I have a precision marine reactor with effluent chamber and I do not understand how it works. My friend came over and set it all up but I don't understand how to adjust it. How do I adjust the alk? Calcium? Right now my bubble count is one bubble every 5 seconds. I just don't like when I don't understand equipment because then I can't prevent problems.
Little help understanding a calcium reactor
- Thread starter ZoaFan08
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m and m
2500 Club Member
Your co2 enters your chamber at around a ph of 6.7, breaking down the media. The media adds cal and alk to your system. Each bubble is co2 i belive, then that water is driped into your sump adding cal and alk as it is taken from your water. It is a big cycle, but some times your ph of your system can be lowered because excess co2 is added to your system,thats why some pp drip kalk at night wen your ph drops the most.
How big is your tank? I would recommend you run it on a controller.
The Ca reactor takes the CO2 and dissolves the media with a pH below 7.0. If the pH drops below 6.4, the media will melt in to a paste, not good. As the media dissolves, it goes in to the effluent chamber which drips in to the sump. The effluent chamber is where you want the pH probe.
CO2 causes the tank pH to drop so that is why I run a monitor on my tank and a controller on my Ca reactor.
Here are some instructions I found via google;
http://www.geosreef.com/forms/ca_reactor_instructions.pdf
Instructions
The Ca reactor takes the CO2 and dissolves the media with a pH below 7.0. If the pH drops below 6.4, the media will melt in to a paste, not good. As the media dissolves, it goes in to the effluent chamber which drips in to the sump. The effluent chamber is where you want the pH probe.
CO2 causes the tank pH to drop so that is why I run a monitor on my tank and a controller on my Ca reactor.
Here are some instructions I found via google;
http://www.geosreef.com/forms/ca_reactor_instructions.pdf
Instructions
you need to start by getting your PH in the reactor to 6.6-6.8, co2 drops the PH inside the reactor, which dissolves the Media
use the makers suggested starting point and adjust from there
more co2 lower ph Inside reactor
use the makers suggested starting point and adjust from there
more co2 lower ph Inside reactor
the key is to keep the pH inside the reactor in a range where the media is dissolving. i keep mine at 6.2-6.3 since i also run zeomag (to add magnesium) and it doesn't dissolve at 6.6.
to increase the amount of alk/ca being added to your reef, you increase the effluent rate. increasing the effluent rate will increase the pH inside the reactor, forcing you to increase the bubble rate to lower the pH back to your desired range. otherwise, the water being pumped from your reef into the reactor (whose pH is higher than 6.2-6.3) will increase the pH in the reactor and the media will stop dissolving.
so basically, to increase the amount of alk/ca you must increase both the effluent rate and bubble rate to keep the pH in your desired range
to increase the amount of alk/ca being added to your reef, you increase the effluent rate. increasing the effluent rate will increase the pH inside the reactor, forcing you to increase the bubble rate to lower the pH back to your desired range. otherwise, the water being pumped from your reef into the reactor (whose pH is higher than 6.2-6.3) will increase the pH in the reactor and the media will stop dissolving.
so basically, to increase the amount of alk/ca you must increase both the effluent rate and bubble rate to keep the pH in your desired range
aerius007
Well-Known Member
That is the amount of water coming out of the reactor into the tank. If you only drop the ph in the reactor you will ruin the media. So to raise the calc/alk you need to move more calc/alk rich water from the reactor into the sump. When you increase the amount of flow out of the reactor you will need to increase the bubble rate to keep the ph at the desired level.
Ahh perfect thank you. Since I do not have a place to put a pH probe in the reactor can I just drip some water into a cup and test it?
Right now I am doing 1 bubble every 5 seconds and have a nice stream of effluent water. When I started my reactor my ALK was 8.2 and in 2 days it rose to 10.0 so I slowed my bubble count to 1 bubble every 5 seconds instead of 1 every 3 seconds and I increased effluent. I just did this last night so I am going to test it when I get home to see where its at.
When I tested the effluent water it was ALK of around 15 and calcium of 450.
Right now I am doing 1 bubble every 5 seconds and have a nice stream of effluent water. When I started my reactor my ALK was 8.2 and in 2 days it rose to 10.0 so I slowed my bubble count to 1 bubble every 5 seconds instead of 1 every 3 seconds and I increased effluent. I just did this last night so I am going to test it when I get home to see where its at.
When I tested the effluent water it was ALK of around 15 and calcium of 450.
Geo has the best instructions I have found.
http://www.geosreef.com/caReactorInstructions.pdf
I drip my reactor effluent into a Lee's Specimen Container like the LFS bags fish in. The container hangs on the side of the sump with my pH probe suspended in it then overflows into the sump. That way I am measuring and controlling the pH in the reactor.
http://www.geosreef.com/caReactorInstructions.pdf
I drip my reactor effluent into a Lee's Specimen Container like the LFS bags fish in. The container hangs on the side of the sump with my pH probe suspended in it then overflows into the sump. That way I am measuring and controlling the pH in the reactor.
i think what you want to do is decrease both the bubble rate and the effluent rate to decrease the amount of alk/ca in your water. you still want to maintain your target pH inside the reactor.
another option (and what i do) is only run the reactor for a portion of the day (not 24/7). this will limit the amount of alk/ca being added and allow you to run in the daylight cycle and limit the reactor's effect on system pH
another option (and what i do) is only run the reactor for a portion of the day (not 24/7). this will limit the amount of alk/ca being added and allow you to run in the daylight cycle and limit the reactor's effect on system pH
not necessarily. if you're trying to decrease the pH inside the reactor you up the bubble count or decrease the effluent. opposite for increasing. but if you're adding too much to the reactor, you gotta decrease both to keep the pH inside the reactor the same but add less alk/ca
Ahh ok its making more sense now. I have not tested the pH inside the reactor yet but I will tonight.
I guess I will just keep testing my alk/calcium till I get it fine tuned.
Does a reactor adjust magnesium? My mag shot up to around 1460 from 1300 after bringing the reactor online.
it doesn't adjust mag but your system is probably eating mag as a result of utilizing the added calcium.
many people just dose mag manually (since it doesn't need to remain as constant as long as it is kept above a certain level) or add a mag supplement to their reactor. i use zeomag. others use dolomite. be use to research both of these products as to how they should be used
many people just dose mag manually (since it doesn't need to remain as constant as long as it is kept above a certain level) or add a mag supplement to their reactor. i use zeomag. others use dolomite. be use to research both of these products as to how they should be used
One very very important thing to remember is, only make one adjustment at a time in a 24 hr period, otherwise you have no idea which changes helped and which hurt the situation. Adjust only the bubble count or the drip rate but not both in the same day.
Using a 2 part or other method, get your calcium and alkalinity at the desired levels then start your reactor and make single adjustments until you get it dialed in.
The specimen container has a lip for hanging on the side of a tank on it so will not fall off. The small amount of effluent in the container is not enough to effect tank pH even if it did unless its a very small system. The idea with suspending the probe over the effeluent like this is I am monitoring and controlling the reactor and not the display, they are really independent of each other.
Using a 2 part or other method, get your calcium and alkalinity at the desired levels then start your reactor and make single adjustments until you get it dialed in.
The specimen container has a lip for hanging on the side of a tank on it so will not fall off. The small amount of effluent in the container is not enough to effect tank pH even if it did unless its a very small system. The idea with suspending the probe over the effeluent like this is I am monitoring and controlling the reactor and not the display, they are really independent of each other.
Thanks for the bit of information, I have been trying to adjust both.
My fear has been nuking the tank, I have heard some bad stories about setting up a calcium reactor.
I have some left over acrylic from building my sump so maybe I'll try to make something to hold the probe and some water. I wish my ACJR could have two pH probes hooked up to it.
If you go slowly and only make one small adjustment at a time its pretty hard to nuke a tank. Start out with a slower drip rate and bubble count and work up rather than the other way around. I would definitely use a controller on the reactor rather than a monitor in the tank or even reactor. I was using a Milwaukee SMS-122 pH controller and it never let me down. I just bought a Reefkeeper Lite L3 two weeks ago and am using it now since the sale of the Milwaukee, a Ranco dual stage temp controller and various other stuff financed the Reefkeeper purchase. Love it so far!
