Air/Bubble Noise through recirc pump

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Paul Kinsella

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Specs:
Geo CR818 with Geo secondary chamber
Reborn calcium reactor media
Carbon doser CO2 regulator(about 12lbs. pressure and about 1 bubble every 6 seconds)
Kamoer perastalic feed pump(pushing not pulling per your recommendation several months back)

I have had this setup running for about 7-8 months. I have taken the unit completely apart and lubed all o-rings with silicone grease/lube. I have adjusted the CO2 pressure up and down to no avail. I did find some bubbles coming in the Kamoer feed line from the sump but have since corrected that so no no more air bubbles coming from sump.
Every 2-3 days I find myself having to turn off the reactor and bleed the air out through the effluent line going to the secondary chamber.
It is getting old having to bleed the air out every 2-3 days.
I am at a loss and tired of doing this.
Note: Each time I bleed the "air" out I noticed alot of bubbles that accumulate in the reactor media. I shake the unit each time to dislodge the air trapped so I can bleed it out. I say "air" as I am unsure if it is actually CO2 or ambient room air.
Please, please provide some other insight as to how to correct this problem. Could the reactor media be too small and trapping CO2? Is this the proper size media for this reactor?
Also worth noting...when I disassembled the unit, it seemed the connecttion/o-ring on the shroud for the Sicce recirc pump was a little loose. Would it be worth trying a new pump?
Please advise.
Thank you.
 

Makki_73

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Specs:
Geo CR818 with Geo secondary chamber
Reborn calcium reactor media
Carbon doser CO2 regulator(about 12lbs. pressure and about 1 bubble every 6 seconds)
Kamoer perastalic feed pump(pushing not pulling per your recommendation several months back)

I have had this setup running for about 7-8 months. I have taken the unit completely apart and lubed all o-rings with silicone grease/lube. I have adjusted the CO2 pressure up and down to no avail. I did find some bubbles coming in the Kamoer feed line from the sump but have since corrected that so no no more air bubbles coming from sump.
Every 2-3 days I find myself having to turn off the reactor and bleed the air out through the effluent line going to the secondary chamber.
It is getting old having to bleed the air out every 2-3 days.
I am at a loss and tired of doing this.
Note: Each time I bleed the "air" out I noticed alot of bubbles that accumulate in the reactor media. I shake the unit each time to dislodge the air trapped so I can bleed it out. I say "air" as I am unsure if it is actually CO2 or ambient room air.
Please, please provide some other insight as to how to correct this problem. Could the reactor media be too small and trapping CO2? Is this the proper size media for this reactor?
Also worth noting...when I disassembled the unit, it seemed the connecttion/o-ring on the shroud for the Sicce recirc pump was a little loose. Would it be worth trying a new pump?
Please advise.
Thank you.

hey,
I am having the exact same issue with the exact same equipment but with geo 618 and a secondary chamber.

how did you solve your issue ?
 
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Paul Kinsella

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Makki
Sorry for the late reply. To answer your question about whether I solved the problem-No. The air noise in the recirc pump continues to this day.
Geo has been proactive trying to fix the problem but it still continues. Even though the reactor is very noisy, it has been putting great effluent in and my tanks parameters have been keeping very consistent...which is more important for me now. I find myself thinking about the possibility that the O-ring at the impeller to the Sicce recirc pump might be a culprit as I find during maintenance that it is loose. It(the Sicce plastic part containing the o-ring that covers the recirc pump impeller) moves/rotates when I tighten the Geo fitting just before the Sicce recirc pump.
I do not know what to do next. I spent alot of money on my reactor and would prefer to continue to try to fix the Geo rather than drop $$ on a different manufacturer.
For now, I have learned to tolerate the excessive noise. I will address this but just have other more important issues to tackle for now.
 

xionggotstyle

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Just wanted to add to this as well. I have an older model of the Geo's Reef calcium reactor. Its a 2017 I think. And I'm dealing with the same issue. Now I do have the older manifold and I'm using the new Versa to push through it. Unfortunitly I have the barbs on my input and output. I had reached out to Geo's Reef and they helped me. But after I set everything up. With the constant CO2 being added into the system. I got a lot of air bubbles. Its annoying as hell. Probably gonna change out my barbs to the 1/4 rodi inputs to see if that helps.
 
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Paul Kinsella

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My Geo unit was purchased in 2017 as well.
Even tried to switch my Kamoer pump to pull water through and it still makes noise.
Geo- Anything else you can think of to help us get through this problem?
 

xionggotstyle

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@ Paul. I figured they redesigned the whole lid and manifold for a reason. If you look the new calcium reactors, geos reef new calrx included have the output on the top of the lid. I can only conclude this is easier to get rid of the air bubbles easier. The old design like ours its harder to get rid of the air bubbles.

If my C02 isnt getting infused by the carbon doser then i dont have air bubbles. This is true when the versa and the recirc pump is on. But once i get c02 bubbles infused the recirc goes crazy with air bubbles. Its quite annoying.

I havent developed a solution to this yet. Im chaning my input barb into a murlock rodi fitting. I will update soon.
 

Wrasse-cal

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If there is a solution, please post it here. I have this problem as well. Thanks!
 

KenO

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I have a 2018 model also with the same issues. I can't plumb the pump into my sump. Anyone else have a fix?
 

geo

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For those that have a build up of CO2 in there reactors please read:

If you own a GEO calcium reactor that was built before 2009 (manifold connected to the lid via union) then this design was built to have pressure inside the reactor. Pressure was supplied to the reactor via small feed pump placed in your sump (MaxiJet/Colbalt 600 or Sicce 0.5) and the effluent control via micro ball/needle valve. These models went into production approximately in 1999 BEFORE continuous duty peristaltic pumps were being used in the aquarium trade. If you try to run a peristaltic pump ALONE on these models you will get a build up of CO2 since there is no pressure to compress the intoduced Co2 into the water column. Some users can get them to work normally if a high effluent rate and low Co2 dosing is used. The work around if you must use a peristaltic pump with these models, although we do not recommend this, is to use both a small feed pump (<125 gph) *****WARNING connections must be secure and O-Rings/Uni-seal in good condition******* and a peristaltic pump in the pull configuration. Yes the feed pump will be pushing against the peristaltic pump but at low enough pressure not to damage it. REMEMBER THIS IS AT YOUR RISK AND AGAIN THIS IS A WORK AROUND AND NOT RECOMMENDED BY GEO'S REEF. We do however recommend that you follow the original directions listed on our website with use of only a small feed pump. This pre-2019 design is proven for almost 20 years without any major issues. Our advice is to just use the feed pump. If you choose to use the equipment in a way that it was not designed it is at your own risk.

All GEO calcium reactors built since 2019 (manifold from side) are design to be used with only ONE of the following:
* A continuous duty peristaltic pump in the PULL configuration.
OR
* A small feed pump (<125 gph) such as a Sicce 0.5, MaxiJet/Colbalt 600.

Thank you and I hope this helps.
GEO
 

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