Equipment Review: Aquarium Engineering ACR (Automatic Calcium Reactor)

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worth noting, the purge procedure ruptured my reactor (over pressurized it) even with my CO2 reg at only 8 psi. so BE CAREFUL. Maybe only do purge procedure with reg set at 5 or 6 psi and sneak up on lowest pressure that still gets gas into the reactor.

I need to disassemble mine now to fix the slow leak. The reactor can only handle a max internal pressure of 8 or so psi in my experience.
 

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worth noting, the purge procedure ruptured my reactor (over pressurized it) even with my CO2 reg at only 8 psi. so BE CAREFUL. Maybe only do purge procedure with reg set at 5 or 6 psi and sneak up on lowest pressure that still gets gas into the reactor.

I need to disassemble mine now to fix the slow leak. The reactor can only handle a max internal pressure of 8 or so psi in my experience.
Curious how you have your reactor set up so that it holds pressure?

I don't have an ACR, but understand they use a gas chamber for full Co2 saturation. Do you need to pressurize a reactor when using a gas chamber?
 
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Curious how you have your reactor set up so that it holds pressure?

I don't have an ACR, but understand they use a gas chamber for full Co2 saturation. Do you need to pressurize a reactor when using a gas chamber?

So the ACR lets gas in at regulator output pressure based on input from the little float switch mounted in the lid, this maintains the bubble in the top of the reactor.

It manages effluent by being pressurized with a feeding pump (I am using a mag-drive), and then opening and closing a solenoid to allow fluid out.

I did not expect there to be issue with overpressure, since really, the feed side is pressurized, but if the reactor is over pressurized, I expected it to "vent" out the input line, even with the feed pump on. Well, it didn't, and when the CO2 rushed in to replenish the bubble it over-pressurized the reactor and defeated one of the seals.

I need to think about what allowed pressure to build up instead of venting out the input line. I have seen video of people having reactors over pressurized and explode as well (like blow the top off). It could just be that even a mag-drive pushing water through a 1/4" line is enough pressure to prevent venting.

The reactor operates with a constant internal pressure of a few psi (maybe 5psi), and I understand this improves reactor function (pressurizing). The design seems to be able to handle up to 8psi or so, but 10 or up, and pop-goes-the-reactor (at least in my case).
 

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The old MTC calcium reactors had a psi gauge on them . Co2 is a liquid there is air in the Co2 cylinder and other contaminants that we don't know about , that can possibly build up psi in the calcium reactor. I just read up on this and also a video on line. We don't know all of whats in the co2 bottle .
 
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The old MTC calcium reactors had a psi gauge on them . Co2 is a liquid there is air in the Co2 cylinder and other contaminants that we don't know about , that can possibly build up psi in the calcium reactor. I just read up on this and also a video on line. We don't know all of whats in the co2 bottle .

When CO2 leaves the cylinder, it is no longer a fluid is now a gas, which is compressible. So we are adding compressible gasses to a reactor full of incompressible liquid. That can drive up pressure in the reactor quickly depending on the output pressure of your regulator and the volume of gas already in the reactor.

You are correct that commercial CO2 can have other gasses in it that "dilute" the CO2 bubble in the reactor, which can lead to a need to purge.
 

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worth noting, the purge procedure ruptured my reactor (over pressurized it) even with my CO2 reg at only 8 psi. so BE CAREFUL. Maybe only do purge procedure with reg set at 5 or 6 psi and sneak up on lowest pressure that still gets gas into the reactor.

I need to disassemble mine now to fix the slow leak. The reactor can only handle a max internal pressure of 8 or so psi in my experience.
What ruptured on the reactor? They seem well built.
 

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@Reef-Engineer, Thanks for the detailed explanation. It makes complete sense now. I sort of do the same thing with my reactor, pressurizing it with a vectra S1 but meter the effluent with a versa.

However I don't saturate with C02, I rely on the pH probe to meter gas into the chamber.

I can definitely see how an inrush of gas can temporarily raise the reactor pressure faster than it can bleed out from the pump (in your case mag drive) feeding the reactor.

Either way, I agree lowering the pressure of the regulator will slow the fill time allowing the internal reactor pressure to stabilize.

Definitely something I would've never considered.
 
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What ruptured on the reactor? They seem well built.
they bleed water out of the main seal between the lower (mag) chamber and the upper (aragonite) chamber, or I have seen the PVC seal on the lid break and blow the top off.

They are well built though. I think very few reactors will handle 10psi or more.
 
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Ok gang, here are the numbers:

Oct 7th 52 dKh
Oct 19th 43.6 dKh
Nov 7th 39.6 dKh.
PURGE
Nov 10th 56.4 dKh

So the reactor saw a 29.8% increase in effluent strength following a purge. That is big.

That tells me that based on the numbers above, even with my EXTREMELY calm sump, I will have to purge at least twice a month to avoid a huge swing in effluent strength. So honestly I would just plan on purging if you have one of these, a simple solenoid hooked up to your apex would be an easy route, or, like I said I think AE has a purging controller out now/soon.

I am not sure which way I will go yet. I wonder if other saturation units like DaStaCo or Deltec have this issue too?
 

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Disclaimer: This thread is intended to be an objective review of the features, performance, vulnerabilities, and experience of owning an Automatic Calcium Reactor by Aquarium Engineering. It is not a thread about the company, the owner, war stories, or what have you. Please join the conversation if you have comments, questions, or interest, and lets discuss this piece of reefing gear!

Ok, lets get started!

Aquarium Engineering ACR - Review and Walkthrough
Model Reviewed: June 2020 Stacked 8" ACR

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I bought the unit because I like "different" reef gear, solid engineering concepts, and I dislike how my pH probe was always wandering out of calibration and getting fouled in my old Calcium Reactor. This unit seemed worth the money, whereas I must say some of the other saturation reactors are just insanely priced.

Here are pictures of it disassembled and one of it running. As you can see, it is a saturation reactor, which means, it maintains a bubble of CO2 at the top of the reactor, and recirculates this through the volume of the reactor, maintaining a low pH in the water, dissolving the media until a state of saturation is reached upon which time the CO2 stops being absorbed by the water. The alkalinity, calcium, magnesium, and trace element rich water is then dosed into the aquarium by the controller. That same controller also feeds more CO2 into the unit when the float valve in the lid says the CO2 bubble has been depleted.

In this fashion, the reactor runs with no pH probe to wander out of calibration or foul. It pushes water up through the two chambers, and then recirculates it with a sicce pump.

The reactor must be fed with a pump, and ideally from an area devoid of microbubbles.

IMG_3869.jpg
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Here's a shot of the lid with the: Effluent out (left, clear), Purge line (middle, yellow), and CO2 recirc line (right, yellow). Also you can see the float switch cable (black).
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Here is a pic of the regulator that comes with the unit, you can see that it is feeding the reactor at about 8 or 9psi.
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Performance Review:

Construction is solid, parts are machined from PVC, the large tubes are clear PVC, and a lot of thought went into the design. Perhaps too much thought, because the units are constantly changing and being updated and improved.

The reactor is quiet during operation. In fact, the solenoids in the control module are the loudest part. Based on feedback in the facebook group, the control module is also the most failure prone portion in previous variants, though mine has been problem free.

Setup was straightforward using the instructions from AE, the unit does not come with instructions, or any assembly guidance at all, but the owner recently released a set of instructions online.

I am pleased to say that my unit was leak-free from the vendor, setup went exactly as planned, and it has been reliably churning out effluent for weeks now. Tomorrow when I get a chance I will test the reactor effluent alkalinity again, but it is very high as you would expect (30-40+dKh).

Media/Maintenance:

The suggested Magnesium media to go in the bottom chamber is remag (dolomite) and then reborn (coral skeletons) go in the top, larger, chamber. Although the new reborn (after the shutdown) is much smaller particles and seems more likely to clog and less prone to efficient water flow.

Basically, the unit then runs itself. Maintenance includes:

  • Topping off media when it runs low
  • Checking effluent potency from time to time to ensure proper operation
  • Maybe changing effluent tubing in the control box? (unknown how long it lasts getting pinched)
  • Recirculation and Feed Pump maintenance

The Control Module and valve module:

Effluent delivery is controlled by a super simple “time on, time off” control box. The top button is the “time on” that the solenoid will open for, then the bottom button is the “time off” that the solenoid will close the effluent line for. Want more alkalinity? Increase time on, or reduce time off. Want less? Reduce time on, or increase time off.

IMG_4309.jpg


The CO2 bubble float switch is a simple conductivity switch, so your Apex could just as easily read it via a break-out box and control a Carbon Doser regulator to maintain the CO2 bubble in the unit, and the effluent could just as easily be metered with a Kamoer, Versa, or Masterflex peristaltic pump, but the stock system is working well so I have not had to enact “Plan B”.

Here is the inside of the valve module. On the left you can see the CO2 control portion, a check valve and a solenoid. Then on the right, the effluent control portion, a big old solenoid to pinch the effluent tube.

IMG_3866.jpg



Final Thoughts:

So in summary, thus far, I'd give the unit an 8.5 out of 10. Only docking it 1 point for not coming with any instructions (people shouldn't have to join a facebook group to get instructions), and 0.5 point for the loud effluent control box. My unit is in a fishroom, and I can still hear the "CLUNK" of the solenoid opening and closing as it causes a water hammer. I may try a less forceful feed pump and see if that helps the situation (currently using a dedicated small magdrive). That being said, if the unit is in your living room, you may not love the bubble noises and solenoid noises. However, the unit is very solid construction, and other than the pinch-hose in the effluent control, I don't see many wear items if any, so I would expect the unit to last ages. AE uses high quality O-rings, excellent attention to detail of all machined parts, and everything fits together very well. When one buys a boutique piece of equipment, created by a largely one-man show, there are certain issues that are worth mentioning. For example if you have problems, shipping issues, need parts, etc, you need to find the owner, which can be easy or hard depending on the day, but I will say, based on the ownership experience thus far, I would buy this unit again.
Great review and thank you! A couple of questions, if you don’t mind:
1. How much media does it take?
2. You mentioned the "clunk" of the solenoid being loud. Is there any way you can post/send me the clip of the sound? This beast is going into my living room and I want to understand what I am in for. My aquarium is dialed in and is very quiet. I would like to keep it that way, but can tolerate occasional noise.

It seems like a very polarizing opinions on this piece of equipment and the company.
 

Dennis Cartier

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I want to chime in on my experiences with the ACR. I was also having some issues when I first put my ACR online. I read about the back feed issue, tested the situation and found that there does exist a possibility for it to back feed to bleed the pressure from the reactor when the feed pump shuts down. To protect against that I placed a check valve on the input side. After the addition of the check valve I started having gas build up issues that required constant purging.

At one point, the effluent solenoid failed to close fully for one cycle and dumped a bunch of effluent into my sump.

After the effluent dumping issue, I removed the controller from the effluent line and simply have a peristaltic pump in it's place. What a difference. Totally stable now, I have not purged in 2 months. I did have to remove the check valve that I added on the input side. I plan to move my Masterflex to the input instead of the output at some point so the check valve would have been irrelevant anyway.

The only part of the original controller still in use on my unit is the CO2 being toggled by the float switch. At some point I plan to hook up my own external Clippard EV valve on the CO2 and remove the controller entirely. The float switch toggling a solenoid is all that is needed to make this an automatic reactor it seems.

I had planned on building my own auto purge system for my ACR, but after switching to a peristaltic pump, I no longer see a need for it.

Dennis
 

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Thanks @ReefEngineer for writing this up. I very much enjoy your Straton review thread.

I've been running the 8" stacked since July. It only took me about 2 weeks to receive it. I had no troubles reaching Bill. No problem setting it up on my 300G frag system.

There was a small leak at the Sicce volute connection. I then wisely overtightened it and cracked the volute. I keep a spare of every pump I have so replaced volute and (per Bill's advice) siliconed that connection with a little less torque.

Aside from the need to purge and replace media, it has been set/forget. I melt about 5-6 inches of mixed media each month. I get 70 dkh, sometimes higher. I need to purge every 8-10 days or so when my dkh reaches 7.7. A few days after purge my tank dkh peaks at about 8.3 and gradually falls back to 7.7. I will get around to automating that; I have a spare breakout.

Feed line is a T from my return. My tank return turnover is not very high and it is a long sump, but I guess you can't avoid some microbubbling.

As to noise, I would not run this in my living area. Solenoid sound is pretty clunky. Even the chopping bubbles would be annoying. So my display remains 2-part.
 

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Thanks @ReefEngineer for writing this up. I very much enjoy your Straton review thread.

I've been running the 8" stacked since July. It only took me about 2 weeks to receive it. I had no troubles reaching Bill. No problem setting it up on my 300G frag system.

There was a small leak at the Sicce volute connection. I then wisely overtightened it and cracked the volute. I keep a spare of every pump I have so replaced volute and (per Bill's advice) siliconed that connection with a little less torque.

Aside from the need to purge and replace media, it has been set/forget. I melt about 5-6 inches of mixed media each month. I get 70 dkh, sometimes higher. I need to purge every 8-10 days or so when my dkh reaches 7.7. A few days after purge my tank dkh peaks at about 8.3 and gradually falls back to 7.7. I will get around to automating that; I have a spare breakout.

Feed line is a T from my return. My tank return turnover is not very high and it is a long sump, but I guess you can't avoid some microbubbling.

As to noise, I would not run this in my living area. Solenoid sound is pretty clunky. Even the chopping bubbles would be annoying. So my display remains 2-part.
Thank you for the info, ScottB!
 
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Great review and thank you! A couple of questions, if you don’t mind:
1. How much media does it take?
2. You mentioned the "clunk" of the solenoid being loud. Is there any way you can post/send me the clip of the sound? This beast is going into my living room and I want to understand what I am in for. My aquarium is dialed in and is very quiet. I would like to keep it that way, but can tolerate occasional noise.

It seems like a very polarizing opinions on this piece of equipment and the company.
Sorry I didnt answer this before. It takes about 3 bags of Reborn, and about 3 bags of remag.

The clunk is loud enough to hear a room or two away. Best way around this would be to deliver effluent via a silent peristaltic pump instead of the solenoid.

My ACR worked well, but you are right there are various opinions on the company
 

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Super interesting thread. Thank you for all the information.

When looking at this and what I’ll call working out the bugs, do you all still feel this is worth the money vs a limped out Geo (AP regulator, masterflex feed)?

Money aside (although each option is t too far off) which would you chose if you had to do it again?

I want piece of mind but not sure if it’s worth being a “beta tester” and adopting something proprietary.
 

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Super interesting thread. Thank you for all the information.

When looking at this and what I’ll call working out the bugs, do you all still feel this is worth the money vs a limped out Geo (AP regulator, masterflex feed)?

Money aside (although each option is t too far off) which would you chose if you had to do it again?

I want piece of mind but not sure if it’s worth being a “beta tester” and adopting something proprietary.
I might be in the minority, but for whatever reason I have had no customer service issues. I called Bill and we talked. I ordered and it came two weeks later. Started with a small leak at the input flange but fixed that.

April will be a year of run time. So far so good. Once in a while it will start to drift down and I will purge the trapped air and add more media while I am at it.

I think for many it would be a good idea to keep a spare control module but it does not worry me; it would take me 2 minutes to just turn my APEX DOS back on if I had to wait for another one to get delivered under the lifetime warranty.
 

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My experience is following the same path as of now. I emailed today, response in an hour. After a few emails, he game me his number to call. Works for me.

I already have an AP regulator and a masterflex pump. Really trying to decide if it’s worth swapping things out. I hate dealing with inaccurate ph probes abd that’s worth a lot for me but I do t want to trade issues.

Hopefully he has upgraded the controller. My needs he has in stock so that’s also a huge plus lol.
 

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I am curious for those that have used this thing for a while whether you’re a net thumbs up or down? Would you recommend it if asked? A reefing friend of mine (who does not do social media .... hard to argue he’s wrong LOL) inquired of me.
 

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I am curious for those that have used this thing for a while whether you’re a net thumbs up or down? Would you recommend it if asked? A reefing friend of mine (who does not do social media .... hard to argue he’s wrong LOL) inquired of me.
My general question too, given the evolution of this and knowing that he worked out some bugs, would you still choose this again over the alternatives?
 

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I am curious for those that have used this thing for a while whether you’re a net thumbs up or down? Would you recommend it if asked? A reefing friend of mine (who does not do social media .... hard to argue he’s wrong LOL) inquired of me.

My general question too, given the evolution of this and knowing that he worked out some bugs, would you still choose this again over the alternatives?
It is really hard to say with conviction, honestly. From my own experience and circumstance the answer is "Yes". Aside from the Sicce input flange, the build and material construction is better than anything else I own right now*. The theory I also found attractive. The mechanicals are just so simple. Maybe I am just too sick of drifting pH probes.

Maybe I can boil it down to this: Bill has passion for building the ultimate tool. He continually iterates on the product -- like an Elon Musk company does. Chaotic genius with plusses and minuses. He ain't doing it for money, this is a fun side gig. I have no doubt on his passion and aptitude. On the flipside, the whole operation (as I understand it) is pretty much Bill. A guy with a > full time business to run. Maybe this has changed, but noise in the FB group doesn't point to that just yet. You should join to get some vibe. Also, there is some very good customer support there, similar to the APEX forum, but with FB noise. :(

I am fully hedged with solid dosing equipment that I understand well. So I can trade some operational risk for something that checks a lot of boxes for me.

So, I really cleared things up, right?

* OK, the new ATI Straton lights have me peeing my pants but they are not yet glowing and growing so have to reserve my enthusiasm for a while.
 
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