Low alk since switching to Gen-X reactor media

[Jason McK]

Hey Christy, What is the PH of your effluent?
I'm having the same problem. I just tossed the jug and forgot to check what the recommended PH of this media was supposed to be?

J

[fishface]

Originally Posted by Jason McK

Hey Christy, What is the PH of your effluent?
I'm having the same problem. I just tossed the jug and forgot to check what the recommended PH of this media was supposed to be?

J

they don't even have a recommendation on the jug...so i run mine at 6.6-6.7 and hope it's working .

[christyf5]

I dunno, my pH meter croaked like a week after I got it, stupid POS. Anyway, I'm getting one of those salifert kits, I'm tired of crappy meters and their crappy probes not working. I'll have to test the effluent when I get home. I dunno, maybe I need to turn down the effluent and let the CO2 have a longer visit with the media? Beats me. At this point all I do know I'll be Suzy Homemaker with the baking soda when I get home on Friday

[kari]

Suzy,

Are you baking your own cake on Friday?

[christyf5]

You betcha, nobody else is gonna do it for me

[SuperFudge]

I didnt notice a huge difference in parameters after going to larger media, but i liked it because i did notice the dissolving was much more even.
Flow through the reactor was better, and less channeling through the media.

I had switched from the old ARM because i was sick of the mush it made after a month or so, in the base of the reactor.

Caribsea has come out with its version of the larger media, im gonna give that a try...my last try with hagen`s large substrate was a bit of a disaster...i think the barkmulch in there shoulda been a sign not to use it in the first place... :P

Marc.

[christyf5]

Bwaaha, what are you talking about? The barkmulch helps give it that "peaty" quality and provides fiber for your corals.

Hagen? pfft. you should know better

As for my own issues (of which there are many but we'll address the alk problem for now ) theres a chunk of foam in the bottom of the reactor that stops the finer media from flowing through and destroying the pump, I'm going to take that out and replace it with a larger mesh to try to get more flow through the reactor since this media is supposedly designed for a higher flow reactor. Then I'll dial down the drip rate and give the CO2 more time with the media. Hopefully that gets the job done. It sounds good anyways.

[SuperFudge]

Originally Posted by christyf5

Hagen? pfft. you should know better

Heh, i bet i coulda grown tulips quite nicley in there tho.

[christyf5]

And brought a little bit 'o' sunshine to the tank room as well

[Chin_Lee]

I used ARM before they came out with the large media but like Marc said, it was mush in a few months and my circulating pump was working like a horse to keep up with the additional head pressure created by the back pressure of the mud. I then switched over to Caribsea Florida Crushed Coral media. The media is 2-5mm and for $33 bucks, it will fill my reactor 3 times. I won't post bubble count specs since each reactor is different to achieve individual's needs. But my efllunet pH was 6.7, Alk level on the effluent was above and beyong what my salifert test kit could register. Output rate of approximately 3 drips/sec.
Unfortunately i hate testing soooooo much that I didn't test the CA level in the effluent even once in the last 6 months
Just emptied out my reactor last night after 6 months and refilled with same media and I threw in all of my acro skeletons in there at the bottom to recycle. I did have to wash the media out over and over again for about 3-5 minutes before adding it to the reactor. It had lots of fine dust and some "floaties". But I'm still on my first bag i bought at Xmas time and this will last me till next Xmas.

Did I mention how much I hate changing Ca reactor?