Calcium Reactor in conjunction with kalk dosing - What to do?!?

[reefinusa]

Hi - new to the forum. Thanks in advance for any advice given.

First, let me start off by saying that I'm not new to saltwater tanks, but I am new to SPS. Also, I should specify that I really enjoy the tech aspects of the hobby, so I'm a bit of a equipment junkie.

My Tank:
75 Gallon Bowfront tank.
- 2 clowns, Blue Tang, Yellow Tang, 2 Firefish, 1 bluestrike (name) cleaning wrasse, solid cuc, emerald crab, watermelon anemone
- brain coral, frogspawn coral, about 8 monti frags and 6 acro frags
30 gallon sump with refugium (chaeto growing nicely)
Carbon/GFO reactor hooked up (for the time being. I might remove this and just rely on refug)
Dual Chamber Calcium Reactor
Apex Controllers

Parameters (monitored daily for the past several weeks - since I introduced the calcium reactor)
Alk: 10.5 dkH
Calcium: 450
Mag: 1350
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Phosphate: 0
PH: 7.8-8

I understand that PH isn't something to chase, but again, part of the appeal is the challenge of getting the numbers that I want - to create what I consider to be the perfect water/environment for my tank. That said, I'd like to get my PH higher. I added plants - that didn't help. I opened the windows and that helps it get back up to a 7.9-8.1 range instead of the 7.8-8 range. Also, it should be known that I live in MT and opening the windows in the winter isn't an option (i did it this time as a test).

Enter my purchase of a CO2 scrubber. I hooked that up a couple days ago and I'm still at 7.9-8.1 and I can't get that extra boost that I want (want to reach 8.3). My first thought is to supplement my dosing with a kalk doser, which I am totally willing to do, but it brings a couple questions to mind. First, it seems that it's also going to dose alk/calcium along with a good amount of PH. I'm not too worried about the alk/calcium as my calcium reactor is handling that just fine. Is there a way to only does the PH, or is it going to dose the other automatically? If so, is it going to turn into me just using the kalk dosing and NOT my calcium reactor? My tank needs aren't large enough to require both...

I'd like to find a way to get that PH up in a way where it's automated and that allows me to keep using my calcium reactor. Thoughts?

Thanks a ton!

 

[AltitudeAquarium]

I am dosing aqua vitro eight.four which seems to be helping pH in my aquarium.

 

[jda]

A well tuned CaRx will nary make your pH move. co2 dumping via a pH controller can let excess co2 into your tank and lower your pH. I have a google doc linked in my signature with a lot of CaRx thoughts and tuning stuff.

Find yourself some nice days where the highs get into the 50s or 60 and put some box fans into your windows for a few hours - Colorado can suck too in the winter, but we get a few days a month in the 60s where a 100% air exchange is nice. This will help your pH more than anything else and should get it to 8.3 for a high if you exchange enough air. In Montana, your windows can be open a lot in the spring/fall/summer so no reason for low pH then. Cracking a window an inch for a few hours is like throwing a baseball at a freight train - lots of open windows and thousands of CFM air movement does the job quite well. We have a 48" whole house fan that does this job quite well. Even the kids can notice when we air out the house in the winter. ...all of this said, 7.8 for a low is perfectly fine and not worth chasing or spending money on, IMO.

 

[HuduVudu]

An interesting note about household CO2. I am in TX near the coast so our temps are pretty high but over the last week we have seen lower temps. The interesting part is that our CO2 flattens during these periods. My wife thinks that the higher temps bring increased biological activity to our very old house. This may be true, but it is just worth noting that I have seen a signifcant downward movement on CO2 during cooler periods.

 

[hyeclass]

when you say, 7.8 is that when you have the lights on or off when the light off your reading should be lower maybe 7.5 - 6 if you dos damm alk will go up you might end up 15 alk so what's more important ALK or PH? open the windows put a AIR that should make the PH higher all that chemicals is worthless plus you have to know how to use a kalkwasser. dilute 1 cup mix it with rodi only let it settle than drain the clean water ONLY not the mixture

 

[hyeclass]

Alk: 10.5 dkH 8.5
Calcium: 450 460 480 is good
Mag: 1350
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0 <----- NOT GOOD 1.0 is good
Phosphate: 0 <---- 0 is not GOOD 0.03 to 0.07 is good
PH: 7.8-8

 

[TX_Punisher]

Kalk makes a difference. I run both and use a dos to dose kalk (1000ml/day). my mixing pump was acting up this week so I took the kalk reactor off-line while my new pump came. I am mediately noticed lower system pH while not using the kalk reactor.

it took some tuning of the calcium reactor but with the Kamoer feeding I simply turned the feed down to lower output dkh so that I could bring the kalk online.

the mix of both has provided increased coral growth as well. of course, testing alk, cal and mag 4 times a day helped me fine tune everything together.

good luck

 

[hyeclass]

Kalk makes a difference. I run both and use a dos to dose kalk (1000ml/day). my mixing pump was acting up this week so I took the kalk reactor off-line while my new pump came. I am mediately noticed lower system pH while not using the kalk reactor.

it took some tuning of the calcium reactor but with the Kamoer feeding I simply turned the feed down to lower output dkh so that I could bring the kalk online.

the mix of both has provided increased coral growth as well. of course, testing alk, cal and mag 4 times a day helped me fine tune everything together.

good luck

Using Kamoer what the speed your running ? To dos

 

[TX_Punisher]

Kamoer feeds my calcium reactor. Actually, it’s drawing thru both chambers of my Geo 618.

Dos draws from my ato freshwater tank and feeds a PM Kalk reactor. I dose a set amount each day for a more controlled delivery compared to simply adding kalk to an ato tank which tends to add more towards the end of my lighting cycle.

 

[TX_Punisher]

Using Kamoer what the speed your running ? To dos

120ml/min but I wouldn’t copy what I’m doing.

 

[Hersheyb]

I never had an issue with ph when I was dosing 2 part, as soon as I upgraded to a bigger tank I had to switch to a calcium reactor and my ph took a dive. I did a few things to help with the ph.

- ran an airline from window to my skimmer
- added a 2nd reactor chamber filled with small crushed corals to diffuse some of the excess co2
- added a kalk stirrer and had a peristaltic pump continuously drip kalkwasser into the system
- added a co2 scrubber

I added each of the following to my system individually and did notice my ph increase as I added each one of them.. so my ph went from 7.8 - 8.0 to 8.2 - 8.35 (ph would actually top 8.4 the first 3 days after I switch out new co2 scrubbing media.

perfect ph range is attainable... just takes a little work

 

[jmichaelh7]

Kalk makes a difference. I run both and use a dos to dose kalk (1000ml/day). my mixing pump was acting up this week so I took the kalk reactor off-line while my new pump came. I am mediately noticed lower system pH while not using the kalk reactor.

it took some tuning of the calcium reactor but with the Kamoer feeding I simply turned the feed down to lower output dkh so that I could bring the kalk online.

the mix of both has provided increased coral growth as well. of course, testing alk, cal and mag 4 times a day helped me fine tune everything together.

good luck

I’m actually about to run a kalk stirrer with my carx . Not a lot of people are doing it

 

[Smite]

I’m running kalk and a calcium reactor. It’s all still pretty new to me but it’s been working well so far. I’ve really eased into the kalk dosing with a whole lot of testing and it’s been smooth so far. Even with the kalk and airline ran to a window I top out at 8.2 and dip to 7.95 or so. I’ve got a small house, my two kids homeschool, large dog and a calcium reactor so my ph sucks without any of that. It was dipping low enough to cause TN issues for me at night.

I run mine pretty low tech, off a doser. I mix 5g at a time and seal it (I use a water jug). I have my down line set 2” off the bottom so I don’t dose the slurry. First fill I started at 1 tsp per gallon and a low ml per day. Test and moved up from there until I got to 2500ml. Next batch I upped the saturation. I did that while testing regularly until I was at full saturation. It took some time but went smoothly. Initially I turned my calcium reactor down. Once I’m at top off ml per day I plan to start cranking the reactor back up for uptake.
Just watch you magnesium with kalk. It doesn’t supply that like your calcium reactor does. As the kalk makes up for ca and alk your mg will drop.
I’d stick with a well know kalkwasser like seachem. Seems to be a pretty clean brand of kalk.

I mentioned how I did it since it may be a route to try without investing too much initially. And seems very controllable to me.

 

[mtraylor]

Welcome to forum

What is your working pressure on your calcium reactor? In helping people with excess Co2 in there systems in result from using calcium reactor. Allot of the time it's the working pressure. You want to be around 14psi. This makes the bubble size really small. Then you can make the bubble rate around 1 per second to srart with. You can lower than that but this is good place to start.

Not sure how you have calc reactor setup but I set the effluent rate as a constant. Then I change my ph in reactor to regulate calc as needed by reef.

With this setup there is no ph issues. As others stated, you have no issue to chase, but if you must this is what I would be checking.

Also noted. I would be putting more effort and attention to the real problem and elephant In The room that others pointed out to you. The zero nitrates and phosphates.

Good luck and happy reefing.

 

[jmichaelh7]

Welcome to forum

What is your working pressure on your calcium reactor? In helping people with excess Co2 in there systems in result from using calcium reactor. Allot of the time it's the working pressure. You want to be around 14psi. This makes the bubble size really small. Then you can make the bubble rate around 1 per second to srart with. You can lower than that but this is good place to start.

Not sure how you have calc reactor setup but I set the effluent rate as a constant. Then I change my ph in reactor to regulate calc as needed by reef.

With this setup there is no ph issues. As others stated, you have no issue to chase, but if you must this is what I would be checking.

Also noted. I would be putting more effort and attention to the real problem and elephant In The room that others pointed out to you. The zero nitrates and phosphates.

Good luck and happy reefing.

I'm at 15 psi pressure. I think i'm in the same boat, i tend to slow the drip rate to increase dkh however i dont have a perstalstic pump on it so then it becomes clogged and stops to drip completely.

I have the avast marine kalkwasser reactor on its way. This should bump me from 8dkh to 9 dkh and hopefully elevate my pH by .3 - .4 i hope since i'm sitting at 8.1

 

[Maxx]

Hi - new to the forum. Thanks in advance for any advice given.

First, let me start off by saying that I'm not new to saltwater tanks, but I am new to SPS. Also, I should specify that I really enjoy the tech aspects of the hobby, so I'm a bit of a equipment junkie.

My Tank:
75 Gallon Bowfront tank.
- 2 clowns, Blue Tang, Yellow Tang, 2 Firefish, 1 bluestrike (name) cleaning wrasse, solid cuc, emerald crab, watermelon anemone
- brain coral, frogspawn coral, about 8 monti frags and 6 acro frags
30 gallon sump with refugium (chaeto growing nicely)
Carbon/GFO reactor hooked up (for the time being. I might remove this and just rely on refug)
Dual Chamber Calcium Reactor
Apex Controllers

Parameters (monitored daily for the past several weeks - since I introduced the calcium reactor)
Alk: 10.5 dkH
Calcium: 450
Mag: 1350
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Phosphate: 0
PH: 7.8-8

I understand that PH isn't something to chase, but again, part of the appeal is the challenge of getting the numbers that I want - to create what I consider to be the perfect water/environment for my tank. That said, I'd like to get my PH higher. I added plants - that didn't help. I opened the windows and that helps it get back up to a 7.9-8.1 range instead of the 7.8-8 range. Also, it should be known that I live in MT and opening the windows in the winter isn't an option (i did it this time as a test).

Enter my purchase of a CO2 scrubber. I hooked that up a couple days ago and I'm still at 7.9-8.1 and I can't get that extra boost that I want (want to reach 8.3). My first thought is to supplement my dosing with a kalk doser, which I am totally willing to do, but it brings a couple questions to mind. First, it seems that it's also going to dose alk/calcium along with a good amount of PH. I'm not too worried about the alk/calcium as my calcium reactor is handling that just fine. Is there a way to only does the PH, or is it going to dose the other automatically? If so, is it going to turn into me just using the kalk dosing and NOT my calcium reactor? My tank needs aren't large enough to require both...

I'd like to find a way to get that PH up in a way where it's automated and that allows me to keep using my calcium reactor. Thoughts?

Thanks a ton!

How is your CO2 scrubber set up? Is it recirculating?
I used to use a CO2 scrubber that was NOT recirculating. It did not do much.
As in I did not notice a difference at all, I just spent money on something that looked odd.
Few years later, I saw thread here about recirculating CO2 scrubbers (https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-best-way-to-implement-a-co2-scrubber.330806/ ) and bought a second CO2 scrubber, (Just an RODI cannister filled with CO2 scrubber media) and hooked it up to the skimmer in a recirculating mode.
That made a BIG difference. Using two cannisters, I can go about a month on the media, and it raises my pH from 7.9 to as high as 8.4. I turn the skimmer off when the pH reaches 8.35, it has gotten as high as 8.45 before.

The Aquavitro Eight.four is just Soda Ash, https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/calc...ements/brs-aquarium-additives/alkalinity.html , which will raise your pH as well as increase your alkalinity.

 

[mtraylor]

I'm at 15 psi pressure. I think i'm in the same boat, i tend to slow the drip rate to increase dkh however i dont have a perstalstic pump on it so then it becomes clogged and stops to drip completely.

I have the avast marine kalkwasser reactor on its way. This should bump me from 8dkh to 9 dkh and hopefully elevate my pH by .3 - .4 i hope since i'm sitting at 8.1

Ah. I see. You are going the old school route I think. Where you set the ph in calc reactor to say 6.2 no matter what media you use and go with slow drip rate that always clogs here and ther. You have to monitor it etc.

Well watch this video and follow instructions. It's a bit long winded but will resolve your clogging issue and ph. Being using this method for many years. Before then I used old school method and had lower ph which was not an issue. But just fyi.

 

[jmichaelh7]

Ah. I see. You are going the old school route I think. Where you set the ph in calc reactor to say 6.2 no matter what media you use and go with slow drip rate that always clogs here and ther. You have to monitor it etc.

Well watch this video and follow instructions. It's a bit long winded but will resolve your clogging issue and ph. Being using this method for many years. Before then I used old school method and had lower ph which was not an issue. But just fyi.

I will watch it when I am driving a 5 hour road trip for a mandated court trial related to my job. Sigh…. Lol

I assume it’s monitoring ph ?

 

[mtraylor]

LoL. It's basically a better way to tune your calc reactor and effluent. That way you have a nice steady stream effluent into your system ...no clogs and less CO2 as you fine tune. Once you setup this way you will notice the issues you are having go away

 

[PeterC99]

Are you recirculating the CO2 scrubber?