- Joined
- Apr 28, 2015
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I am trying to set up a Ca reactor in a 200 gallon frag system from the beginning. Right now I do not have that many colonies on that. I was dosing about 25 mL of 2 part to keep the Ca2+ and Alk stable.
The Ca reactor system is:
SRO CR5000 9 inch Calcium reactor with about 20 Lb of media (Reef Octopus)
Body Size: 9in
Total Height: 22.8in
Media Capacity: 9.3 Liters \ 20-24lbs of corse media
Feeding pump: Cole-Parmer Masterflex 77301-21 (10-600 RPM)
CO2 injector: Electronic valve from aquariumplants.com
I have the peristaltic pump in the lowest speed using 17/24 tubes, that is about 30 mL/min
I am using the CO2 valve on about 1 bubble/ 4 seconds and keeping the pH regulated between 6.91 and 6.92 (this was the least amount of CO2 that would add Ca and Carbonate to my system, and the minimum bubbles/seconds that would reach the desired pH) the fine tuning of pH is measured by a BRS lab grade pH probe and controlled by Apex.
Now, even with the lowest settings for the pump, and the highest pH necessary for dissolving the media, I still get too much if the pH is kept at 6.92-6.93 the whole day. I decided to keep the pH at that level for only 12 hours /day (two 6 hours intervals, mostly during the day), and turn off the CO2 valve during the rest of the day. Are there any known problems setting up the calcium reactor system to work in intervals?
The Ca reactor system is:
SRO CR5000 9 inch Calcium reactor with about 20 Lb of media (Reef Octopus)
Body Size: 9in
Total Height: 22.8in
Media Capacity: 9.3 Liters \ 20-24lbs of corse media
Feeding pump: Cole-Parmer Masterflex 77301-21 (10-600 RPM)
CO2 injector: Electronic valve from aquariumplants.com
I have the peristaltic pump in the lowest speed using 17/24 tubes, that is about 30 mL/min
I am using the CO2 valve on about 1 bubble/ 4 seconds and keeping the pH regulated between 6.91 and 6.92 (this was the least amount of CO2 that would add Ca and Carbonate to my system, and the minimum bubbles/seconds that would reach the desired pH) the fine tuning of pH is measured by a BRS lab grade pH probe and controlled by Apex.
Now, even with the lowest settings for the pump, and the highest pH necessary for dissolving the media, I still get too much if the pH is kept at 6.92-6.93 the whole day. I decided to keep the pH at that level for only 12 hours /day (two 6 hours intervals, mostly during the day), and turn off the CO2 valve during the rest of the day. Are there any known problems setting up the calcium reactor system to work in intervals?