Again let the pump run until it evacuates all the air out ofthe reactor, you can pick the reactor up and gently ‘bump’ it down to dislodgeany trapped air in the media. You canlook inside the reactor at the very top and see if any air is trappedinside. If there is no air trappedinside your ready to proceed with setup, if it still has air, keep #1 openfully until all air is evacuated.
To setup the reactor initially we need to set a drip ratefor the effluent out of the reactor and into the drip cup. We do this by closing both #1 and #2 gatevalves and then opening #2 very slowly until the output into the drip cupstarts to drip at a rate of about 40 drips/min. When you get the drip into the cup set at about 40 drips/min you’reready to start adding CO2 to the reactor and start making some Ca and Alk forthat beautiful reef tank you got up there.
To start off your CO2 bottle should be closed and theregulator is attached and tightened (with the nylon washer installed) andneedle valve closed. Slowly open themain valve on the bottle and watch the gauge on the left side of the reactor(this is the bottle pressure) it should, depending on the temp of the bottle,read between 900 and 1100 psi and the right hand side should still be on 0(because you haven’t screwed the regulator knob in any further then justtouching right?) At this time you canplug in the solenoid if you have not done so yet.
Now you want to slowly screw the regulator adjustment knobin until the right hand gauge (working pressure) starts to climb up. Set it at 15 psi for now. The regulator may make some humming noiseuntil it gets settled in (about 1-3 minuets) with a 15 psi working reading onthe right hand gauge slowly open the needle valve a little at the time untilyou see a bubble in the bubble counter. You want to adjust for about 10 bubbles/min to start off.
Now you should have the reactor fully setup andoperational. The effluent drip should beabout 40 drips/min and the CO2 at 10 bubbles/min. Give the reactor an hour to settle in withthe new settings and get the CO2 levels inside the reactor stabilized.
After an hour dump out your effluent drip cup and prepare tostart testing. While the drip cup fillsup get your tank readings and record them on the sheet. Test the PH and the dKH of the tank. Right down the effluent drips/min and the CO2bubbles/min as well. By the time youfinish testing the tank water the effluent cup should be full again. Take a sample of the water from it andmeasure the dKH, and place your PH probe in it and test the PH as well.
The PH should be between 6.5 and 7.0 and the dKH should beabove 25. If you are at these levelsyour good to go on the reactor if not here is what you need to do:
If PH is low, you need to either up the effluent DPM(drips/min), or decrease the CO2 BPM (bubbles/min). At this time with thereactor being new to the system its best to lower the CO2 into the reactorrather then upping the DPM.
If your dKH is not above 25 then your not getting enough CO2into the reactor and you need to up the CO2 BMP. Depending on your media in the reactor itshould be about 30-50 dKH.
Now that you have that all set its time to start dailytesting of the tank to set the reactor to the demands of the system.
During the testing and setting up of the tank DO NOT addanything to the tank other then top off water daily. Doing so can throw off the tests and give youa false reading and prolong the reactor setup.
Test the dKH of the tank daily at about the same time everyday (I myself do it twice a day when I’m setting up a new reactor). Write down the dKH level of the tank on thesetup sheet. If you notice that your dKHlevel is dropping from one day to the next you need to increase the amount ofCa/Alk the reactor is adding to the system by increasing the effluent DPM andupping the CO2 BPM to keep the effluent dKH above 25. This usually takes a week or two to set dependingon the tanks demands and how much you have to adjust daily.
After you get the reactor adjusted to the point that yourdKH remains constant from one day to the next there are a few things you can donow. Your dKH should be between 8 and 13at this time depending on your system. If it’s lower then you’d like you can increase the DPM and BPM to bringthe dKH of the tank up but do so slowly, not more then 1 dKH per week. If your dKH is at a level your happy with(and it should be) you now need to test Ca and see what its levels are at. The preferred levels are between 350 and 450ppm with most people preferring around 410 ppm. If your levels are low use ‘Turbo Ca’ to bring the Ca level up todesired levels. Do NOT use a 2 partbuffer or anything that is going to boost dKH when doing so. You only want to add a Ca booster. If you have a 2 part buffer only use the Caboosting part on the tank to bring up Ca ONLY.
With your Ca levels at the desired settings you need torecheck your dKH of the tank and make sure its still stabilized from day today. If it is, its time to sit back andwatch your reactor take care of your tank while you enjoy watching rather thendosing. If your dKH drops after addingthe Ca then you need to up your DPM and BMP again to keep it constant and thentest Ca again.
If you find your having a hard time keeping Ca levels up butyour dKH is remaining constant then your system most likely is low on Magnesiumand needs to be supplemented. Irecommend you test your levels before you add anything. (this goes for anythingyou dose, NEVER dose something to your tank that you haven’t tested for oranything your not able to test for)
You’ll notice that after a few months pass by the media inthe reactor has dissolved and its level in the reactor has dropped down. This is how it’s supposed to work and is ok,but if you let it drop to low it can start to lessen the output of the reactorto the tank. You can tell this with yourweekly testing of the water and you’ll start to notice a slight drop in dKH asweeks go by, this is an indication that you need to refill the medialevels. It’s recommended that you change100% of the media (empty the entire reactor and throw the media out and replaceall of it with new) twice per year. Myself I use my testing to determine when the media has lost itsusefulness. When it gets depleted itwill start to drop dKH levels in the effluent and that’s when you need tochange the media out 100%.
Sorry that this is so long but after you get the hang of it,setting up a reactor is very simple and one of the best additions to a tank tomake it more automated and less time consuming for maintenance.
After you have your reactor properly adjusted to your systemit should not require further adjustments other then an occasional adjustmentto up/down its output in correspondence with your tanks needs. If you add new corals or clams to your tank,your reactor is going to need an upward adjustment. As time goes by and corals clams andcoralline algae grow it requires more demand from your reactor and will requirean upward adjustment as well.
Keep in mind that any adjustments to the reactor need to bedone in a balanced proportion with the effluent drips and the CO2 bubbles, theywork hand and hand together to provide the proper output of the reactoreffluents dKH and PH. I hope you foundthis write up helpful in the installation and setup of your Koralline CaReactor.
kc
A.K.A. Dragon_Slayer"
