Official: Masterflex Calcium Reactor Setup Thread

Need to take your time here. Slowly increase gas flow until your tank demand stabilizes. Ph in the reactor is just a ballpark of where you should be, not where you neccesarily will be. Test your tank frequently to make sure your not overdosing it. That reactor pushing 30ml/min at 6.5 with reborn is probably pushing quite a bit of alk/cal
 
tkeracer619 said:
Need to take your time here. Slowly increase gas flow until your tank demand stabilizes. Ph in the reactor is just a ballpark of where you should be, not where you neccesarily will be. Test your tank frequently to make sure your not overdosing it. That reactor pushing 30ml/min at 6.5 with reborn is probably pushing quite a bit of alk/cal
Click to expand...



Starting to figure that out, slowly adjusting and bring ml/min and bpm down. It was pushing quite a bit. But I've been testing and adjusting. Thanks for the reply


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Just a couple of notes to those new to the CaRx, test, wait & test again. I had mine set, running 30 on the pump and for about a week I was stable at 9 dkh in the tank. I let it go for a while, untested (2-3 months) and tested it & I was at 14 dkh. I lost a couple of corals due to the high ALK. I slowly brought it back down to 9 and now my pump is running at 12 (instead of 30). Its been stable for a week, but I plan to keep testing at least once a week for a while.

Second note, there is 7523-60 (no head) on ebay right now for like $300. Great deal. Not mine! FYI
 
Hey all just found this thread... I've been going crazy trying to dial my calcium reactor feeding off of my return line. I've had the typical problems everyone else has with this type of set up but I finally got a steady incomplete stream and a steady PH of 7.0 in my reactor using reborn.. I'd still like to get a masterflex pump to make tuning easier but I have no idea what model I should be looking for there are so many on eBay

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eric23 said:
Hey all just found this thread... I've been going crazy trying to dial my calcium reactor feeding off of my return line. I've had the typical problems everyone else has with this type of set up but I finally got a steady incomplete stream and a steady PH of 7.0 in my reactor using reborn.. I'd still like to get a masterflex pump to make tuning easier but I have no idea what model I should be looking for there are so many on eBay

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Click to expand...

A great older model would be a 7523-60 which is brushless and nearly silent. Couple that with a 7518-00 or 7518-10 head and you will be set. If you want a newer model than the 7523-80 with the above mentioned heads would be an even better choice. I've run the 7523-80 with a 7518-10 head and LS17 tubing for nearly 3 years and love the combo. I wouldn't change anything on my system.
 
slief said:
Temp change can impact the tanks pH and the Co2 tank pressure. You Co2 tank is either getting low or you need to adjust the output pressure slightly. That or recalibrate your reactor pH probe.
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Thank you Slief for your response as always.

I'm kind of toying the idea of running a planted tank next to my reef, as well as running a co2 line in there. I figured a check valve, needle valve, and a dual adapter would be possible. Any criticism or thoughts that I'm overlooking? I figured I'd have to readjust everything of course.


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Hello everyone. I'm in the market for a used Masterflex pump. I'm new to using a peristaltic pump so I find it hard to recognize a good deal. Anyone have or know of a good deal on a pump?
 
THere are plenty of references to the pumps that are best for reactors in this thread. Determine what you want and search around in Ebay for selling history to determine what is a good deal. What was a good deal 5 years ago has change a lot.
 
tkeracer619 said:
Let me take a look tomorrow but I think you're head is fine. Some pump drives require what is called a "long shaft" pump head but I don't have any personal experience with them. If it was working fine before something funky is going on.
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any luck uncovering info on "long shaft pump head"? it sounds like this (or somehow getting a bushing on the flywheel shaft would help.
-Greg
 
Masterflex are great pumps. Is the 7520-40 a good pump? Does it do what you want in terms of flow? It is not brushless, if that is important to you.
 
This setup maintains consistency dead on. I have it set where my CA reactor is flatlines at 6.57ph.

Im running a GEO 624, Aquarium Plants regulator and a Masterflex on 250G system.

Its not keeping up. So am I better off increasing the flow rate a little or lowering my reactors PH? My tank PH hovers around 8. Dips a little at night.

I am just starting to switch the tank over to SPS.
 
Anyone seen these ? I emailed coralvue and they said they placed and order and should be available by april ? It's made to feed calcium reactors and run 24/7 and has an adjustable flow rate. I've seen some videos looks like it might be good especially at 250.00
d59910e0159a8ebc995c0a8e6753eecf.jpg


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jh2pizza said:
This setup maintains consistency dead on. I have it set where my CA reactor is flatlines at 6.57ph.

Im running a GEO 624, Aquarium Plants regulator and a Masterflex on 250G system.

Its not keeping up. So am I better off increasing the flow rate a little or lowering my reactors PH? My tank PH hovers around 8. Dips a little at night.

I am just starting to switch the tank over to SPS.
Click to expand...

You can adjust the PH lower.

You can also adjust both the effluent and gas delivery which will maintain the current ph. Often I will increase effluent flow 10% and also increase either gas pressure or bubbles per second by 10% as well. If the PH is where you want it then this is what I do, if you want ph a little lower then just increase the gas flow a little.
 
eric23 said:
Anyone seen these ? I emailed coralvue and they said they placed and order and should be available by april ? It's made to feed calcium reactors and run 24/7 and has an adjustable flow rate. I've seen some videos looks like it might be good especially at 250.00
d59910e0159a8ebc995c0a8e6753eecf.jpg


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Click to expand...

I know several companies are working on some continuous duty peristaltic pumps. I do hope they have taken into account that we need ball bearings in the motors and not brass bushings like most stepper motors come with. Also, hopefully they were able to keep the noise down, steppers are notoriously noisy.

Edit, looks like they did. Seems relatively quiet!

After watching a bunch of vids, they are always running fast, I wonder what the lowest speed is. I assume it's low but there is a slight language barrier. Hopefully this is a workable solution! Maybe I can convince BigBlueTang to order one for his reactor so I can get some hands on with it :)
 
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Anybody have word on when Geo will release theirs? I've heard rumblings and they confirmed it to a friend of mine who spoke with them at a trade show but no info on their website, forums, and they won't answer my emails about it. I've loved my masterflex, but it looks like it is from the Vietnam war era, and is noisy as all get out. I really don't have 2 grand to drop on a new brushless model but I want to keep this same level of consistent effluent


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