Calciam reactor guru needed, questions, kh high.

[Ehaze]

I have my calcium reactor to go on at PH5.60, and to shut off at PH5.50, I have the bubble rate set on 3 CO2 bubbles per sec, and the effluent set on 2.5 ML a sec (IS THIS TOO HIGH?).

The tank calc is at 420
KH is at 14 today (13 last night)
mag 1450
SG 1.025
PH 8.2

What am I doing wrong here?

It has been running for a week now.

[rendogg]

Your ph is too low and your drip rate is too fast. Try a ph of 6.5-6.8. Only you can determine, through testing Ca and Alk, how fast your drip rate is. Every tank has different demands for Ca and Alk, there is no standard drip rate.

[kb27973]

Looks like you have multiple issues here. I don't think your Alk and Ca are in balance. So you may have to dose Ca or let the alk drop. The reactor once set correctly will hold Ca and alk levels not raise them. You want the pH of the effluent at about 6.5. 5.5 is going to turn your media to mush. Raise it by either turning down the CO2 or upping the flow. Is the dKh of 14 the tank or the reactor? Takes some tweaking to get set right but once you do you won't have to touch it again for months.

Ken

[Reefer08]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14945446#post14945446 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rendogg
Your ph is too low and your drip rate is too fast. Try a ph of 6.5-6.8. Only you can determine, through testing Ca and Alk, how fast your drip rate is. Every tank has different demands for Ca and Alk, there is no standard drip rate.

Great response! I would have said the exact same thing. Im surprised you didn't melt the calcium reactor media to a mush.

One thing that I can advise to you is to not rely on your co2 controller and instead rely on your bubble count. Don't expect just because you punched in to have your co2 turn off at a certain point that its flawless, co2 regulators go out easily and will leave your co2 open.
Adjust your PH based off your off of your bubble count making small adjustments.

[rendogg]

Thanks Reefer08. I too am surprised the media didn't turn to mush, perhaps the probe needs calibration or replacing.

[Ehaze]

dang it, I ment 6.50 - 6.60 shoot sorry about that, I was in a hurry putting the info out.

[rendogg]

Perfect, just dial down your CO2 and effluent until you are maintaining levels. It's normal for the Ca to dip in time so you want to keep an additive handy.

[Henry Bowman]

Take a look at this site. It is maintained by Jdiek who posts on the Chemistry forum. He is very knowledgable and his site gives great advice on set up and maintenance of CaRx.


http://reef.diesyst.com/reactor/reactor.html

[Ehaze]

I backed it down to 3 drips per sec, and 1 bubble per sec., hope this helps.

[Ehaze]

I reset my controller to 6.55 off, 6.65 on will get check levels in mornin, and post rusults on the 5th.

[r-balljunkie]

you might want to take offline, let your parameters settle down.

it will take awhile to back off high alk. there are ways, but the safest way is to let it decrease gradually.
GL

c

[Ehaze]

ahh, about how long?

[r-balljunkie]

until your alk settles down.

get it into the single digits, or close to it. i think a week or two. a water change will help, depending on salt you use. i know oceanic is a bit high on alk.

your calcium levels are acceptable, so maybe only a few days.

c

[sanababit]

Just take your reactor offline for a couple of days till your alk is consumed and drops to an acceptable value ~7-9 dkh, once it has fallen to this value check your calcium and dose if necesary to bring it to ~400-450ppm, once you are in those values then check your mag, if its not in an acceptable range then alk-cal wont remain balanced, your mag should be around 1340-1400ppm maybe more if you want, you can balance it out with some epsom salt or tech-m, then you can put your reactor back online and test, test, test, depending on the media (koralith, ARM)used and if you are using mag media inside your reactor, you should keep those values steady, if they drop then adjust your reactor for a faster drip rate or bubble rate (depends) of if they rise then lower the drip rate or bubble rate, you should test for at least 2 weeks until you get the hang of it, its really easy, if i did it then anyone can, lol......

sana

[Ehaze]

offline, ph @ 8.2.
calc is @ 380
mag 1400
KH 12.

I ordered kent turbo calc, to raise it to 450.

[Ehaze]

PH 8.3
calc 360
mag 1400
kh 10

[Ehaze]

PH 8.3
calc 360
mag 1400
kh 10

[rendogg]

I'd stop right there and set your reactor to maintain those parameters until you get your calcium additive, you don't want to let your Ca get too low.

[Ehaze]

I will restart it tonight, But..

PH 8.2
Calc 340
mag 1400
KH 9

[Ehaze]

Back online, as of last night, set to go on at 6.6 and off at 6.5.
PH 8.2
calc 330 VIA api test kit,
calc 430 via new Silifert test kit
KH 9
MAG still 1300.

calcium raised with kent turbo calcium to 460.

I will retest in a week to see if everything is running smoothly.

Thanks for the help everyone.

I have m drip rate set on 3 drips per sec. and 1 bubble of CO2 per sec, IS this a good level to start??? thanks!