correct, my initial intent was to control ph but upon further review of Bruce's implementation, that is wrong. I will do it as he has. Unfortunately, the c02 has almost 0 impact on my pH so that is clearly not the problem but a waste of about 100 bucks and a lot of time reading. Live and learn - always in this hobby. I like the idea of Kalk in a stirrer and it's benefits for the tank. I dont know why my results w/the c02 sucked so bad. It's pretty disappointing but I guess I have a spare reactor if I ever need it.
Well, to be clear CO2 has everything to do with pH. There was just something that interfered with allowing the CO2 scrubber you used from removing enough CO2 from your tank for you to notice a difference. Do you have a lot of surface agitation? CO2 in your house could be extremely high. You can do an aerating cup pH test with it in your house for at least 15 minutes. And then take outside for at least 15 minutes.
I'm not very familiar with Ca reactors as I've never needed to use one but couldn't they also potentially drive down pH?
How fast did the Sodalime change colors to purple? You should easily start seeing a change at the bottom in a couple hours. My BRS reactor full of sodalime lasts a few days to a week depending on how much air flow I dial it in to.
Jason is correct that CO2 directly impacts your ph. From the looks of it your not having enough air contact time with the media. Especially with that high of a air flow between 650 to 900 lph. Since we don't know what level of co2 is present in your house we have to estimate. The speed of the air flowing over your media and contact time the air has with the media. I would have suggested with your setup to use two canisters piped in parallel. Allowing for more contact time.
Here is an example setup.
Connection of canisters: