Ca Reactor help please

[JurisHP]

This is going to be a little detailed, so hopefully I am giving enough info for people to give input:

I have a GEO CR618 Reactor with ARM extra coarse media and Brightwell Mg in the reactor as well.

I have a Aquariumplants CarbonDoser hooked-up to my CO2 canister.

The CarbonDoser is set to 11 psi and 8 seconds/bubble.

The effluent flow is a steady drip (not stream) at 36 ml/minute.

I have a Trident that at the moment is controlling my reactor.

The pH of my reactor is reading 6.45.

I have Apex controlling my doser with this programming (pH control.....NOT Advanced programming:

High value: 6.50
Low value: 6.45

I have a Neptune DOS for 2-part dosing of Ca and KH.

In order to keep my KH and Ca levels stable, the Trident is telling my DOS to dose quite a bit....I am going through Alk buffer like it's water.

I of course want my reactor to maintain the Ca/KH and to only need the buffers occasionally, but that's not happening.

Thoughts?

 

[lapin]

Whats the alk of your effluent?
It should be about 25Dkh
Once you hit that mark, then we can figure out if we need to raise or lower both the flow and bubble rate

 

[JurisHP]

Whats the alk of your effluent?
It should be about 25Dkh
Once you hit that mark, then we can figure out if we need to raise or lower both the flow and bubble. rate

I need to check that...waiting for my test kit replacement to come in.

 

[naterealbig]

@lapin is asking the right question. While many medias dissolve at your set pH, they are not all the same. Due to the VERY low surface area to volume ratio, the extra course media will require a lower pH to dissolve it quick enough to meet the calcium /alkalinity demand. It can all be done systematically - just go step by step and take your time.