LaCl Reactor

[Breadman03]

Originally Posted by tkeracer619

I built a system using a size 4 Big Blue canister. I used a 5 micron pleated sediment filter cartridge and dripped it into a 1 micron sock.

I fed the system with a masterflex continuous duty peristaltic pump with dual heads. I used the smallest tubing set to dose a diluted mixture of seaklear and a larger tubing set to feed the reactor. Phosphate levels were adjustable simply by adjusting the speed of the pump. A few inches after the pump the seaklear solution was mixed with effluent water, there was about 3 feet of 3/8" poly tube to allow a reactor to occur.

Flow was set low to maintain levels or high to drop levels. Most of the precipitation settled at the bottom of the chamber due to the high water volume inside the reactor. This combined with the pleated filter allowed the system to run for months without maintenance. It clogged after about 5 months. I haven't cleaned it but suspect some muriatic will dissolve the precipitate and allow the filter to run again. I simply don't need to run it at the moment.

I like that idea.

[tkeracer619]

It works great. It is very easy to control levels and precipitate never makes it into the system. It was a little expensive to set up but was a fun experiment. Once my system is fully loaded I may need to use it again. I was using it to cure a bin of 1500lbs of rock.

Here is the first 40 days running it on the vat. I lost the next 40 days in a hard drive crash but it leveled out and I reduced flow to keep it riding steady. By the time it clogged I was using 1 cap full of seaklear in 5gal of rodi over a period of 2 weeks.


Interesting enough this chart shows a few things.

A: The steep negative slopes represents free po4 in the water that is easily removed.
B: Steep positive slopes represent the phosphate leaching back into the water
C: Shallow negative slopes represent the rate po4 leaches from the rock.
D: The difference between A and C is the amount removed at a given time.

I really enjoyed this experiment and feel like the consistent nature of this reactor was telling.

[insomniac2k2]

I haven't been around much, but thanks for posting the great feedback on your results.

I moved about 2 years ago. During this move, I changed tanks. Since then, i have had a terrible experience with every aspect. Re-cycle, flow issues, sump configuration, etc. Man I miss my old setup about now....

So anyway, I decided to omit my reactor for a good while, to see if i could get closer to a natural balance. Long story short, I'm still fighting an endless war on algae and phosphates (I had this nipped in the bud with my old configuration).

So, v2 of my reactor is coming soon. After I have run it a while, i will post my results and feedback. This reactor design is centered around no clogging. Not that I had any big issues with it, but id rather avoid it in the future!

Basically, it's an open top reactor which LACL3 drips into. Reacted water drips down and through filter floss and then back up to the top of the reactor where it outputs into my theiling roller mat for additional filtering. I have some more moving parts, but you get the idea.

Originally Posted by tkeracer619

It works great. It is very easy to control levels and precipitate never makes it into the system. It was a little expensive to set up but was a fun experiment. Once my system is fully loaded I may need to use it again. I was using it to cure a bin of 1500lbs of rock.

Here is the first 40 days running it on the vat. I lost the next 40 days in a hard drive crash but it leveled out and I reduced flow to keep it riding steady. By the time it clogged I was using 1 cap full of seaklear in 5gal of rodi over a period of 2 weeks.


Interesting enough this chart shows a few things.

A: The steep negative slopes represents free po4 in the water that is easily removed.
B: Steep positive slopes represent the phosphate leaching back into the water
C: Shallow negative slopes represent the rate po4 leaches from the rock.
D: The difference between A and C is the amount removed at a given time.

I really enjoyed this experiment and feel like the consistent nature of this reactor was telling.

[ReefKeeper64]

Originally Posted by slief

If the stuff from your sand were in fact precipitate from the LaCl dosing, you would see it clouding up the water when you dose. My guess is that what you think is precipitate in your sand bed is actually detritus or some other precipitate for dosing. If you are concerned about precipitate from LaCl, then dose into a 5 micron sock. FWIW, I have been dosing directly into a 10 micron sock on an as needed basis for several years now and never had an issue with precipitate in my tank.

Here is my process..

That cloudiness I mentioned last month wasn’t lacl after all. It turned out to be caused by artificial rock and was thanks to a scarus quoyi dwarf parrot fish. I won a raffle for two large boxes of Carabsea “life” rock recently. The parrot would bite on the life rock all day long and eventually I could see that he was actually biting into and eating the outer layer of the rock. The inner layer is a powdery cement of some type. The parrot was ingesting the cement and pooping it out like a fine powder. Pretty soon the whole tank was starting to cloud up all the time. It looked like a bacteria bloom but it wasn’t. I removed all of the carabsea rock and replaced it with 100% Haitian rock. It’s been weeks and I’ve stirred up the sand enough that it’s all out of the system now. Go figure!

[insomniac2k2]

And here is v2 in all it's glory. Note that this rig is in my garage, so looks and space taken is not an issue.

I decided to go with a larger chamber and an upflow design. The 2 combined should help with creating a settling area. Pictures will give you a much better perspective. Note the cap on the top. It it just slipped over the top, which allows for easy and instant removal of the media area (3" pvc pipe which holds the filter floss). The threaded pipe on the top give a nice place to put an IV drip, while keeping the LC isolated from the water. The water contact happens at the bottom of the large T and is immediately dumped into the floss. Absolutely no way to clog.

If the floss gets too clogged, the water will overflow the 3" pipe and flow into the containing 4" pipe and out the Y as designed.

Just to stem any questions, the weird red light and area that the reactor overflows into is an ATS. The ATS overflows into my rollermat for additional filtering before it heads back to my tank.

And yes its ABS PVC is preferred i suppose, but I believe ABS to be perfectly safe.

[HidingReefer]

Hi, sorry if this has been answered, but is the reactor running 24/7?

[insomniac2k2]

Yes it is. I have the drip rate set to match my tanks bio load. For me, this is about 30ml /hr. My solution is the same as the original amount that i posted in the first post (In the picture)

[hoaglanddiver]

If one were to use something similar but instead of poly-fill, use a filter sock.... does anyone know, what size micron sock one would use?

[royy13]

Originally Posted by hoaglanddiver

If one were to use something similar but instead of poly-fill, use a filter sock.... does anyone know, what size micron sock one would use?

I used a 10 micron sock. I can't remember where I saw that recommendation, but I know I read it in a few places. It was hard to find the 10 micron socks. Ended up buying them from Duda Industries on Amazon.

Roy

[tkeracer619]

I started a thread for my design. Check it out for the details

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2667999

[bnumair]

i am not sure if i posted my setup before (if id did i am sorry to post again)
I have a mag drive pump with a pvc extention and a small hole to take in the LaCl diluted solution.
Water from tank is sucked in through the pvc along with Lacl solution then into 1st and 2nd chamber for contact and then into 3rd chamber.
This pic is old and does not show the new 3rd chamber mod i made.
in the 3rd chamber the water enters from the top of the chamber runs down tot the bottom then fills up the chamber to get let out through the middle of the chamber. In the center of the chamber i attached 3/4" pipe to outlet so now water enters from top and has to run up the 8 inches of 3/4" pipe and then out the chamber to skimmer. i plug the pipe with floss tightly thus all water has to go through the floss and filter lacl residue there.
ill try to post newer pics as i get a chance.
I did this because previously (like in this pic) i was using 3rd chamber for sediment filter ranging from 5 micron to 25 and i didnt get but 10 days max before water couldnt flow anymore due to plugging of the filter. floss does much better in this setup and doesnt let residue pass through.

Note: after posting pic i realized you can see the pvc pipe in the first chamber, i moved it to 3rd.
i am using 1oz in 1 gal of rodi water, dosing 20ml per week broken down to 5ml everyother day. it is a very small dose and very diluted form and it keeps my tank right at 0-0.01 using Hanna Ultra Low Phos