CO2 Dangers in Ca Reactor

[jeffyounggren]

I am wondering if anybody can expand on the risks of CO2 when using a Ca Reactor. I had been venting my excess CO2 into the sump and this may be a bad idea.

Jeff

[redox]

if the unit if functioning properly and the flow is not too strong there would be no excess c02. I belive it would be used up to create the carbonic acid which actually dissolves the media. Toohigh a flow and the ph in the reactor would not have enogh time drop to the acceptable value to create c acid thus you have to dump more co2 and theres the problem. so... slow the flow of water thus ableing you to slow the c02 as well this is what I think and Im sure theres someone out there that knows more and would love to belittle me and tell us all:)

[jay24k]

Only thing I could think of would be the lowering of ph in your water. I really don't see that much CO2 unless you are really dumping a ton of CO2 into your reactor.

[jan_dman]

one problem you do have to watch out for is a clogged effluent dripping which will result in excessive CO2 in the reactor chamber

[jay24k]

But if you run a controller, then that shouldn't be an issue imo. Higher CO2 = lower PH = Tank should be turned off.

[jeffyounggren]

I'm not sure what you mean by "tank should be turned off." I have the tank running all of the time.

[Dr. JMadscientist]

I think what jay24k is saying is if you use a controller, there is a solenoid on the regulater which stops the co2 from flowing when there is enough in the chamber. It is the only way to fly IMHO.

[jay24k]

Correct, the tank would be off.(C02 Tank). Sorry I wasn't clearer.

Technically what many do is still match the co2 to where it runs all the time but it is generally very very slow. I have mine set higher so it isn't constantly running.

[icliao]

Once I use a cheap regulator that came with the CO2 tank I bought. The CO2 was running stable for a while and I let it be. Next morning I found the regulator pumping tons of CO2 to my reactor and I check the PH in the reactor, it dropped to almost 6 and the PH in my tank dropped to 7.6 from 8.2 within one night.
That was scarry. I had to use lots of Kalkwasser solution to counter the drop on PH slowly and fortunately I didn't loss anything that time. That is something to think about. It is a good idea to use good quality regulator with a PH controller.

[jay24k]

I agree. When my tank was in it's infancy from moving over, I consistenly had a ph of 7.7 with no issues. The main concern is your swings like icliao mentioned. So if you are consistenly running a 7.9 or 8.0 ph, as long as it is stable I would not really worry.