Calcium Reactor Settings?

ChrisQ0904 · Aug 11, 2019

I am new to this whole calcium reactor setup and have been doing 2 part since I got in the hobby. I have the reactor setup and it is running, I decided to control it via the Ph method. My feed pump for the reactor is a Sicce .5 and I dial it down with a needle valve so I do not know the ML/min I am dripping at. My question is how do I know how low to set the PH so that I am matching what I was doing with 2 part? My tank is 75g and I was dosing 50ml of CA and ALK. I watched one video that showed a great setup and said to try around 7.4 but I dont think I am anywhere near that and my ALK actually went down. I dropped it to 7.2 yesterday and 24hrs later my ALK is still dropping within a day. Is it safe to do a bigger drop to about 6.8-6.9 or is it best to just drop by .1 a day?

Thank you.

Sierra_Bravo · Aug 11, 2019

Change the pH in small increments, waiting 24 hours to see the result. If your ALK is dropping faster than you'd like, you can buffer it with manual doses of two-part until you are dialed in.

I actually left my doser running when I set my reactor up, slowly reducing the doser timers while dropping pH in the calc reactor until I hit equilibrium.

JPergamo · Aug 11, 2019

Tuning a ca rx takes time. The ph to see any kind of dent will probably start to be in the 6.8-6.7 range depending on media type, flow rate for effluent, size of reactor and tank and so on. It takes a lot of time to tune it in but a balance will be struck. Just continue using 2 part to supplement in the mean time. Once its dialed in to the ph where you are somewhat stable, your next concern will be figuring out how to keep your effluent flow stable because the valves can clog some and flow will vary.

Also, I wanted to just add great job taking the leap and you will soon be very happy that you did. I absolutely love calcium reactors ever since I set mine up way back I'll never use another method. They are complicated to tune at first as you learn but well worth it.

One more thing I'd add is try to take your alk readings at the same time each day and adjust accordingly so that the reading will be similar in the system. Good luck and have fun