Ca reactor

[mnoll406]

Finally built my calcium reactor. It is Darrens design from RC. I haven't built a bubble counter yet, but alk coming out of the reactor is 23DKH, 490 Ca, and output is 60 ml a minute. Is this in the ball park? My tank is a 50 heavily stocked with SPS, and a refuge that probably has another 40gal.

Mike

[Buccaneer]

Congratulations Mike ! ... not sure what " optimum " is but I usually just monitor effluent PH to be around 6.9 -> 7.0 and all levels seem to be OK

Cheers

[Son Of Skyline]

I found it easier to judge reactor settings by how your tank water reacts rather than what comes out of your reactor. I tested alk every couple days. If my alk dropped, i slightly increased co2. If alk increased, i left it and kept testing every couple days until it stabilized on its own. If alk kept rising beyond where i wanted, i slightly decreased co2 output.

With this method I quit testing the reactor output parameters and had it dialed in within 2 weeks without a bubble counter :)

Good luck!

[Aquattro]

I also tend to follow Mason's technique. Works fine for me.

[mnoll406]

Hey Guys,
Thanks for the input. Tank parameters are: Alk = 8.0
Ca = 360
Mg = 1140
I2 = 0.1

Do you guys still dose Iodine, or does reactor do this? Also I'm encountering a slight prob, don't know if it matters or not, but there is a layer of CO2 building up right above the pump intake. The acrylic tube for my effluent line is lined up with the pump intake, and causes more suction then my CO2 return. Should have set it up differently. I'm gonna turn pump off for a second and see what happens.

Mike

[mnoll406]

Hey guys,
Just shut of pump, and all CO2 goes to top. I stuck a piece of cardboard to tilt reactor toward CO2 return. Hopefully this will solve it. Another question, I'm running a mag 7 pump and it's pretty warm. Is this normal? I can keep my hand on it no problem, but it does feel pretty hot.

Mike

[StirCrazy]

but alk coming out of the reactor is 23DKH, 490 Ca, and output is 60 ml a minute. Is this in the ball park? Mike

:eek: were suposed to check that stuff? :mrgreen:

I just adjust it as to what my tank is doing. when I first set it up I set the bubbles at 1/sec and my flow at 100ml/min then I test every week untill I see a trend in the tank water and adjust acordingly.

Steve