Canadian Man Calcium Reactors

[Quinn]

Normally I would have gone straight to him with this, but as most of you know, he's on vacation right now. I know a few of you have bought his units or else built similar ones. The problem I am having is that nothing is coming out of the output tube. The valve is wide open, and water isn't even getting into the tube from the reactor cylinder at all. In fact, air/CO2 was coming out what should be the input tube, and the reactor itself is full of gas bubbles. I tried to pull the output tube out of the reactor, to see if I could wash it out or something (a fair bit of algae in it), but it didn't seem to want to come out and I didn't want to break it. Has anyone else had this problem? Does anyone else know what's going on?

[kari]

Here's my two cents;
First I would shut off the co2 and the water pump until you get the proper flow established again.
Remove the clogged line and toss it in garbage. The 1/4" line is dirt cheap at HD or Rona, buy new clean line or clean the old one. I am assuming the reactor has JG fittings. The 1/4" line can be easily removed by holding down the small ring around the line (the one that seems to be loose all the time) while gently pulling out the 1/4" vinyl line. Don't unthread the fitting.
Determine why the line got clogged in the first place so you don't repeat the problem. Maybe lighting is a factor. Air locks in the lines ???
Even the 1/4" IRR valve at the end of the output line is cheap to replace if you choose to.
Once you have the lines reinstalled fill the reactor. Open the output valve fully, leave the co2 off and turn on the pump. When the water flow is normal and most of the air is out start the co2 and adjust bubble count and so on.
I had a minor problem with cavitation in the bottom end do to sump/reactor location but solved it with a small modification. If you want, I can email you the mod pic.
I don't know if I answered your questions but give me call if this doesn't make any sense.
Seems very weird that co2 was coming out of the input line????
What was the bubble count, ph and such set to when it was running earlier?
Is the foam plugged?
Is the water circulating thru the pump and reactor tube normally?
Didn't he say "feel free to call me while I'm on vacation with any reactor questions" ?

Kari

[Delphinus]

I think Kari nailed the bases. If you're still having problems by the weekend, let me know since I'll be up your way this weekend, two bumbling fools can be at least half as inefficient than incompetent... :smile:

Welcome to reactors .... espescially if any of your lines are exposed to light they will clog up. I have to clean my lines every few weeks.

When I first started up I had tremendous problems with cavitation in the bottom and clogs in the lines. It may require some fiddling for the first few months before it's really dialed in to your satisfaction.

[DJ88]

Put 1/4" heat shrink tubing from and electronics supply store overtop of your effluent lines. no more algae growth.

[Quinn]

I did turn off the CO2, I will go get new lines and such tonight and see what I can figure out. It is under my 40W NO tube so...

Tony if you want to drop by and see how things are doing anyways, feel free.

[Canadian Man]

you got it all figured out Quinn?

[Quinn]

Hey Jon, welcome back.

I think I got it. There is no point in measuring pH with those Hagen kits, I'm going to go buy batteries for the digital meter today. I'll let you know where I'm at. I spent most of the morning sweating over a water change. Even with the Mag9.5, it's a headache.