Low KH From Effluent of Ca Reactor

[BlueTang<3]

Well was doing some checks today and found that my Ca is at 420 and KH is at 5.5 out of the effluent of the ca reactor. When i started the reactor 6 months ago i was getting a balanced 420 and 7dkh what am i doing wrong now? Too little of flow too much flow through reactor. Not enough media? Is there any way that the ca remains in the media but carbonates dissolve?

[whatcaneyedo]

You dont. Bring it up by using a little bit of baking soda and then maintain it there with your reactor. Use this calculator to see how much baking soda you need. http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

[BlueTang<3]

ttt

[whatcaneyedo]

I see you have re-phased your question. Here is an article on how to use a calcium reactor http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-05/sh/feature/index.php Scroll down to the bottom to the heading Out of Balance if you dont want to read the whole thing.

[BlueTang<3]

Thanks again for the help. I got it balanced in the tank but the effluent is still low. So instead of jamming the threads up i just modify usually. :biggrin:

[BlueTang<3]

Still kinda boggles me why the kh was at about 12 and the ca was at about 500 from effluent and i have changed nothing but bottles of c02 wonder if there are purer co2 sources?

[reefermadness]

If the amount of alkalinity in the effluent has dropped so has the amount of calcium. Its not possible any other way. The reason you may think that KH has dropped and CA has not is because calcium carbonate (ca reactor media) is mostly alkalinity.....the ratio I believe is 20:50ppm as in 20ppm of Calcium to 50ppm Alkalinity. Now since sea water has less alkalinity in it....say 130ppm (7.2dkh) than Calcium say 410ppm. Now if the alkalinity drops 50ppm and goes from 130ppm to 80ppm (or 7.2dkh to 4.5dkh) the calcium would only drop a meager 20ppm and go from 410ppm to 390ppm. Thus an illusion can be created that alkalinity has changed but calcium as not. Same reason why some people believe there tank needs more alkalinity than calcium....yes it does but it needs the same amount of balanced two part or balanced ca reactor effluent. Hope my ramblings make sense.

[BlueTang<3]

yeah i know what u mean it is just too much work for me to type it all in here. After doing some more reading i slowed the flow through the reactor down and well 2 hours later i am getting a reading of 7.5 dkh at the effluent with 420 ca.
http://www.theaquariumsolution.com/setting-calcium-reactor-ph-controller