How to Push Calcium Reactor - need more ALK and Calcium

[chicago]

So I have a large system and my MRC calcium reactor is doing nicely.. at 20 ml/hr I get alk of about 38 DKH. At 30 ml/hr its around 26. I have found the 20 ml/hr to be the good point between pushing more water via less alk . I am wondering if I added an additional cylinder would that help things.. the unit all ready has the second stage to improve the ph coming out. I already supplement with two part dosing to meet the demands of the tank.. I can increase the dosing but really it would be great if I could get the needed alk calcium ect with my reactor.

 

[dank reefer]

At what PH rate are you melting your media?

 

[Fishfinder]

Increase the flow rate and increase your bubble count. What’s the reactor ph?

 

[Gablami]

If you’re only increasing your flow rate, it’s expected that the effluent alkalinity will decrease. You need to increase your bubble count as you increase your flow rate to keep the effluent alkalinity up.

 

[92Miata]

At 20ml/hr at 38 dkh you're getting 760 dkH*ml
At 30ml/hr at 26 dkh, your're getting 780 dkH*ml.


So, you're getting a little bit more - but not much. What that's telling you is that the your reactor is CO2 limited at this point - it can't dissolve any more media without getting more CO2.

 

[jda]

Increase the BOTH the flow and the bubble count at the same ratio that you are running it currently. This will keep your dKh output the same, but have more of it. Reactor pH does not matter, unless you are just curious.

 

[chicago]

Thanks guys. Follow up question. My ph controller controls the Bubbles amount. Count. My apex turns on and off depending on ph levels in reactor. I keep it at 6.4

 

[Fishfinder]

If you increase the flow it will raise the reactor ph. Then you can increase the Hubble count to lower the ph back to 6.4

 

[chicago]

Ok. I’ll try it again. When I cracked it up to 30 ml. The dkh went down. Will pump up to 40 and see what happens

 

[Fishfinder]

You have to add CO2 also

 

[chicago]

The apex will turn on when ph is above 6.45 and turns off when it hits 6.4. So in other words I do not increase the bubble count.

 

[Reefahholic]

The apex will turn on when ph is above 6.45 and turns off when it hits 6.4. So in other words I do not increase the bubble count.

Make sure you have an adequate amount of gas going into the reactor. Otherwise the set points mean nothing if you can't get there.

Sounds like you need to change your pH deviation too. You lower set point of 6.4 sounds like it's not enough for your system. Set it on at 6.35 and off at 6.40. Make sure you have a low enough dKH coming out. Test it before and after you make the change just so you can know where you're running at. I honestly find a deviation of 0.5 to be too tight and it cuts the reactor on/off/on/off/on/off. This is not good for the apex and dumps more CO2 in the tank and therefore lowers pH.

 

[chicago]

Thanks. Yep. Sounds like a plan.

 

[Reef - Tripp]

I only use the apex to shut off the co2 if it lowers the pH of the DT, I don't use it to control the pH of the reactor, configure as recommended by @jda and there are no problems

 

[Reefahholic]

Can you post the apex graph of your on/off and pH.

 

[Reef - Tripp]

Co2 solenoid in apex.

 

[Reefahholic]

Co2 solenoid in apex.

@ Reef - Tripp....Thanks but I meant the OP.

 

[billwill]

You're running really low PH, and really low effluent rate. But I missed the size of your system and your coral load. Bumping your effluent while maintaining your PH in the reactor (via higher co2 bubble count) will get you far more capacity. What I recommend is to supplement alk and calc to get up to the range you want, and then bump up your output per above and hold steady and measure for several days. If you're maintaining your setpoint, you've found your spot. If it's climbing, lower you're effluent and/or bubble count. If it's dropping, bump up a little more. In all cases, keep systematically fine tuning it until you find the sweet spot.

 

[chicago]

Morning gents.. thanks for the input.. I just check my apex and more.. I should have mentioned that I use a carbondoser.com to control the bubble count that is in controlled by the apex. I have bumped up the bubble count to make sure that when on it is pushing enough co2. I have changed the 20 mi/hr to 30. I am going to check it tomorrow and will report back on the ..hopefully .. success... the goal here is to do away with my two apart dosing that was supplementing the reactor.. thanks again all.

 

[jda]

The more that you push through a CaRx with a pH controller, the less efficient they get. The dump-and-stop nature puts more co2 down the line into the tank and less stays in the reactor... plus you waste time with the reactor having less, perfect, more co2 all the time. This can work OK when demand is low. If you want more output, then someday you will need to learn how to tune it without the pH probe and let it run 24/7 uninterrupted. If you want to know how, then there are some ramblings that resemble instructions in my signature. I will bow out since I don't recommend that anybody use a pH controller so I don't really have any other thoughts and I can let the people who do take over. Good luck.