Calcium reactor feed questions

[Eric23]

I've been having the same problem everybody else has feeding my calcium reactor off of my return but I dont have the money to lay out for a continuous duty peristaltic pump. I had an idea and I'm wanted to know if it makes sense. I was thinking of adding a power head to my sump and connecting the effluent to it so there's suction instead of pressure and then using a bubble counter in line to set the drip... Will this work ?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Sounds very hard to control the flow rate???

 

[Eric23]

Yeah it does ..... I didn't think there would be so much inconsistency plumbing It off my return with a T and a valve on the inlet side

 

[Eric23]

I guess I'll have to just stay on eBay looking for cheap peristaltic pumps

 

[solitude127]

why not just use a maxijet for a feed pump?

 

[Eric23]

I've Just Seen A lot of people say they have the same problems using the Maxi jet as a feed pump as they do feeding off of the return like I'm doing now.

 

[Eric23]

I'm constantly having to adjust the needle valve on the CO2 regulator and adjust the effluent.

 

[gcarroll]

Its what, $25 to try the maxijet solution? I ran mine like this for 7 years and never once had an issue. I have heard from others that had issues with pumps failing but this is usually an issue because the don't do it right by venting the pump through the venturi. check out this article for the proper way to set up a Maxijet as a feed for your calcium reactor. http://reef.diesyst.com/crarticle/crarticle.htm

 

[Eric23]

Its what, $25 to try the maxijet solution? I ran mine like this for 7 years and never once had an issue. I have heard from others that had issues with pumps failing but this is usually an issue because the don't do it right by venting the pump through the venturi. check out this article for the proper way to set up a Maxijet as a feed for your calcium reactor. http://reef.diesyst.com/crarticle/crarticle.htm

I don't understand how this is different from running the feed off a T from your return ?

 

[DCR]

I don't understand how this is different from running the feed off a T from your return ?

I think the difference is that the MJ puts up less pressure than the return header so you don't have to pinch down as much on the throttling valve which makes it less susceptible to plugging.

 

[Eric23]

I think the difference is that the MJ puts up less pressure than the return header so you don't have to pinch down as much on the throttling valve which makes it less susceptible to plugging.

That makes so much sense it's ridiculous !!!! I didn't even think of that