How often adjust CARX

[LadyTang2]

Lot's people talk about how CARXs are set it and forget it, but ca/alk needs change albeit slowly in older tanks.

How often do you adjust your carx to keep in your desired ca/alk range? Did you at one time adjust it less or more frequently?

Thanks

 

[vetteguy53081]

Lot's people talk about how CARXs are set it and forget it, but ca/alk needs change albeit slowly in older tanks.

How often do you adjust your carx to keep in your desired ca/alk range? Did you at one time adjust it less or more frequently?

Thanks

Aim for 6.3-6.5 ph using the CA reactor and test alk regularly. Allow it to be stable in a given range than to adjust to target a value. I did at first and alk hit almost 12. Im at 6.6 and everything has panned out

 

[laverda]

Very seldom once adjusted. Then only minor adjustments to make up for increased or decreased loads.

 

[LadyTang2]

What's interesting is that so many people want to use tridents to keep ca and alk in a tight range, making adjustments automatically yet when we just leave the carxs alone for weeks and a steady constant dose people seem to do well. Makes me question the need of this kind of test and correct automation.

 

[ScottB]

What's interesting is that so many people want to use tridents to keep ca and alk in a tight range, making adjustments automatically yet when we just leave the carxs alone for weeks and a steady constant dose people seem to do well. Makes me question the need of this kind of test and correct automation.

There is a good use case for Trident (or other automation). If the reefer travels a lot is a prime example.

For my CaRx, I do need to occasionally purge it of excess trapped air. I test ALK twice a week or so, but find I need to change setting every couple of months once I got it dialed in.

 

[LadyTang2]

There is a good use case for Trident (or other automation). If the reefer travels a lot is a prime example.

For my CaRx, I do need to occasionally purge it of excess trapped air. I test ALK twice a week or so, but find I need to change setting every couple of months once I got it dialed in.

But if you only need to change it every few months it seems that a trident would not be needed if you're going on vacation unless you're sailing around the world for 3 months.

 

[ScottB]

But if you only need to change it every few months it seems that a trident would not be needed if you're going on vacation unless you're sailing around the world for 3 months.

Every component in our systems is subject to failure and a CaRx is often a complex set of components -- any one of which can fail.
- CO2 bottle goes empty
- float valve goes off
- pH probe loses calibration
- effluent line clogs
- pump fails
- regulator goes goofy
-GFCI trips

These things fail only when you are traveling -- never while you are sitting there. Without Trident:
- you probably don't even know your dkh is falling
- if you don't know, you are not fixing the problem.
- if you do know something is wrong (like your pH is rising, due to no effluent) you are still stuffed unless you can fire up APEX DOS remotely. But you still don't know how much to dose because you cannot test without the Trident.

The larger picture:
- CaRx really only makes sense in high consumption systems. Otherwise 2 part dosing has fewer moving parts. IMO.
- Trident has a use case, although a limited one. IMO.

I don't own a Trident, but can't say I never will. When something like it comes along that just tests ALK whenever I tell it to... I probably will make that jump.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

I have a CaRx but instead of owning a trident, I own an alkatronic. It's hard to justify the need for them, because you're exactly right, you're not looking at daily test results to tweak your CaRx output as much as you're using it to see trends and more importantly to catch a failure early on. As mentioned, C02 bottle can empty without knowing, pump may have failed, a valve, a solenoid failure etc..etc. All those can destroy your tank, but if you can detect it early enough you have a great chance of fixing it before it becomes a problem.

 

[vanpire]

I also have a CARx and love it. Sistermont is correct that there are moving parts that can fail but I can usually tell by looking at the pH level and how often the selenoid that controls the pH is turned on and off. There is usually a daily pH fluctuations within the CARx, and if the pattern doesn’t show during my daily checks on my Apex I would know something is wrong.

I bought an Alkatronic six months ago, but haven’t hooked it up because everything is working with little effort from me. I check my alk every 3-4 days on a Hanna and it has been extremely steady.

Maybe when I travel again, I might hook up the Alkatronic.

 

[ScottB]

I also have a CARx and love it. Sistermont is correct that there are moving parts that can fail but I can usually tell by looking at the pH level and how often the selenoid that controls the pH is turned on and off. There is usually a daily pH fluctuations within the CARx, and if the pattern doesn’t show during my daily checks on my Apex I would know something is wrong.

I bought an Alkatronic six months ago, but haven’t hooked it up because everything is working with little effort from me. I check my alk every 3-4 days on a Hanna and it has been extremely steady.

Well heck. Send it on over to me and I will test it out for you for a few years free of charge. After all, what are friends for?

 

[X-37B]

I run a carx with no controller or ph probe.
Super simple and needs almost no adjustment.
I test alk daily and log it in my reef journal but really only need to test it weekly.
Co2 bubbles are always rock steady.
I can look at effluent flow and tell what the alk is.
But thats old school and im home every night lol.