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Calcium reactor newbie question


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So I finally got all my stuff for my calcium reactor. I have the geo nano 510, carbon doser regulator and a maxi jet 1200 feed pump. So I've watched and looked at a few sites on how to get started and I think I did everything right. But I'm doing something wrong. I have my doser set on 10psi, have the dial on 8 bubbles per second, and have my drop into my sump at 1 per second. The problem is my ph in my reactor immediately starts to drop right when I plug the regulator in. I know u want it to be between 6.5 and 6.7. It goes below that so I unplug it and it creeps back up to my aquarium ph at 7.9. So what am I doing wrong and can anyone help please?

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Way too many bubbles per second and a very slow effluent rate is causing it.

 

Set bubbles at 1 per second or so and effluent a little faster than you have it. Maybe 2 drops per second. Monitor ph and go from there.

 

For a comparison, I have a 93 cube, geo 612, I'm at 1 bubble/second and effluent a very very fast drip, almost a stream but not quite. And my ph controller still shuts off the regulator every 15 min or so

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Are you sure that you are at bubbles-per-second? The dial is set-up as bubbles-per-minute.

 

I finally got my CaRx stabilized between 6.45 and 6.47 but it took me weeks and a little help from the forum here (Thanks PatO and Plantguy by the way).

 

For comparison sake, I have a Korallin C-1502, Carbondoser regulator, and maxijet 400 as a feed pump. I run my effluent at a pretty fast rate as well, quite possibly at the 2 drops per second speed. Low pressure side is set at 12 psi, and is running 6 bubbles-per-minute.

 

FWIW, with the bubble size/pressure at 12 psi it seems to break up into smaller bubbles that appear to be about 1 bubble-per-second by the time it reaches the bubble counter on the reactor. I also set my controller to shut off at 6.35, because, I did not want the constant on off cycling on the outlet or doser and have an email alarm set-up when it happens.

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Are you sure that you are at bubbles-per-second? The dial is set-up as bubbles-per-minute.

 

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Ah. That would make more sense to me. I was imagining at 8 bubbles a second, a stream of co2 in the counter. Lol. Basically an open valve. Mine is a super cheapo regulator with a needle valve that's very difficult to adjust. But it's about 1 per second.

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Ok so Yes I am a newbie, lol, I looked at the regulator and it says seconds per bubble, I turned it over to 1 on the dial and the red light comes on every second, so don't I want that at like every 8 seconds? I don't have a bubble counter because this geo reactor dosent have one. I sped my effluent rate up too 2 drops per second. I will c where it goes from here. I have my psi on 8 now also. Does all this seem right? Sorry for all the questions I'm just scared that I'm going to screw up and kill everything in my tank or melt my media in my reactor.

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Set your apex to shut off the reg at something below what you want like 6.3. Set bubble size to 12 or something high then set your bubble per minute at 10. Wait an hour or two until it stables at 7.5 pH or whatever, then adjust the bubbles per minute down to say 8 or 9. See where that gets you then start fine tuning from there a little at a time on bubble size or BPM.

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Ok trying that today, never would of thought it would've such a pain to set a calcium.reactof up. I dosed two part for years and was super simple. Maybe I'll finally get it all dialed in and it will be worth it in the long run.

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I didn't expect this much trouble either. I finally got my ph balanced within .02 sway for three days and alk climbed to 15 dkh. So slowed the effluent way down and had to adjust the bubble size and BPM down to compensate for the lower pH that happens. Now have it turned off and waiting for alk to drop back down to something like 10 dkh and hope it maintains that level when it gets turned back on. I test the Alk every morning and night also. Good luck

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Shouldn't mess with effluent. I'd adjust ph up in reactor (unplug solenoid for time being) but adjust ph in reactor up. Bump it up .2 or .3 and test every few days till its stable.

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So I finally got the ph stable in my reactor at 6.5, I have my psi at 6 and my effluent rate at 1 bubble per second. My alk jumped a point over night from 9 to 10. So how do I do now to keep my alk stable without it raising on me and to keep my ph stable in my reactor?

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Your Alk should go up overnight a little bit because corals are not using it until day light time. That sounds like a sweet spot to me. That is as long as it averages the 9 - 10 over the course of a few days. It is suggested to test Alk at the same time every time.

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I hope it's the sweet spot. I didn't know that about coral only consuming alk during daylight hours but it makes since. I do test at same time daily. One question is that I've always ran my alk between 8-9 training to keep it around natural seawater. Having it at 9-10 won't be a problem? If so how do I get it down to around 8?

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Most of what I have read says to keep Alk between 7 and 11. If you have an ULNS reef then maybe even 6. Personally, I shoot for middle group to compensate for testing variances (mine or the kits) and aim for 9 but don't sweat 8 or 10 at all. If you wanted to lower your Alk, all you have to is unplug the reactor for a few hours up to a day or so, depending on usage, and then adjust your Calcium level back to 420, or wherever you keep it, with Calcium Chloride or the Calcium part of 2 part supplements.

 

This link is extremely informative http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/11/chemistry

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