GL Hop!
cbui2: The LM is great and far superior to what I had before. Hard to say how it is performance wise since I have no way to measure it. Seems to be doing exactly what it should, and no more syphon!
Marc: Your code was close enough to get me there and I already made the changes. I also got some very good advice from another more experienced reefer with an essentially identical setup, and he said the following:
My kalk stirrer runs 24/7.....but, the effluent in the chamber is crystal clear.....you could read a newspaper behind it. Your kalk reactor may be performing differently....but...only a perfectly clear liquid should be dosed into the tank. Placing your stirrer on a timer is a good idea if you can't get a clear effluent. My LM is not on any timer and doses the set amount each day.
As for your Ca reactor. As you know, each tank will have its requirements for alk usage. You have two parameters that you can adjust...flow and pH. I chose to keep an unbroken stream of effluent out of the reactor and adjust the CO2. I do not use my controller to adjust the CO2....the effluent stream is too notorious for slowing over time and messing up things. I chose a steady effluent stream because it fouls less over time....and the CO2 needs should be consistant over time....I see no need to have the CO2 on a controller....in fact...I think there is more risk with their being on a controller. Once you have a constant effluent stream....it's just finding the amount of CO2 that maintains your tank's needs....I use pH rather than bubble count. My reactor's pH sweetspot is 6.45.
Good luck and test often until you get it dialed in...and STOP adding undissolved kalk.
So he made some interesting points for sure. I set everything up on timers because I was afraid of dropping or raising the pH by too much. I also find it interesting that he is running the Schuran style media at 6.45 when all the reading I have done points to 6.20. But, I think what I have learned here is that while I was able to maintain pH well, I think over time alk was steadily climbing and probably precipitating out enough Ca that my Ca tests always read in a normal range.
I had assumed that the stirrer's function was to stir up the kalk a lot and that would give me good saturation, but apparently I was incorrect and running it too much for too long, clouding the reactor every 4 hours and allowing undiluted kalk into the system.
I think the net result is alkalinity swings, pumping too much Ca into the system, rediculous coraline growth, and a couple stressed corals. So, what I am going to do is get back to basics. I will go through it start-to-finish and simplify by making manual adjustments and removing some of the timer code. I am not sure I can trust to get totally off timer control, but I am going to try.
One issue I have noted which seems to support his theory that using CO2 on a timer/probe is more risky is that when it starts and stops, the temperature of the needle valve changes radically and so will the CO2 flow. Sometimes I find it spewing crazily and sometimes it slows down quite a bit, so over time I have had to make a lot of adjustments to it. Having it on 24/7 should alleviate that issue and also keep the Ca addition more consistant, which is much of the reason to have a reactor in the first place!
