Does a calcium reactor ever fail?

[timdam]

Don't know much, but thinking about getting a calcium reactor. Do they ever mess up or get stuck and nukes your tank by dosing too much? If so, does this happen alot or rarely?

[Spar]

seems to be a rarity, but as with any equipment, it has that chance. calcium reactors use a lot of parts, which always had me a little uneasy. just don't skimp on the quality of the unit or the equipment (especially the co2 regulator).

the most likely situation where it would get "stuck on" would be if your pH probe measuring the output/effluent could stop reading accurately, and force too much co2 into the reactor, causing your KH/Alk in your tank to rise out of control. typically people would have a few controls in place for this, such as a 2nd pH probe measuring in the tank looking for an unusual spike in pH (would turn off the reactor).

regardless, having a controller (like Apex) will reduce your risks by a lot.

i had a calcium reactor catch on fire, but was a freak accident and had a big part of user error by having too much daisy chained.

[timdam]

Wow, that all sounds so complicated!

[Spar]

Wow, that all sounds so complicated!


Once you get it tuned in it isn't too complicated. A lot of people use them. I have great success with 2-part so just personally prefer to keep it simple. I'm sure one day when my tank is sucking down Alk and Calc at too great of a rate, I will switch back to Calcium Reactor though.

[Stolireef]

Wow, that all sounds so complicated!

No more or less complex than dosing two part properly. There are a couple of tricks that can make running a reactor a breeze.

1. Buy good equipment. I like Geo but there are many other excellent reactors out there.
2. Install a properly calibrated pH probe into the reactor. Callibration takes about 5 minutes every six months to a year. Installing it is as easy as turning a screw into a threaded hole.
3. If you don't have a full controller (like an Apex or a Reefkeeper) get a dedicated pH controller.
4. The biggest trick is getting an Aquarium Plants electronic carbon doser (aka electronic regulator).
5. Make sure you have good strong water supply to the reactor. I plumb mine off my return pump and it works great. Many believe that the best way to go is peristaltic pump (can't go wrong with this approach).

Basically, water flows into the reactor where calcium carbonte (aragonite a/k/a coral skeletons) is held. The CO2 bubbles into the reactor slowly thus lowering the pH in the reactor to a point where the calcium carbonate starts to dissolve. The pH controller makes sure that when the pH gets too low (resulting in calcium carbonate mush), the CO2 turns off. When the pH rises, the controller turns it back on again.

The water slowly flows through the reactor and is then slowly dripped back into the tank enriched with both calcium and buffer.

The electronic doser basically controls how fast the CO2 bubbles into the reactor. You use it in place of a needle valve which can be very finicky. Once you set the electronic doser up, it's basically set it and forget it.

Feel free to ask more questions.

[Stolireef]

Set up properly the worst thing that can happen is that your effluent valve clogs up. The controller will then stop sending CO2 into the reactor and that'll just mean that your not dosing. Caught within a few days, no harm done.

[Stolireef]

i had a calcium reactor catch on fire, but was a freak accident and had a big part of user error by having too much daisy chained.

Well, actually this is the worst that could happen but it sounds more like an electrical faux pas.

[tmz]

I used mine for a couple of years and retired it about 6 or 7 years ago. I prefer calcium hydroxide dosing for purity, pH and simplicity.

[timdam]

I am not good at this stuff. And I plan on having a knowledgeable friend set it up for me. But i just wanted to be sure (or almost sure), that ONE mess up would not cause me coming home to a nuked tank.

[100%hydrophylic]

Well, actually this is the worst that could happen but it sounds more like an electrical faux pas.

Im surprised and impressed that you found a way to catch plastic, water, and carbon dioxide on fire :))

What actually caught on fire though? the electronics or something actually on the reactor??

[Ontheway]

i had a calcium reactor catch on fire, but was a freak accident and had a big part of user error by having too much daisy chained.

You succeed to put CO2-fed equipment into fire?

I just bought a calcium reactor and didnt install yet, but really started to think about now....

[Spar]

i really shouldn't have even mentioned the fire part. this really had nothing to do with the reactor specifically in reality. i can assure you it was user error, easily prevented.

but does couple with my main point that there is A LOT of equipment (comparably to two-part anyway) involved with Calc Reactors. Lots of plugs and individual components that all have to work effectively for you to get your expected results. most people, however, succeed at this, so as stated above I am not saying they are a bad idea. this really is a to-each-their-own thing.

for reference, I was using an external reactor (Schuran).
as for the fire, I had daisy chained a few plugs together. was a whole tangle of cords thing going on, but was at least off the ground. the water input line (uses that small diameter refrigerator tubing) randomly cracked in the middle of the night due to some additional pressure from a semi-clogged output line, causing a stream of water to spray out. that stream of water could have gone anywhere in the room and not caused a problem, except for that tangle of daisy chained plugs. and as Murphy's Law would predict, that is where it hit. so first the plugs caught on fire, and then it migrated to the circulation pump and a piece of wood that it was screwed into (albeit this was MDF wood, so not sure if it would have caught on fire?? I don't know my wood well). The wood was charred and the pump and the plastic tubing throughout the reactor was melted.

we heard the equipment turn off from the breaker tripping, and then we heard our little frog-water-sensor-alarm go off, so luckily was able to get in there and put the fire out. but had this been in the middle of the day while at work, I'm not sure if the fire would have continued or sustained and caused 'worse' issues.

anyway, that is the fire story. as mentioned, this technically could have happened with any equipment. it wasn't caused by the co2 regulator or anything.