Looking for serious CA reactor advice

[ickmagnet]

So I did the pump mod on my calcium reactor (changed from aquabee to eheim 1260) and thought that I had the hard part out of the way. There were no leaks in the plumbing and I was rather proud of myself. That was until I hooked everything up and realized that the battle had just begun.

I have absolutely no idea how to adjust the parameters of this thing. I've been searching online for tips on how to make sure everything is fine but they all insist I use a bubble counter and adjust to approx. 1 bubble/sec at first. I am currently not using a bubble counter.Do I need a bubble counter if I have a pH controller? The reactor has a bubble counter and in addition, the regulator itself appears to have a bubble counter on it similair to the setup on this link:

http://www.blueworldaquariums.com/proddetail.php?prod=059322

I would prefer to use the one on the regulator. Am I supposed to fill this with water (1/2 way)? I don't want anything crazy to happen. If I put water into it, would it not seep into the cylinder when the C02 turns off? Ideally, I would rather not use a bubble counter at all and just let the pH controller take care of the tuning.

I've set the second gauge on the regulator to about 20 and fooled around with the needle valve to get some gas flowing. I have no idea as to what rate it is. The pH controller is set to 6.5. The effluent is dripping into the sump once every two seconds or so.

Finally, my last question is, how do I know that the proper chemical reaction is taking place? I tried checking the effluent pH to ensure that it is 6.5 but my test kit only measures as low as 7.6. It does appear to be below 7.6. I can't really take my pH probe out of the reactor to measure without causing some serious leakage. I tried testing the alkalinity of the effluent but it never seemed to change color even after adding 30 drops or so. Should I check the Ca level? If so, what should the value be?

I know this is a lot of stuff to answer but any help would be appreciated. I am on the verge of going back to only leathers and fish and smashing this thing to bits.

[Aquattro]

I use a bubble counter, it's really easy. My reactor has one built in and I don't use pH to tune it. I measured alk once and it was about 35, IIRC.

The design of my BC is such that I can fill it with water and nothing leaks back. I don't use the one on the reg itself.

[RDNanoGuy]

Read Melev's article on CA Reactors here:

http://www.melevsreef.com/calcium_reactor.html

I found it very helpful when I set up my Reactor. Just ignore the part about the cup if your Ph probe is mounted into the reactor.

Also you should use a bubble counter as you dont want to add too much Co2 too quickly when the solenoid opens.... the PH Probes are slow to react to the change in Ph and you will get wild swings and the reactor won't work properly.

Don't worry about the fluid in the BC going into the Co2 Bottle... it would have to get by about 1200 psi of pressure first!

Also get yourself some good quality test kits! It is very hard to adjust the reactor properly if you can't accurately measure the changes in calcium levels in your tank.

Good Luck!

[BlueTang<3]

I foud this helpful http://www.theaquariumsolution.com/setting-calcium-reactor-ph-controller

[ickmagnet]

Ok, I'll try the bubble counter thing today and set it to approx. 1 bubble/sec.

I'll check the kh and Ca levels again today as well in the tank. They were both low when I checked yesterday (after having the ca reactor running for 24hrs).

[Lampshade]

many articles say not to build up your Calc/Alk with your Ca Rx. Drops your PH, messes up your Calc/Alk balance, all kinds of stuff. Pick up some 2 part to build it up to your set points, then use the Ca Rx to maintain it. I did this and found it VERY helpful. Ca Rx dose equal parts Alk/Calc, so if either is off then you'll maintain an imbalance. I use a bubble counter aswell, works great, set it to 1 bubble a sec, my drip to 1 drip per second and it only took a little fine tuning to get it set.

[ickmagnet]

Thanks everyone. I've set up the bubble counter and have it set to about 30 bubbles per minutes and the effluent drip rate is about the same.

OK so I've done some testing and I'll post my values. Please advise what needs to be done in terms of adjusting the Co2 and drip rate. pH controller is maintained at 6.5

Effluent test
Ca is about 450ppm
Kh is about 25
Ph - can't measure at the moment

Tank water test
Ca is below the measuring point, so below 370ppm
Kh is about 6
pH is about 8.0

With respect to the effluent, are there any adjustments that I should make? Should the Ca of the effluent be higher? How can I get the effluent Ca higher?

With regards to the tank water, should I buy some two part to get my Ca to respectable levels first? Looks like the Kh is slightly low as well.

Much appreciated everyone for your continued help with this project.