Calcium reactor ph, effluent, dosage clarification...

[Stanley-Reefer]

I'm almost a year into my reactors and it has been quite different than my trusty Kent Tech A-B with Tech-M. I've tried Tropic Eden, TLF's Reborn, and will put some ARM coarse in my Geo 618 in the next few days.

Add to that power flickers that have reset my ph controller, a ph probe that read wrong for about 3 mos, and the fact that all thos new variations are compounded because i have carbon dosed for years too.

Everything seems in order now or at least coming around but I have a few basic questions:

If my alk and ph is high, logic tells me to lower the amount of effluent into the tank, BUT logic also tells me if I slow the rate, the concentration of Ca,Alk, and Trace would increase in the reactor itself thereby making the lesser amount more potent----which would be the same?:headwallblue:

I dialed them in pretty much watching my ph fluctuations in am and pm matching them to 2 part--8.0 in the am and 8.2-.4 in pm is where I've been, but lately my alk is creeping very high as is my Ca.

Should I take the reactor offline for a few days and start over?

IMO and in my past pics, my tanks looked much better when I 2 parted!

Thoughts?

[Caesra]

I am learning about my reactor too, as well a 618.

I was having a bit of a time getting it to settle in, what I wound up doing is raising the ph in the reactor and lowering the effluent.

The 'concentration' in the reactor is dependant on your ph setting, if I understand everything correct. Only so much can dissolve before reaching saturation at a given ph level. Again, if I understand everyone correctly, this is why people with high Ca/Alk depand have their reactors running low PH and high effluent, and eventually upgrading.

The best tip I have read so far with dialing in the reactor is to tune it so your alk is stable, then adjust your Ca from there with a seperate supplement, which is what I did. I seem to be stable at 10dkh and 425. My demand at this point is pretty low and I have the PH in the reactor set to 6.7 and adjusted my effluent until it settled.

Not sure if that helps at all, as I am still learning and I will be watching for the more experienced reefers thoughts.

[Rogger Castells]

if you are controlling your co2 input with a ph controller you shouldn't have a significant increased in saturation when you lower the effluent, personally when I have the alk a liittle high (10.5-10.9) I simply shut the co2 for a day or two and then turn it back on and dial the effluent a hair slower.

[bertoni]

I agree that shutting down the reactor for a day or so should be fine. I'm not an expert in calcium reactors, never having used one, so I can't help in tuning.

[Islander84]

not sure how much different the 618 is from a korallin 1502...i have my co2 bpm set at 10 and the drip rate of effluent at about 40 dpm....maintains a constant dkh8 cal 445 mag 1345 this is stable no flucuations no need to even run a controller as the co2 will not need to shut down.......u will have to find that perfect balance to not rely on a solenoid to maintain stable parameters.....especially if you are stocked with sps.....caribsea arm course media....

[zoolan70]

Check out these two links...read them both...then read them both again. It is a lot of info, but it explains the whole CaRx very well.

http://reef.diesyst.com/crarticle/crarticle.htm

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-05/sh/feature/index.php

And this is a great calculator to help you:

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

[Stanley-Reefer]

Good Read Zoolan....it cleared my less is more is the same mentality in that my concentration in the reactor will be essentially the same--only diff is the amount of effluent coming out to the tank.

I'm letting it run through. My alk is still high and I'm sure my Ca is too. I'm not going to turn the CO2 on till I'm back in normal parameters.

I really envy those with fish rooms and open spaces! It's quite a chore to pull a geo 618 from under a tank beside a sump and not make a mess or get electrocuted.

test strips and red sea ph showed it at 8.4 and 8.2; the probe in the sump while media was swapped out showed 8.02. Since it's a new probe and calibrated 2 weeks ago I'd go with it.

[zoolan70]

If you are using a pH controller for the CO2 flow, the pH in the reactor should never change. An increase in effluent flow will result in an increase in CO2 usage, and more CA/Alk entering the tank. Ideally, you would only need to adjust your effluent as your coral load changes, and not touch anything else.