Calcium Reactor and GFO chemistry quesiton.

chicago · Dec 9, 2020

Running a CalRX.. The effluent out is .05 and I am having algae issues. Wondering from a chemistry stand point.. given the co2 ect... what happens if we run the effluent through some GFO after the reactor and prior to the DT ... I have an old kent RO that I can plug in line ??

thanks

Randy Holmes-Farley · Dec 9, 2020

What is the tank level of phosphate?

What is the flow rate?

i expect that level of phosphate input is trivially small relative to foods.

chicago · Dec 9, 2020

I hear ya.... just struggling with seeing rock that has algae growing on it.. and keep thinking about organic vs non organic phosphate.. ect.. tank is at .02 and effluent is at .05 at a rate of 40 ML/min... I get this is not a lot... also I was just wondering from a chemistry stand point.. what happens if we do run effluent through a GFO media

thanks as always...

Randy Holmes-Farley · Dec 9, 2020

chicago said:
I hear ya.... just struggling with seeing rock that has algae growing on it.. and keep thinking about organic vs non organic phosphate.. ect.. tank is at .02 and effluent is at .05 at a rate of 40 ML/min... I get this is not a lot... also I was just wondering from a chemistry stand point.. what happens if we do run effluent through a GFO media

thanks as always...

How big is the display tank?

I'll assume 100 gallons.

So you are adding 0.03 ppm at 40 ml/min. That puts the daily addition at 0.03 ppm with 15.2 gallons, or a daily addition of 0.03 x 15.2/100 = 0.005 ppm per day.

Foods are likely adding at least ten times as much each day,

There will be some binding of phosphate to the GFO, but probably less at the lower pH of the effluent,a nd I expect you would be better off binding phosphate from tank water where there is less, but at a higher pH where there will be a larger fraction as PO4---, which is the form that most likely binds to GFO.

chicago · Dec 9, 2020

yep.. thank you for that ... I need a math refresher.. the tank is actually about 800 gallons net water... so I think my OCD with reactor and Phosphate is put to rest...