Calcium reactor on small tank

[Kfactor]

Hi all my big tank sprung a leak so I switched everything over to a 50g tank . I had 2 part going on my other tank and I bought a calcium reactor for it but now that this happened I want to put it on this smaller tank . I have never used one and thought this would be a good way to start my question is how would I set it up for a lower demand tank ? It’s a geo and I have the carbon doser and a Neptune apex jr that am just going to use for the calcium reactor

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi all my big tank sprung a leak so I switched everything over to a 50g tank . I had 2 part going on my other tank and I bought a calcium reactor for it but now that this happened I want to put it on this smaller tank . I have never used one and thought this would be a good way to start my question is how would I set it up for a lower demand tank ? It’s a geo and I have the carbon doser and a Neptune apex jr that am just going to use for the calcium reactor

Best doing 2 part or dosing unit

 

[DeniseAndy]

It will depend on your demand. You said low demand, so may be easier to run dosing. Although, I have not done that since I had a 29g tank 19 years ago.

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

the reactor gets set up the same for any level of demand... the effluent rate is what you adjust according to your demand. do you have a good regulator and a pump like a kamoer or masterflex to run it? if apex jr has a ph probe you might incorporate it if the reactor has a port for it.

 

[HuduVudu]

@Kfactor I run a reactor on a small tank. My tank is a 20 with a 40 sump.

Here is what I learned about doing this. First you need a doser that is NOT continous feed OR you can use a continous feed but you need to tee or maybe four way the line to the CaRx. With the tee (or four way) going back to the tank. A benefit of this is that you can keep the line cleaner by having a higher flow through the line into the doser. You are doing this because you need to get your feed flow WAY down to be in a range that the tank can handle.

I am going to say something super unpopular. You really shouldn't use the Carbon Doser. The reason that I say this is because you will not be able to get the bubble count down. Instead you will need to get a soleniod and hook it up to your Apex to turn on and off. DO NOT use the Apex as a closed loop on pH probe. This is a VERY dangerous thing to do. Just don't. If you want to use the probe to dial in the CaRx then this a good thing, but make sure that you are testing the effluent for the 20-25dKh as a sanity check against the probe. I usually turn on the seloniod for a second and leave it off for 12 minutes. This is with an 8 bubble count per second with the soleniod wide open. What this creates is a one bubble per minute situation. This is necessary in this configuration.

The purpose of this advice is so that you can get a effluent flow and bubble count that is very low. Low demand means low flow through the reactor. This is what you need in a low demand or small tank environment.

Hope this helps.

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

im not sure what a carbon doser is? if its a cheap regulator, agree , get a solid regulator i recommend victor or harris , the planted tank guys seem to like or comparable and a solid effluent pump (kamoer, masterflex, cole parmer etc) to run the reactor

the regulator to set the bubble count and the pump are the 2 most important parts of the setup.

 

[jda]

You can use a CaRx in a small tank with low demand. I used one on the $1000 tank linked in my signature that started with no demand. Once you figure out how to tune it, it is easy to dial it back, or turn it up, to whatever you need.

 

[Kfactor]

@Kfactor I run a reactor on a small tank. My tank is a 20 with a 40 sump.

Here is what I learned about doing this. First you need a doser that is NOT continous feed OR you can use a continous feed but you need to tee or maybe four way the line to the CaRx. With the tee (or four way) going back to the tank. A benefit of this is that you can keep the line cleaner by having a higher flow through the line into the doser. You are doing this because you need to get your feed flow WAY down to be in a range that the tank can handle.

I am going to say something super unpopular. You really shouldn't use the Carbon Doser. The reason that I say this is because you will not be able to get the bubble count down. Instead you will need to get a soleniod and hook it up to your Apex to turn on and off. DO NOT use the Apex as a closed loop on pH probe. This is a VERY dangerous thing to do. Just don't. If you want to use the probe to dial in the CaRx then this a good thing, but make sure that you are testing the effluent for the 20-25dKh as a sanity check against the probe. I usually turn on the seloniod for a second and leave it off for 12 minutes. This is with an 8 bubble count per second with the soleniod wide open. What this creates is a one bubble per minute situation. This is necessary in this configuration.

The purpose of this advice is so that you can get a effluent flow and bubble count that is very low. Low demand means low flow through the reactor. This is what you need in a low demand or small tank environment.

Hope this helps.

Thank you for the detailed reply I was looking at getting the kamoer dosing pump but now I might have to change that

 

[HuduVudu]

Thank you for the detailed reply I was looking at getting the kamoer dosing pump but now I might have to change that

You can do the Kamoer, you just need to create a tee or possibly a four way to cut the output down.

I am planning to hook my Kamoer back up. I push 1200ml per day, so my Kamoer would need to be set at .8ml per minute. This isn't ideal. Also I would have to move the Kamoer in 144ml per day increments. For me I really want to use the Kamoer, so I came up with the idea to tee off the output of the Kamoer. This should at least double and more likely move even higher than that if I tee the out and push the teed output back to the tank. This would mean I would be running 1.6 ml per minute or more likely more. This seems more acceptable and it will give me finer control.

Ultimately it is up to you how you want to do it. Don't be surprised if you need in the 300 - 400 ml per day as an effluent rate and plan accordingly.

 

[Kfactor]

You can do the Kamoer, you just need to create a tee or possibly a four way to cut the output down.

I am planning to hook my Kamoer back up. I push 1200ml per day, so my Kamoer would need to be set at .8ml per minute. This isn't ideal. Also I would have to move the Kamoer in 144ml per day increments. For me I really want to use the Kamoer, so I came up with the idea to tee off the output of the Kamoer. This should at least double and more likely move even higher than that if I tee the out and push the teed output back to the tank. This would mean I would be running 1.6 ml per minute or more likely more. This seems more acceptable and it will give me finer control.

Ultimately it is up to you how you want to do it. Don't be surprised if you need in the 300 - 400 ml per day as an effluent rate and plan accordingly.

so for a t where are you saying to put it and run it ?

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

why not just run the kamoer slower?
if pulling thru the reactor mine doesnt even start pulling water till its set at like 5 ml/minute there is some resisntance in the calcium reactor to overcome.

 

[HuduVudu]

so for a t where are you saying to put it and run it ?

On the output of the Kamoer.

So ... you have a tube going into the Kamoer from the tank or sump. Then you have an output tube from the Kamoer. Make a small piece of tubing and then run that tubing into a tee. Then run one of the outputs into the CaRx and the other back into the tank/sump. This will split the output of the Kamoer. Because there will be resistance going into the CaRx there will be back pressure and that will push water into the part of the tee going back to the tank/sump. You will then need to measure the effluent rate out of the CaRx because the number on the Kamoer will not be what is going through the CaRx. This is easy. Put your graduated cylinder on the effluent out of the CaRx and then set your (phone) timer for some number like 20 sec. Then fill up the graduated cylinder with effluent and remove the tube when the timer goes off. So if you get 20mls of water in your cylinder you divide by the time and you get 1 ml/sec. Then you can convert this into whatever amount you are comfortable with. For me I use a ml per day as my base reference. So 1 ml per second is 1x60x60x24 or 1440mls per day.

The good news is that once you get a flow rate in your effluent you can then just use the bubble count to adjust to get your 20-25 dKh rate. It will be easier to adjust the CO2 than the effluent flow. Just make sure that you check up on the calibration of the doser every so often. I find that I get a lot of algae plugging my line and I have to push that out every so often.

Low demand tanks aren't likely to move much so the fiddling is going to be VERY minimal.

 

[Kfactor]

On the output of the Kamoer.

So ... you have a tube going into the Kamoer from the tank or sump. Then you have an output tube from the Kamoer. Make a small piece of tubing and then run that tubing into a tee. Then run one of the outputs into the CaRx and the other back into the tank/sump. This will split the output of the Kamoer. Because there will be resistance going into the CaRx there will be back pressure and that will push water into the part of the tee going back to the tank/sump. You will then need to measure the effluent rate out of the CaRx because the number on the Kamoer will not be what is going through the CaRx. This is easy. Put your graduated cylinder on the effluent out of the CaRx and then set your (phone) timer for some number like 20 sec. Then fill up the graduated cylinder with effluent and remove the tube when the timer goes off. So if you get 20mls of water in your cylinder you divide by the time and you get 1 ml/sec. Then you can convert this into whatever amount you are comfortable with. For me I use a ml per day as my base reference. So 1 ml per second is 1x60x60x24 or 1440mls per day.

The good news is that once you get a flow rate in your effluent you can then just use the bubble count to adjust to get your 20-25 dKh rate. It will be easier to adjust the CO2 than the effluent flow. Just make sure that you check up on the calibration of the doser every so often. I find that I get a lot of algae plugging my line and I have to push that out every so often.

Low demand tanks aren't likely to move much so the fiddling is going to be VERY minimal.

so its just a by pass for the flow going in to the calcium reactor ? that sounds really easy to do . am going to give this a go just need to order the dosing pump

 

[HuduVudu]

so its just a by pass for the flow going in to the calcium reactor ? that sounds really easy to do . am going to give this a go just need to order the dosing pump

Yup.

 

[Kfactor]

Can I use one of these for a second chamber in my calcium reactor? I have 2 sitting here from my other tank