart for that model.
http://www.coleparmer.com/Product/L...190_to_260_VAC/EW-07523-60?SearchTerm=7523-60
That's pretty close to what you are seeing at 30ml/min and depending on how you are measuring that, 2ml one way or the other could be very easy to mismeasure.
Add in the +/- 3% tolerance for most CP pumps and that gets up to nearly 29ml/min. How the tubing is seated will also have a slight increase/decrease on pumping rate, tighter stretched tubing will pump a bit less but be more accurate, looser tubing will pump more but with a bit less accuracy. That may be where they get the +/- 3% from though.
JoshuaG
New member
Hey guys I had bought this setup for my large multi tank setup but broke everything down before I used it. You could dose several different setups with this and it's variable speed, pretty awesome.
If anyone is interested shoot me a PM
http://www.coleparmer.com/Product/M...odular_drive_6_to_600_rpm_115_VAC/EW-07553-70
If anyone is interested shoot me a PM
http://www.coleparmer.com/Product/M...odular_drive_6_to_600_rpm_115_VAC/EW-07553-70
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