help with drip rate for calcium reactor

[clk2609]

I am running a GenX(Mak4) as a return to my tank and it is T-off to calcium reactor with 1/2" gate valve down to 3/8 tubing to control drip rate but cannot seem to get precise drip rate control. I am trying to do 60 drips, and I will adjust gate valve to get this, then next morning down to 30 drips per minute.

Is my return pump to strong?

Can I use a T-off of overflow to feed calcium reactor or not enough pressure to feed reactor?

What are other reefers using to feed their reactors?

Any help is greatly appreciated

 

[Anonymous]

I feed mine with my skimmer pump, was mak4, now blueline 55, I use a dwyer needle valve flowmeter on the output of the reactor to control flow.

The flowmeter is rock solid, and easy to read.

L8r mega

 

[jchump5415]

I use a maxijet 900 to feed the reactor with water then a mag 250 circulation pump in the reactor. You may want to ge a micro valve, you can get them from premium aquatics or marine depot and they work better at keeping your drip steady. Don't worry about counting your drops, run it at a steady drip that is almost a stream and adjust the CO2 to get adequet results.

 

[dragon0121]

I have to disagree with the previous post about not worrying about effluent drip rate. If you have problems with low pH, then drip rate is a huge concern. You will want to minimize the effluent entering the tank, driving pH downward, while maintaining your desired Ca and Alk levels. This is the situation I face, and I started with a vary slow drop rate, couple drops a second, and slowly increased the flow rate, maintaining the effluent ph between 6.5 and 6.7 by increasing the CO2 at the same time, until I could maintain my Ca and Alk levels. This gives me the least amount of effluent possible with the lowest usage of CO2, thus the least impact on tank pH.

As a side note. My tank is in a finished basement and family room area. My son had three friends spend the night, and the basement door was closed, limiting air flow to the cold air return to the furnace (not really adequate). The next morning the tank pH had fallen to 6.7 8O . The affects of respiration and CO2 on your tank.

 

[jchump5415]

Every tank is different. I have a high effluent because I have a high sps and clam load in my tank. THe amount of CO2 going into your tank is adjusted by the amount you are putting in ie. the bubble rate. I only run a bubble rate of 24 bubbles per minute so I use very little co2 and very little affect on the tank. It just depends on the reactor but I go my the instructions of several quality coral propagators and the individual that built my reactor which is have a steady drip and adjust the CO2. Sorry but that sounds like you may have a CO2 leak or something if your ph was down to 6.7!