Geo 818/SMC415 Calcium Reactor Setup for my 240 Reef

[Toomnymods]

The Alkatronic itself doesn't have the ability to control the pH in the CaRx chamber. You will need to have another controller to do that part, but the Alkatronic can shutoff the effluent. I guess you could have the Alkatronic shutoff the CO2 solenoid if the dKH is higher than the range you desire, but doing that there will still be effluent going into the tank; UNLESS you have multiple BT sockets connected to the Alkatronic then you can control both the effluent and the CO2 solenoid.

I guess i shouldve explained my setup better. I have the electronic doser to control the bubblerate of the co2 which is shut on and off by the new style 2016 apex unit. Right now the effluent rate / volume is controlled by a gatevalve. It starts, stops and slows down continously which imo needs to be fixed. I cant stand my alk bouncing all over the place every day. What im wondering is can the alkatronic device control the speed of the effluent rate somehow? Or does it just monitor and add a little alk to keep the numbers more stable if needed?
Just unsure what this device is all capable of.
Thanks for your help
Probably will buy one next week

 

[Toomnymods]

I guess i shouldve explained my setup better. I have the electronic doser to control the bubblerate of the co2 which is shut on and off by the new style 2016 apex unit. Right now the effluent rate / volume is controlled by a gatevalve. It starts, stops and slows down continously which imo needs to be fixed. I cant stand my alk bouncing all over the place every day. What im wondering is can the alkatronic device control the speed of the effluent rate somehow? Or does it just monitor and add a little alk to keep the numbers more stable if needed?
Just unsure what this device is all capable of.
Thanks for your help
Probably will buy one next week

 

[mitch91175]

I guess i shouldve explained my setup better. I have the electronic doser to control the bubblerate of the co2 which is shut on and off by the new style 2016 apex unit. Right now the effluent rate / volume is controlled by a gatevalve. It starts, stops and slows down continously which imo needs to be fixed. I cant stand my alk bouncing all over the place every day. What im wondering is can the alkatronic device control the speed of the effluent rate somehow? Or does it just monitor and add a little alk to keep the numbers more stable if needed?
Just unsure what this device is all capable of.
Thanks for your help
Probably will buy one next week

It monitors and doses when the dKH is lower than your desired range as well as can shut off your feed pump and/or CO2 (if you need it to do both you will need 2 BT sockets or plug a strip into the socket and ONLY put the CO2 and feed pump outlets on it).

For me I rank my Alkatronic as one the the best purchases that I could have made for my tank. I do not think I would be able to have my CaRx setup without it. I am not as diligent about manually measuring so it definitely gives me a piece of mind about my tank.

Hopefully that clears up everything about the unit.

 

[Toomnymods]

It monitors and doses when the dKH is lower than your desired range as well as can shut off your feed pump and/or CO2 (if you need it to do both you will need 2 BT sockets or plug a strip into the socket and ONLY put the CO2 and feed pump outlets on it).

For me I rank my Alkatronic as one the the best purchases that I could have made for my tank. I do not think I would be able to have my CaRx setup without it. I am not as diligent about manually measuring so it definitely gives me a piece of mind about my tank.

Hopefully that clears up everything about the unit.

Thanks for the explanation i get kinda lazy also. I dont like doing tests, lol dont mind doing the maintenance but water tests have always annoyed me, lol

 

[scuzy]

I use a ghl kh director. I mainly use it as a monitor to check on my alk. I did get me masterflex on a spec variable poor and would like to adjust the effluent drip rate in the future but right now it's within my pH range in my reactor and I don't see a point n letting it control my setup. I feel having a monitor of the kh value is enough for me as my alk is between 8.6-8.2 throughout the day.

 

[JDtimk]

@mitch91175 I have recently started aerating my Cal Rx effluent in a container before returning it to the sump and it has helped scrub enough co2 to gain back almost 0.1 pH that was lost due to low pH of the effluent depressing the pH of the tank water. This has been a cheap, easy and reliable fix for me so far.

 

[mitch91175]

@mitch91175 I have recently started aerating my Cal Rx effluent in a container before returning it to the sump and it has helped scrub enough co2 to gain back almost 0.1 pH that was lost due to low pH of the effluent depressing the pH of the tank water. This has been a cheap, easy and reliable fix for me so far.

Any pics of your setup?

 

[JDtimk]

Any pics of your setup?

I am not home atm, but it is set up as follows.
The needle valve that controls the drip rate out of the secondary reactor chamber that would normally flow directly into the sump is instead dripped into an open top plastic container that holds about a half a liter. In the container is an airstone run by a small air pump. I just use inside air, but you could use fresh air from an outside line if you wanted to, but I don't know how much extra co2 you would displace.
The container that holds the effluent has a 1/4" ro fitting screwed into the side about two inches down from the top. A short length of 1/4" ro tubing runs from the fitting to about an inch above the water level in the sump.
The container is just overflow with no control on the rate of drip. The drip rate is set at the needle valve coming out of the secondary reactor chamber. When the level of the overflow is reached the cal rx solution just drips out through the ro tubing into the sump.

 

[Sherman]

I not sure I did something wrong.
Everytime I top up reagent after mixing according to recomended
880 ml of RODI with 200 ml of reagent .
The next few DKH reading by alkatronic is higher then before.

 

[Daniel Poh]

I not sure I did something wrong.
Everytime I top up reagent after mixing according to recomended
880 ml of RODI with 200 ml of reagent .
The next few DKH reading by alkatronic is higher then before.

It is supposed to be 800ml to 200ml reagent

 

[Sherman]

It is supposed to be 800ml to 200ml reagent

Oop sori typo error.
Ya 800 ml of RODI

 

[mitch91175]

It's been a minute since posting. Since getting the CaRx setup, I literally do not worry about parameters anymore; specially dKH, MAG, CAL. I test every now and then, but nothing to be worried about. Getting decent growth. Started everything with a lot of frags and a few mini-colonies. Haven't lost really much out of the 60+ sps and 50+ zoas that are in the tank.

I have been removing asterina snails as I see them, but not too concerned. The Geo and Alkatronic have been a life saver. I am interested in the Dosetronic though. I want to see if I can use it for the Red Sea program. I know they have it compatible with Triton.

 

[mitch91175]

So I've been experimenting lately with my setup and think I have settled on how I want it to run for the next couple months at least. From reviewing the Alkatronic measurements, I noticed I wasn't getting much consumption at night so I installed a smart outlet and have the BT adapter plugged into it. The smart outlet turns off the Kameor at midnight and back on at 6AM. Getting a decent consistent dKH over the last couple days so I'll see how it goes.

Also noticed I am getting a slight bump in pH at night by turning off the CaRx.

 

[mitch91175]

Also noticed I am getting a slight bump in pH at night by turning off the CaRx.

 

[JDtimk]

@mitch91175

I like it. That is an interesting approach to managing the daily swing in alk based on when the coral is consuming alk.

I also noticed the same pattern of alk consumption over a 24 hour period and the approach I took was to adjust the ph in the cal rx but to keep the flow steady out of the reactor. I used virtual outlets through Apex to set a condition on when the co2 solenoid is turned on and off based on the time of day. I am using a higher pH parameter for nighttime and a normal pH range for daytime.

I have been using that set up for a while, but I made some other changes to my set up so I am still evaluating how it is working. I am running a constant stream of effluent and am using a 10" water filtration canister with 1/4" push fittings with a 5 micron filter before my needle valve to keep the stream constant by preventing clogs in the valve. So far so good for the past 3 days no adjustments to the needle valve.

CO2 solenoid outlet:

Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Output CaRxNorm = ON Then ON
If Output CaRxHigh = ON Then ON

Virtual outlet for CaRxNorm pH:

If Cal_pH > 6.53 Then ON
If Cal_pH < 6.50 Then OFF
If Time 01:30 to 13:29 Then OFF

Virtual outlet for CaRxHigh pH:

If Cal_pH > 6.63 Then ON
If Cal_pH < 6.60 Then OFF
If Time 13:30 to 01:29 Then OFF

 

[mitch91175]

@mitch91175

I like it. That is an interesting approach to managing the daily swing in alk based on when the coral is consuming alk.

I also noticed the same pattern of alk consumption over a 24 hour period and the approach I took was to adjust the ph in the cal rx but to keep the flow steady out of the reactor. I used virtual outlets through Apex to set a condition on when the co2 solenoid is turned on and off based on the time of day. I am using a higher pH parameter for nighttime and a normal pH range for daytime.

I have been using that set up for a while, but I made some other changes to my set up so I am still evaluating how it is working. I am running a constant stream of effluent and am using a 10" water filtration canister with 1/4" push fittings with a 5 micron filter before my needle valve to keep the stream constant by preventing clogs in the valve. So far so good for the past 3 days no adjustments to the needle valve.

CO2 solenoid outlet:

Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Output CaRxNorm = ON Then ON
If Output CaRxHigh = ON Then ON

Virtual outlet for CaRxNorm pH:

If Cal_pH > 6.53 Then ON
If Cal_pH < 6.50 Then OFF
If Time 01:30 to 13:29 Then OFF

Virtual outlet for CaRxHigh pH:

If Cal_pH > 6.63 Then ON
If Cal_pH < 6.60 Then OFF
If Time 13:30 to 01:29 Then OFF

What kind of pump are you using to feed/pull from the reactor? I like your approach as well adjusting the pH in the reactor during a certain time frame .

How quickly does the pH in the reactor change when it has to be adjusted?

 

[mitch91175]

Here are some quick videos I took the other day:

 

[JDtimk]

What kind of pump are you using to feed/pull from the reactor? I like your approach as well adjusting the pH in the reactor during a certain time frame .

How quickly does the pH in the reactor change when it has to be adjusted?

Super low tech pump. lol, I am using a nano type pump fitted with a 1/4" push connect to push through the reactor.

The pH in the reactor changes almost immediately when it makes the transition twice a day. No more than a minute to come down to the lower pH from the high pH setting. At first when I made the change to that strategy I wondered if the reactor would struggle to regain the lower pH, but it doesn't at all.

Funny thing is I had been struggling with an inconsistent effluent rate and decided to pull the trigger on a Kamoer peristaltic pump, same one you have. But the vendor I order from listed them as in stock, but after a week of no shipping updates I found out they were out of stock with no estimated date of when they would be back in stock.

So I cancelled the order and decided I would try running my output from my CalRx into a 10" filter canister with a 5 micron sediment filter and then from their into my needle valve. The output of the needle valve goes to a secondary reaction chamber to raise pH and the output from that drips into an open container with an airstone to blow off more co2 before dripping back into the sump.

So far it's been working well. I used to have to adjust the flow rate at least every day if not two or three times a day sometimes, just to maintain the same drip rate. Now I haven't adjusted the flow rate in 3 days, so I will just have to see if the filter maintains it's flow for a reasonable amount of time. I am hoping to not have to change it out for months.

 

[mitch91175]

Super low tech pump. lol, I am using a nano type pump fitted with a 1/4" push connect to push through the reactor.

The pH in the reactor changes almost immediately when it makes the transition twice a day. No more than a minute to come down to the lower pH from the high pH setting. At first when I made the change to that strategy I wondered if the reactor would struggle to regain the lower pH, but it doesn't at all.

Funny thing is I had been struggling with an inconsistent effluent rate and decided to pull the trigger on a Kamoer peristaltic pump, same one you have. But the vendor I order from listed them as in stock, but after a week of no shipping updates I found out they were out of stock with no estimated date of when they would be back in stock.

So I cancelled the order and decided I would try running my output from my CalRx into a 10" filter canister with a 5 micron sediment filter and then from their into my needle valve. The output of the needle valve goes to a secondary reaction chamber to raise pH and the output from that drips into an open container with an airstone to blow off more co2 before dripping back into the sump.

So far it's been working well. I used to have to adjust the flow rate at least every day if not two or three times a day sometimes, just to maintain the same drip rate. Now I haven't adjusted the flow rate in 3 days, so I will just have to see if the filter maintains it's flow for a reasonable amount of time. I am hoping to not have to change it out for months.

Hey that's the plan when using a calcium reactor. Set it a forget it for a while. Good luck Sure everything will workout for us all.

 

[JDtimk]

Yep same. If the filter doesn't work out for keeping my flow rate steady, do you still recommend the Kamoer pump, because that is the route I will go next.