calcium reactor question

[Deep Dive Coral]

hey guys i set up my calcium reactor yesterday and it slowly was raising my calcium and alk. last night everything was good and i then checked it again this morning and my alk was through the roof.... but the calcium was higher. what can i do i turned off the reactor now. i am in the process of doing a water change like 20g on a 100g tank. can someone help me out as to why or what i did wrong? maybe too fast of a flow through the reactor? to slow? all help is warented......

 

[NYPDFrogman]

what is the PH of the effluent coming out?
what size tank?
Ca reactors shouldn't raise levels that quickly
best to slowly dose to get water parameters in check and the ca reactor maintains them

 

[NYreefNoob]

mine did the same thing, you have to find the sweet spot, i currently have a bubble a second and a drip a sec, ph stays at 6.7-6.8

 

[Deep Dive Coral]

i was told to keep effluent at 6.5 to start.... so it should drip into the tank? mine streams. how do i get it drip. my CA reactor didnt come with a PH probe holder so i had to make one on the out side..

 

[NYreefNoob]

no you need to have a effluent cup that the ph probe from the controller sits in this will monitor the ph output from your reactor, it will drip from cup into tank

 

[regal]

Does the effluent/output of the reactor have a valve to control the flow? How do you feed the reactor with the tank's water, with a power head or gravity fed? Your levels are high probably because the effluent/flow rate of your reactor is too high.

 

[duke62]

thats why i dose :lol2: dont need the headaches

 

[NYPDFrogman]

thats why i dose :lol2: dont need the headaches

depending on the size of the tank dosing can be very very expensive.
when I was dosing ESV my 180 that was SPS dominated it could run between 70-90 a month

a Ca reactor is the way to go

 

[NYreefNoob]

cal

here is mine, i have a small feed pump in my sump to feed the reactor, then the outlet goes into a plastic cup i drilled a hole half way up in it with lets the effluent drip into the tank, yes mine has a knob to control output, ph probe frm controller sits in the effluent cup also, this i what regulates the reactor measuring the effluent from the reactor

 

[duke62]

with the type of salt i use in my 50 gal with 30 gal water volume in sump i dont even use my ionic calcium just the alk.my calcium is always between 490 and 470.i have 2 clams some sps and for some reason i never need it.i have had the same 2 part for over 6 mths and i dont see myself buying anymore for at least 3 months.

 

[NYreefNoob]

trust me i dosed for the last 2 yr's, and have had heavy stocked sps tanks no bigger then 62g, this will be a less expensive total cost for 2 yr's as compared to esv dosing, keeping cal 450, dkh 9 mag 1300

 

[NYPDFrogman]

trust me i dosed for the last 2 yr's, and have had heavy stocked sps tanks no bigger then 62g, this will be a less expensive total cost for 2 yr's as compared to esv dosing, keeping cal 450, dkh 9 mag 1300

once your Ca reactor is dialed in it also adds stability to the system
dosing is not an option for me

 

[Deep Dive Coral]

thats pritty much how i have my effluent cup as well.. as for the drip rate i now have it at about 1 bubble every 3 seconds for now.... will up in in a couple of days to one bubble every 2 seconds and then 1 every second. but slow is better and i messed up i also have a pritty high flow rate going through it becuase im trying to lower the alk level. im following this way http://www.melevsreef.com/calcium_reactor.html

tell me if this is the wrong way to do it. right now my ph in the reactor is 7.83 according to my RK2...

 

[Thatguy96]

thats pritty much how i have my effluent cup as well.. as for the drip rate i now have it at about 1 bubble every 3 seconds for now.... will up in in a couple of days to one bubble every 2 seconds and then 1 every second. but slow is better and i messed up i also have a pritty high flow rate going through it becuase im trying to lower the alk level. im following this way http://www.melevsreef.com/calcium_reactor.html

tell me if this is the wrong way to do it. right now my ph in the reactor is 7.83 according to my RK2...

I had the exact same problem happen to me that past few weeks

reducing the flow and playing around with the right PH level in your reactor is the way to go.

 

[Deep Dive Coral]

if i want to reduce my ALK do i increase the flow or decrease it? im hearing mixed things

 

[NYreefNoob]

mine is around a bubble a sec, and a drip a sec, the high flow raises ph output and alk, this is speaking on my set-up

 

[Deep Dive Coral]

well how would i know the difference between your setup and mine.... i use a geo recirculation reactor..... if i test the effluent will it very high in alk??? see here is where i think i went wrong..... either too much flow or not enough flow? right now i have to figure out what is the right flow....

 

[aaron23]

by reading your explanation at the start my question to you is, Do you have a valve regulating the output of effluent (the reactor fluid to the tank to control how much gets dosed in your tank)?

 

[Deep Dive Coral]

No there is no valve between eflient cup and tank. Only between the pump and reactor. Not reactor and effluent cup. Should I change it then?

 

[Deep Dive Coral]

I Control the flow through the reactor that way there would be any difference if it is b4 or after the reactor right.