ReefTek Club

Sorry but I have the new mod and the effluent still slows down. Any clues? I am thinking about getting the pump I just posted above to take care of the issues. Thanks.
 
I just notice a baseball sized air bubble on the top of the reactor chamber, how do I get rid of the bubble?

Thanks!
 
Freed, I chose the one I did because of it's flow rate, the Aquamedic puts out too much for me. I would say it depends on your Cacium demands, mine are fairly low. What is your flow rate now? You can, and I have adjusted the bubble rate to achieve my results and they have been exactly the same since I installed the pump a few months ago, flow rate is still 33 ml/min BTW :)
 
KRAZ4REEFS said:
Freed, I chose the one I did because of it's flow rate, the Aquamedic puts out too much for me. I would say it depends on your Cacium demands, mine are fairly low. What is your flow rate now? You can, and I have adjusted the bubble rate to achieve my results and they have been exactly the same since I installed the pump a few months ago, flow rate is still 33 ml/min BTW :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. I have a number of LPS, SPS, zoas, softies, shrooms, yada yada, etc...

The single chamber is keeping my calcium steady, or was a couple of weeks ago which is the last time I had time to check, at 350 ppm. The alk is remaining steady as well at 10-11 dkh. I would like to keep the calcium up around the 420-450 ppm mark but am having a difficult time as everyone else is with the effluent flow rate. Thought I has the answer a few weeks ago but that drew up short. Jorge told me to use a dedicated powerhead and I will try that first before trying a peristalic pump. Thanks. Freed
 
Hey Guys,

Question for the guys using a dosing pump. What do you guys use as a pre-filter for the intake of the tube taking in water from your sump. I would imagine if you just had the tube submerged in your sump, you could be pulling in pods and detritus into the reactor?

I tried dripping at 195ml a minute which did great for my SPS!!! but it eventually slowed down again. :( :(
 
Ray, I don't use any filter at all, just pulls from my sump. I think with a couple of adapters you could use a mag drive filter or something similar.
 
Nope, it doesn't suck from the very bottom, it's suspended up a few inches, nice clean water. Besides no matter what pump you use you will have the same concern.

BUY THE PUMP, YOUR PROBLEMS WILL GO AWAY!!! I just glance at mine once a week or so at this point, flow is always at 33 ml/min, bubble count is always at 40 bpm give or take a couple, effluent is always at 6.9, tank ph is always between 8.1-8.3, what more can you ask for?
 
I to have been having trouble with my Reeftec Calcium Reactor's flow rate.I have all the parts for the mod except for the part labeled ( C ) Slip Thread Bushing 1/2* 1/4 .I can't find it on the East End of Long Island .Home Depot and Blackmans don't have it and I was told it's a Specialty Item. If anyone does know of a Plumbing Supply or other, that might have it ?Please post

Thank You
 
Some of the German Ca reactor makers are recommending peristalic or dosing pumps to pull effluent out of the reactor. Seems to be about the only way to really have accurate hassle free flow out of these guys...
 
Todd March said:
Some of the German Ca reactor makers are recommending peristalic or dosing pumps to pull effluent out of the reactor. Seems to be about the only way to really have accurate hassle free flow out of these guys...
Click to expand...

OK! This makes me curious. KRAZ4REEFS, are you pushing the water thru the reactor with the pump or are you pulling the water out of the reactor with the pump? I am pushing my water thru the reactor from a tee off of my skimmer/reactor Mag 18. Should I be using a pump to pull water out of the reactor? Thanks.
 
Freed, I push water through it but IMO it doesn't matter if there is no restriction. I took the ball valve off of my outlet line, the pump puts out an exact amount so no valve is needed. IMO, if you did have a valve with this type pump you would probably ruin something, the pump is extreamly strong, even though it puts out such a small amout. One more note, I think the peristaltic type pumps are just as good at pushing as they are pulling unlike the maxi jets or similar, they are good at pushing but you would probably burn them up if you restricted the inlet. Just my thoughts, hope this helps!!
 
I thought you guys having problems with the effluent might find this post from another thread helpful.

from jdieck:

If you search trough this forums you may find that this is a common problem with many brands and with many injection methodologies.

Here is what many manufacturers do not tell in their instructions regarding flow stability specifically on why the flow dropps.

a) Trying to keep too little effluent flow. if trying to keep less than 10 to 15 ml/min (specially with higher input pressure) the orifice trough the valve is so small that it can be easily plugged. In addition plastics valves can change settings that small with just changes in temperature given the expansion and contraction of the valve body.

b) Use of a globe valve which is not that precise and very minute adjustments give a large change in effluent flow. Try to get a quality needle valve for it if you do not have one. You can find them at www.usaplastics.com look for the SVC or the Hayward plastic needle valves.

c) Settling of the media or too fine of a media: During the first days of operation after setting a reactor the media settles closing the gap between the grains increasing the resistance to the recirculating flow reducing the suction pressure to the recirc. pump thus reducing also it's discharge pressure and the effluent flow as a side effect. Reactors with downward flow where the effluent is taken from the top (The discharge side of the pump) seem to be more prone to this effect.
This effect is enhanced the finer the media is and the smaller the recirculation pump is. Although the HD was designed to use either fine grained or medium grained media I would recommend using the medium sized grain media. ARM or Koralith works well although as Slayer mentions Koralith is harder to dissolve so it will be more difficult to reach the disolution point for a fixed effluent rate.

d) Air trapped in the media or inside the reactor makes the flow unstable fopr some reason (Seems to be the most common) In my experimentation with reactors using a pressure gauge I have noticed that the reactor's pressure drops as the bubbles get out and the effluent does not get stable until all bubbles inside the reactor has been expelled.

Try running your reactor without CO2 at a larger flow rate than you would for the final setting, say 75 ml/min. Besides helping to give time for the bubbles to go out it will also help for the media to get settled.
After say 24 hours adjust it closer to what you look for (17 to 20 ml/hr) but still higher say50 ml/min, after 48 check again and if it stayed high set up the final flow.

Adjusting the flow from higher to lower seems to help as any unpredicted drop will just pull you closer to were you want and if lucky it will fall right on. Once the effluent is stable start adding the CO2 slowly at first (say 20 bpm) and start increasing 5 bpm every day until your tank alkalinity is stable (No matter the level, just stable) at this point your addition will equal your consumption. You can adjust the alkalinity to the desired level using sodium bicarbonate and it will stay there as you have balanced the reactor. Once the alkalinity is at the level you want adjust Calium using a supplement (I use Turbocalcium) and it will also stay there.

Note the effluent rate, bubble rate and effluent PH for reference in future adjustments.

Note that I did not even mentioned effluent alkalinity as it does not really matter. As an example, a flow of 10 whatevers with alkalinity of 10dKH above the one of your tank will add the same alkalinity as an effuent of 20 whatevers with only 5 dKH of alkalinity above the one of your tank.

Good Luck and be very patient.
Click to expand...
 
flow

flow

Did anyone get a single tube to flow right without buying a dosing pump?
If so can you post some pictures of were you feed it & were your valves are & what kind of valve you are using.
Bought reactor & feed pump if I have to buy $100.00 dosing pump too.
Than maybe I should sell this reactor and buy one that I do not have too set every day.
 
Mine is running just fine without any dosing pump I use a maxijet 1200 to pump water from the sump to the reactor and from the reactor back to the sump with the main valve fully open I'm using a small ball valve at the end of the tube at the sump and the drip it's not slowing down since the day I installed the reactor.I posted a pic. of the valve on this thread somewhere .
 
Potential Reeftek purchaser

Potential Reeftek purchaser

I am looking to purchase a Ca Reactor and it is between a Reeftek and GEO ... what types of media are you guys using and are you seeing any side effects? Do any of you have any big concerns about the reeftek?
 
Re: Potential Reeftek purchaser

Re: Potential Reeftek purchaser

jgagel said:
I am looking to purchase a Ca Reactor and it is between a Reeftek and GEO ... what types of media are you guys using and are you seeing any side effects? Do any of you have any big concerns about the reeftek?
Click to expand...

I bought the reeftek and worked closely with Jorge with the setup (Only because I'm all thumbs). When we researched them for the group buy, the biggest difference was the thickness of the acrylic, but Jorge was willing to match GEO thickness for a slight increase in cost. Most opted to stay with Jorge's thickness.
Some of us have had trouble getting a steady flow of effluent (I haven't) and Jorge did make a design correction in all models that's supposed to adjust for that (though I'm hearing that almost all reactors share the symptom to some extent unless a peristaltic pump is used as a feed pump. I just use the recommended MJ 1200. The CA and ALK have been high and stable for months without having to even touch it. For customer support you will not beat Jorge.
I'd have to dig the container out of my garage, but the media is the standard araga-something-or-other.
HTH,
Tagamet
 
Tagamet -

When you say, "Some of us have had trouble getting a steady flow of effluent ..." what do you mean. I did notice that he has put a precision needle valve on all new models and replaced the small ball valve.

What does adjusting the effluent do anyways ... I have read that many times, but what does it do to the Reactor? What does controlling the effluent control about the Reactor?
 
effluent

effluent

jgagel said:
Tagamet -
When you say, "Some of us have had trouble getting a steady flow of effluent ..." what do you mean. I did notice that he has put a precision needle valve on all new models and replaced the small ball valve.
What does adjusting the effluent do anyways ... I have read that many times, but what does it do to the Reactor? What does controlling the effluent control about the Reactor?
Click to expand...

Effluent is simply a fancy way of saying "the stuff (fluid) that leaves the reactor". It's the good juice leaving the reactor that has the high calcium and alk levels. What you are adjusting is the amount that comes out per minute. Every tank has it's own ca and alk demands (which change over time) so you need to match not only the rate it comes out, but also the PH of what comes out (but that's another issue). Adjusting the effluent is sometimes a problem, because the rate it's coming out, sometimes slowly decreases over time. Some guys were adjusting it everyday because it had slowed down so much. Others, like myself haven't experienced the slow down. Pretty much everyone who got a peristaltic pump to use as input, got a steady output.
HTH,
Tagamet
 
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