Help me before I blow up my sps with this Ca reactor.

[ReefPharmer]

Hey guys/gals,
I am setting up a preowned Ca reactor. I have read a bunch of stickies and looked at different set ups. I cannot figure out why the previous owner (currently unreachable) set up reactor this way.

What we have here is a precision marine cr622 reactor (I believe). I have a general idea how things work here and used my amazing paint skills to illustrate this point.
My question is why did this guy have an extra inlet on his reactor with the blue line coming in by the intake of the pump (bottom of the reactor)?

I know some models used this when the co2 line wasnt connected to the recirculating line, but in this case it is connected so I dont know what to do with this "extra" line...

Btw I "teed off" my return pump and will use the T to feed the reactor through half inch clear tube. I will place a little valve on the line so I can control the amount of water coming in. Does that sound about right?

Also, can I use the media thats in the reactor or should i get all new media? The media in it looks "slightly" used.



http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk113/dlkley/photo_zpsa5767224.jpg (http://s278.photobucket.com/user/dlkley/media/photo_zpsa5767224.jpg.html)

[jduck]

Never seen that before. You should just ask the seller

[ReefPharmer]

He is not available to ask unfortunately

[Rookieofsalt]

PM Cal Rex is using Eheim 1048 for their recir pump. The one you have has been moded to run maxj jet. The older version of MP Cal Rex has a separate BBCounter therefore it would required Co2 feeding thru the bubble counter and from the counter feeds thru the T(blue line) The previous owner might have used the design from the older version. So technically is not use, you can use the cap to lock up the "blue line" input.

[dahenley]

chances are, he didnt use the included bubble counter. reason being, those style bubble counters are filled with water and its harder to see/count the CO2 when it bubbles in water. he probably had a external bubble counter with glycerin/oil so that its easier to count the bubbles of CO2 going into the reactor.

the cross fitting is how MRC reactors are setup, but they dont have the built in bubble counter.

also, if CO2 goes into the pump before going into the chamber, it will mix more efficiently then if its just injected into the pipe and goes to the top of the reactor. (reason being if injected like pictured, it can puddle at the top because the CO2 bubbles are bigger and done mix with the water as efficiently.

also a tip is to take the lid off, and push a 2" long piece of 1/4 RO line into the fitting where the effluent line is. this will make the effluent suck from 2" down into the chamber. this doesnt sound important, but it will prevent the puddling of the CO2 from escaping and going to the tank and it leaves it in the reactor and gives it more opportunity to be absorbed into the water and working for the reactor.

but, thats just my opinion...

[dahenley]

PM Cal Rex is using Eheim 1048 for their recir pump. The one you have has been moded to run maxj jet. The older version of MP Cal Rex has a separate BBCounter therefore it would required Co2 feeding thru the bubble counter and from the counter feeds thru the T(blue line) The previous owner might have used the design from the older version. So technically is not use, you can use the cap to lock up the "blue line" input.

its actually newer and uses a sicce syncra pump. thats the way the new ones are setup.

[waverz]

I'm going to guess that extra line might act as a bypass to relieve the back pressure on the feed pump.

[Sakura251]

I agreed with Wavez. The blue tube for releasing the pressure inside the reactor. Install the valve to the blue tube to close it when it's running and open to release the pressure before you add more calcium medias inside the reactor.

[ReefPharmer]

Thanks. I set it up and just capped the tube for now . I started w a bubble of co2 every 6 seconds and a drop of effluent a bit slower than once per second into the sump. The reactor has been running for a few hours this way and ph is only at 7.70. , going down veeeerrry slowly.

Does that seem reasonable to start ? I still have some Kalk left in my ato but soon I will be down to empty ato and will clean it out so I won't have Kalk to keep levels high.