Ca Reactor plumbing

[ellisz]

Hi all,

I have a Pacific Coast Ca reactor. It has 2 inlets in the pipe that mixes the CO2 and the water - one up high by the bubble counter and one down low by the re-circ pump.

I currently have these both plumbed into my return pump that feeds my refugium, frag tank and display. I am trying to set up the reactor to be able to handle a power outage with the RKE. When the return pump goes off, the 1st chamber in the reactor drains down to the middle. If the pump comes back, the re-circ pump does not have the water it needs to work properly. I am trying to prevent the chamber from draining. I never really understood why there were two feed lines on the reactor. Do I need both of these plumbed or can one be in the sump? I am not sure what this would do?

I thought about using the john guest check valves on the feed lines as well but I was not sure if these are meant for salt water.

Any ideas?

[ThaNgBOm321]

I'm not sure if you have it plumbed right. have a pic our diagram? Most carx should have 2 inlet and one outlet. one inlet is from tank water going in, one for co2. then there should be one outlet (called effluent) back into the tank. Go take a l ok at a few pics of carx and you wil sewer. another thing is to have the body of the carx the lowest part in the carx water system. that way the water doesn't syphon out.

[ellisz]

The reactor is similar to this one:
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/products/reactors/calcium-reactors/6-5-octopus-dual-chamber-calcium-reactor.html

The have a CO2 inlet and 2 tank water inlets. In the link above the Octopus reactor only has one tank water input - mine has two. On the pipe that runs from the re-circ pump to the top of the 1st chamber, I have a inlet just like the picture and another down low near the pump.

I could put the reactor below the sump water line but my sump is a 100 gal stock tank and the reactor would have to sit on the floor. I have it set up so if a leak was to occur it would be contained but the reactor sits above my sump which is allowing the draining to occur.

My reactor sits next to my refugium though. I could get my feed water from it and it might not drain out although the reactor is taller than the refugium. I will try to get some pics.

I might just need to set the RKE to keep it off in the event of a power outage. Might be easier. I think it can be set up that way ...