Calcium reactor feed

[Rip Current]

Does the feed have to be tank water or can it be fed RO water?

[outy]

Originally Posted by Rip Current

Does the feed have to be tank water or can it be fed RO water?

Tank water, never RO.

MJ1200 in my sump has been working almost a decade and is still in perfect shape.

[Rip Current]

Ok why

[iced98lx]

A calcium reactor is a big reactor filled with saltwater and media. The pH in the reactor is lowered until the media melts putting a bunch of Ca/ ALK components into the water. The feed line pushes tank water into the reactor which causes it to push some of high Ca/ALK concentrated water back into tank.

If you used RO you would be constantly adding RO to the tank, making the salinity off. If you used saltwater that wasn't tank water you'd end up overfilling your tank.

Think of the CaRX as a recharging station for your existing tank water, the melted media is the additive that charges up the tank water with more Ca/ALK

Hope that helps some.

[Rip Current]

Well I was thinking the ro would replace the evaporated water and being 7.0 ph it would take less co2 to reach a ph of 6.5

[outy]

Originally Posted by Rip Current

Well I was thinking the ro would replace the evaporated water and being 7.0 ph it would take less co2 to reach a ph of 6.5

You use a ATO for that.

Fresh water would not buffer for the alk and cal required.

[africangrey]

I like your thought process, your out of box theory will revolutionize calcium and alk management in reefing community therefore I strongly encourage you to give it a try and let us how it works out.

[Rip Current]

I found a thread from another reef site where a guy tried it for a few weeks,
He had issues with the co2 bubbles being larger in freshwater and not dissolving well. The effluent was high in calcium but the alk was low and his alk and cal levels in his tank dropped.
So what can I add to the media to increase alk?

[jda]

I probably run 30-40G of water a day through my CaRx and only add about 5-8 gallons a day of top-off.

Baking soda alone can raise alk... but adding that kinda defeats the purpose of having a CaRx to add all of it in balance.

[outy]

Originally Posted by Rip Current

So what can I add to the media to increase alk?

Your turning a round wheel into a square one.

A calcium reactor works simple the way it is, and that's the point, simple.

[slief]

Originally Posted by Rip Current

I found a thread from another reef site where a guy tried it for a few weeks,
He had issues with the co2 bubbles being larger in freshwater and not dissolving well. The effluent was high in calcium but the alk was low and his alk and cal levels in his tank dropped.
So what can I add to the media to increase alk?

Originally Posted by outy

Your turning a round wheel into a square one.

A calcium reactor works simple the way it is, and that's the point, simple.

+1..

Stop trying to reinvent the wheel. A calcium reactor is designed to be used with/fed by the tank water it’s augmenting. It’s not designed to work with fresh water. If you set a calcium reactor up properly, it will provide your tank with stable alk, proper calcium levels and good magnesium levels. If you use good media like reborn, your will also supplement trace elements from the dissolving coral skeletons. Stop over thining things. Calcium reactors need salt water for proper operation and there is absolutely no point in running fresh water though one. Not even for your evaporation. It’s just not going to work the way they are designed to work. You run your calcium reactor at effluent rates to meet the demands of your tanks alkalinity and calcium uptake. You don’t run them at rates to meet the needs of your evaporation. That is what we have ATO’s for. If you want to address alkalinity though your top off, then use kalkwasser. Not a calcium reactor.

For me, I use a calcium reactor and it keeps my Ca, Alk and Mg levels perfectly consistent. My ATO is what supplies my fresh water.

[Rip Current]

Originally Posted by jda

I probably run 30-40G of water a day through my CaRx and only add about 5-8 gallons a day of top-off.

Baking soda alone can raise alk... but adding that kinda defeats the purpose of having a CaRx to add all of it in balance.

30-40 gallons? At what ph do you run your reactor?

[jda]

6.6ish. ...been like this since 1992 when I got it. ARM does not have to be too low to melt. With a little bit more throughput, you can fine tune a bit better - not impossible with lower flow rates, but harder.

This is not like a kalk setup or dosing pump, it is meant to be running all the time.

BTW - I tested this last night, I am doing about 90 MLs per minute which is a bit over 34 gallons in a day.

[Rip Current]

Originally Posted by jda

6.6ish. ...been like this since 1992 when I got it. ARM does not have to be too low to melt. With a little bit more throughput, you can fine tune a bit better - not impossible with lower flow rates, but harder.

This is not like a kalk setup or dosing pump, it is meant to be running all the time.

BTW - I tested this last night, I am doing about 90 MLs per minute which is a bit over 34 gallons in a day.

What brand reactor is it?
So you maintain the same ph and adjust the effluent rate to meet the Ca/Alk demands of the tank?

[jda]

Yes and no. The effluent has to be balanced with the bubble rate. When demand goes up, I turn up both. When my alk gets down to about 6.9 or 7.0, I dial it up a bit. It takes about a week, but the alk gets to about 7.8 to 8.2 (I don't care where, just somewhere in there) where it steadily goes down to 7.0 again over 6 to 8 weeks as stuff grows, then I start over again. I have a pretty mature tank, so stuff is growing like crazy and acros can get from baseball size to cantaloupe about as fast as they can from a frag to a baseball (it is exponential) - early on, I would only have to retune ever 5-6 months.

I use Korallin Reactors.

[jda]

A balance of 10 bubbles to every 40 drips per minute works nearly spot-on for me - I am probably now just under a bubble per second, but the ratio will still be very much the same. Drips works when the effluent rate is low, but it is easy to convert this to MLs. Every reactor has a bit different size of drip and bubble, but once you get yours set, figure out the ratio and then you are golden. 10:40 per minute is a very good place to start for most people.

[outy]

Originally Posted by jda

The effluent has to be balanced with the bubble rate.

Not really. Only if your ph is so low and its not keeping up with the tank.

easiest way I have used is to set drip rate at a constant drip rate, where it starts to be a small stream, its open just enough to keep the valve from clogging. Always keep it there.

Then bubble rate at 45 a minute. measure water a few days later and only adjust bubble rate at this point to match tanks demands Usually changing bubble rate by 10-15 extra or lower a minute will match the tanks actual needs. No need to pay attention to PH just set the melting rate by bubbles per minute and follow the tanks needs.

[jda]

You are still in balance. If you raise the bubble rate too much, you will turn your media to mush and if it is too low, then nothing will melt. Your approach of tailoring the PH to meet tank needs work just fine too, but I have melted enough media by cranking the bubbles up too much that I like to do it this way. Also, this used to keep my tank PH higher and constant rather than fluctuating with the reactor PH. Either way works.

[outy]

Originally Posted by jda

You are still in balance. If you raise the bubble rate too much, you will turn your media to mush and if it is too low, then nothing will melt. Your approach of tailoring the PH to meet tank needs work just fine too, but I have melted enough media by cranking the bubbles up too much that I like to do it this way. Also, this used to keep my tank PH higher and constant rather than fluctuating with the reactor PH. Either way works.

Ive melted my share as well, before I learned this method. If your tank demand is so high you start to melt, raise effluent output a hair , or pull media out and switch to finer grain media and you will have much more surface area.

I use caribsea course which is fine for a reactors usage and keep my geo 6/18 circ about 300gph. my ph ends up being 6.9 ish and keeps my alk around high 8.

I could get away with ARM course id just have to bump my ph a bit lower.


I contacted GEO about making a 6" extension for my 6/18 but they don't use the same top design and wouldn't do it. I have not needed it yet anyway. Just keeping options open.

[jda]

That is what I do - I up the effluent rate as well as the bubbles and keep the PH the same.

[tkeracer619]

Unless you have huge demand you may use $10 in co2 a year. Saving CO2 is not important.

[outy]

Originally Posted by tkeracer619

Unless you have huge demand you may use $10 in co2 a year. Saving CO2 is not important.

I go through 2 15lb tanks easy which is about 80 bucks now.


last year the 215 was full of coral and I had bubbles about 1.5-2 per sec.

This year I'm holding 1.5 sec per bubble once I thinned the tank out.

here its 40 bucks for a 15lb tank

[jda]

I can go through almost 2 tanks at $22 a pop for a 20lb tank. It is still cheap.

[outy]

Adding a second chamber helped me save co2. Best thing I have done to my reactor besides adding a kalk reactor

[tkeracer619]

Originally Posted by jda

I can go through almost 2 tanks at $22 a pop for a 20lb tank. It is still cheap.

Dang dude! Way2grow is $7 for a 20lb refill... switch shops.