Q on Ca Reactor (Trapped CO2)

[Duce]

I don't currently have a Calcium Reactor yet....
But I am looking at the one from Coralife.
I spoke with a shop owner and someone who owns one. One of the issue they have with it is the trapping of CO2 at the top. I know this is not limited to the Coralife one - I think I read Schuran have the same issue.
Basically I want to know what causes it? Is it related to CO2 being feed or the media used or the deign of the unit itself.
I am assuming the individual is using ARM media since this is the most economical and readily available media in town.
Has anyone every tapped their unit and put a purge in place...it at the top of the unit to allow bleed off when the build up is too much.
TIA.

 

[sirreal63]

What I did was tap the highest point and installed a port that feeds the excess c02 back to the pump. it is easy to do, drill a hole, install an airline back to the pump...you may have to create a venturi so it pulls the c02/water back to the pump but it works great. Don't purge it, that is just wasting c02, doing it my way makes the reactor more efficient.

What causes this is you are injecting c02 faster than it can be dissolved in the water so the excess rises to the top. By drawing that excess co2 back you are dissolving more of it and that saves on the gas.

 

[SDguy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9652107#post9652107 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sirreal63


What causes this is you are injecting c02 faster than it can be dissolved in the water so the excess rises to the top. By drawing that excess co2 back you are dissolving more of it and that saves on the gas.

FWIW, it can happen with Korallin Reactors too if set up a certain way. Another cause besides too much CO2 is if you are accidentally injecting microbubbles with the water feed.

 

[mcurl98]

it is caused by having too low a drip rate and too high of a bubble rate. Properly adjusted, this won't occur.

 

[Duce]

Since I am new to the world of Ca Reactor...if the individual is using a controller (probe into the chamber) and solenoid... wouldn't that control the amount of CO2 going into the Reactor?

 

[mcurl98]

yes and no. It shuts the CO2 off when a certain PH is reached but it does nothing to control the rate of the CO2 (bubble count). If you have a lot of bubbles (CO2) going in your reactor and not much effluent going out (which allows new, not-saturated-with-CO2-water, in) then you are going to have excess CO2. It is really not much of an issue-easy to adjust it properly with many reactors-some are more difficult. Coralife products are often less expensive but also often don't live up to peoples' expectations. This thread has a ton of good info about reactor issues and jdieck really knows reactors (while it is started as a Korallin thread, it is much more):
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=9262886#post9262886

 

[Duce]

Thanks all