Is your Ca reactor not producing enough

[Willito]

Is there anyone having problem with their reactor not being able to keep up with calcium demands? What are you doing to meet this demand, adjusting the reactor or just going with additional calcium additives by other means because the reactor is simply not enough . Curious to see if this is a common problem with larger SPS tanks.

[Delphinus]

Anytime in the past that I've found my levels not at target I would just dial the reactor up. I don't really see how a reactor couldn't be adjusted upwards. About the only thing is a psychological barrier of not wanting to set the CO2 level high enough.

Maybe look at a bigger reactor with more media capacity if you find this to be a recurring problem. Or look at Magnesium levels ..

[Chin_Lee]

Will
I had that problem with my reactor when I first started out. It has the capacity to be filled with three gallon jars of ARM but initially, I wanted to replace frequently so I had only put one gallon into the reactor. I had the effluent pH close to 6.4 and my alk/cal kept going down. Eventually I had to put three gallons of media in, and kept pH efluent at around 6.7 to maintain my alk/cal. The output is a steady stream out of a 1/4" tube and my bubble count is about 90-100 bph.

[bnhreef]

Hey Chin,

Are you sure you're only adding 90 -100 bubbles per HOUR of CO2?????

Brad

[Chin_Lee]

Hey Chin,

Are you sure you're only adding 90 -100 bubbles per HOUR of CO2?????

Brad

No i'm not adding 90-100 bph. I am adding 90-100 bubbles per minute.

[Gools]

I find my reactor is keeping my calcium at 425, but my Alk won't go up. Alk stays at around 7, which is fine but I want it up around the 10 mark. Was debating wether to add some extension chambers to make them tall, to hold more media, to see if it would help

[kari]

Gools,
try using some baked baking soda to bring up the alk.

[bnhreef]

Sorry Chin,

I just thought you were doing something that I should be doing.

By the way guys, Kari makes the best Ca reactors this side of the Rockies.

Thanks again, Kari.

Brad

[Gools]

Kari
I did do that, works for a few days then comes right back down. I also made my own 2 part, and dosed the Alk part, and had the same results. It's not something I losing sleep over, but I would love to get it up to 10, when I had it there before, corals grew like weeds.

[Willito]

Anytime in the past that I've found my levels not at target I would just dial the reactor up. I don't really see how a reactor couldn't be adjusted upwards. About the only thing is a psychological barrier of not wanting to set the CO2 level high enough.

Maybe look at a bigger reactor with more media capacity if you find this to be a recurring problem. Or look at Magnesium levels ..

My meg level is at 1275ppm and I have 2.5 containers of ARMs in my reactor. Bubble count is at 70/minute and drip rate at about 100 drops/minute and I have been hovering around 300ppm of Ca and a dkh of 4.

[Willito]

Will
I had that problem with my reactor when I first started out. It has the capacity to be filled with three gallon jars of ARM but initially, I wanted to replace frequently so I had only put one gallon into the reactor. I had the effluent pH close to 6.4 and my alk/cal kept going down. Eventually I had to put three gallons of media in, and kept pH efluent at around 6.7 to maintain my alk/cal. The output is a steady stream out of a 1/4" tube and my bubble count is about 90-100 bph.

I figured after 3 months of running this thing would be stable by now but something is still not right. I measured my effluent and it's at 600ppm Ca. Not bad, but I think the drip rate is the reason why my levels are as low as they are. With a tank full of SPS and the drip rate it's current at, there is just not enought to feed the corals. I will double up of the drops/minute and increase the bubbles a tad and re-test the water in few days. Hope that the solution because I don't want to end up running a kalk reactor.

[BMW Rider]

Are the CA and ALK levels steady at those numbers, or do they drop down to that? If they're steady, then the reactor would seem to be providing the correct amount to the tank, you just need to use a suppliment to boost the values up to what you want. After that the reactor should hold it there. If the levels are dropping back to that after you boost them, then you need to dial up the reactor a bit. If the levels are out of balance, the reactor will always maintain them out of balance. You need to use a suppliment for the low value to bring it in line.

My reactor was holding my tank at 350-360 Ca and 8.5-9.0 ALK. I wanted the CA to be higher but not the ALK so I dosed some turbo calcium to bump it up to 425. Now its holding there with no change to the reactor settings.

[Delphinus]

Will, don't even bother measuring effluent in drips per minute. I have mine at a fairly steady stream. Measure more in ml per minute maybe. I would indeed step up your rate at least 1.5x or even double, and adjust the bubble rate so that the effluent is pH is 6.7, and see where things are at after that.

[Chin_Lee]

I figured after 3 months of running this thing would be stable by now but something is still not right. I measured my effluent and it's at 600ppm Ca. Not bad, but I think the drip rate is the reason why my levels are as low as they are. With a tank full of SPS and the drip rate it's current at, there is just not enought to feed the corals. I will double up of the drops/minute and increase the bubbles a tad and re-test the water in few days. Hope that the solution because I don't want to end up running a kalk reactor.

Will
i just measured my effluent rate at 200 ml/minute. very steady flow - not anywhere near a drip of any rate. hope that helps you out.
BTW i also have the effluent fall into the body of water near my skimmer pump intake. this ensures as much of th co2 is removed and its more oxygen rich before going back into my display tank.

[Willito]

It's been about 2 weeks now since I've incresed the effluent (to almost a steady stream) and bubble count to see if that would help. I measured the levels 5 days ago and found the hardness has gone up to 7dkh, but calcium is still around 300ppm. Megnesium at 1290ppm. I decided to leave that the way it is and have been adding Seachem Advanced Calcium for 4 consecuitive days. My calcium is now at 400ppm. Today I did a 20% water change (haven't done one in a couple months) in hopes that will boost up the hardness a little more to maybe 8-9dkh and leave the rest to the reactor to do. I think part of my problem was not changing the water often enought. I going to test the water again in a week to see if the levels hold, if notk, I will just have to add a Kalkreactor. SPS are darn calcium hogs.

[Chin_Lee]

Will
I use the reactor to maintain the levels. I use the supplements to get it to the level I want then just use the reactor to maintain the alk/cal at that level.

Also i am going to start changing my ARM media every 3-4 months if I can afford it. I noticed a growth spurt right after I changed the previous 7 month old media.

It's been about 2 weeks now since I've incresed the effluent (to almost a steady stream) and bubble count to see if that would help. I measured the levels 5 days ago and found the hardness has gone up to 7dkh, but calcium is still around 300ppm. Megnesium at 1290ppm. I decided to leave that the way it is and have been adding Seachem Advanced Calcium for 4 consecuitive days. My calcium is now at 400ppm. Today I did a 20% water change (haven't done one in a couple months) in hopes that will boost up the hardness a little more to maybe 8-9dkh and leave the rest to the reactor to do. I think part of my problem was not changing the water often enought. I going to test the water again in a week to see if the levels hold, if notk, I will just have to add a Kalkreactor. SPS are darn calcium hogs.

[Willito]

Also i am going to start changing my ARM media every 3-4 months if I can afford it. I noticed a growth spurt right after I changed the previous 7 month old media.

Do you mean replacing all the media or just partial? What is the reasoning behind this? My results are the opposite, whenever I change the media (partial) I find that it take a upto a month for thing to be back to normal. Hence I often just add more media on top to avoid any kind of growth slowdowns.

[Jaws]

I was hoping I could revive this thread and check on your progress. I've got a 180G tank stocked fairly heavily with sps. I've got a dual stage Ca reactor and would like to maintain calcium levels of around 400 and Alk around 10. I'm still trying to figure out how much flow to allow, how many bubbles per minute and what pH level should be coming out of the second chamber. Any suggestions?