Calcium Reactor questions.....

[zanemoseley]

Do you have to get a dosing pump attached to a bucket of RODI or what. They're expensive to start with and if you gotta buy a good doser like a litermeter thats another $200-300.
Also if you use a cal reactor to replace all evaporation water how could you also drip kalk, it was my impression from kip that cal reactors are good for keeping up alk and kalk is good for keeping up calcium. I seem to be having the opposite experience though, I dose about 12 gal of kalk (2 tsp per gallon) per week into my 75 and I still have to dose about 40ml of cal Bionic and 30ml of the alk Bionic.

 

[robchuck]

A Ca reactor recirculates tank water (either fed through a small pump or powerhead, a T from the return pump, or by suction).
A kalk reactor would be used in-line with a RO/DI topoff system fed by a doser.

 

[zanemoseley]

So with a cal reactor fresh water isn't added to the reactor, how do you regulate the flow of the disolved media into your tank then. Isn't the large pumps found on most cal reactors just for circulation inside the reactor?

 

[zanemoseley]

Ohh wait so do you regulate the release of disolved calcium by increasing or decreasing the CO2 flow?

 

[zanemoseley]

So by feeder pump you mean like a Litermeter or something? Damn that makes a cal reactor even more expensive.
Kip could you run a cal reactor without dripping kalk. If so would I have to keep dosing Bionic and if so which part.

 

[zanemoseley]

Ok I'm feeling a bit retarded, so you have a circulation pump and then a feeder pump that feeds water from the sump to the reactor and then the reactor drips back to the sump or what.

 

[attml]

If you have your CA Reactor set properly you should not have to dose Bionic. The CA reactor breaks down the media and releases equally balanced parts of CA & ALK. Where most folks get into trouble is when they start off with their levels not where they want them. A CA reactor is a maintain tool (not to be used to increase or decrease CA or ALK). You should get your CA to 400-450 and your ALK to 8-12dkh before you ever start your CA reactor. Once you have your CA & ALK where you want it start the reactor and monitor your CA & ALK daily. If your levels are dropping increase your bubble count a tiny bit each day until you stay at the same place. You may have to use Turbo Calcium & Pro DKH initially to get your levels where you want them but once the reactor is dialed in and the levels stay stable you should have to adjust it very little.
People drip Kalk because especially with single stage reactors the CO2 loweres the PH of the tank. The Kalk counters this.

 

[attml]

You have a powerhead that pulls water out of the tank or sump into the media chamber the you have small pump (like a mag 2) that circulates/mixes the tank water and the CO2 in the chamber through the media (this is how the media breaks down) then you have a small tube that the water that has been mixing in the chamber exits back to the tank/sump (this is your effluent drip)

 

[zanemoseley]

I may try to get a Geo reactor later this year to run on my 75. I've heard the design of the Geo reactor almost eliminates CO2 returning to the tank. I've heard of few people having problems with PH lowering. Why do some people use PH controllers along with a reactor, do they use it to turn the curculation and feeding pump on and off. I may just try to get away with using Bionic as long as possible but evenually I'm gonna be using a ton of it as my SPS's grow.

 

[golfish]

Some use the same pump to feed and circulate. I've setup a couple of those and didn't like them. I've been using a dual stage geo reactor for 3-4 years now. Its held up pretty good but your still going to get some CO2, might not be too bad for the smaller tank.
People use PH contollers to shut off the CO2 when the PH drops. With the Ca reactor and before I added the kalk reactor my ph ran well below 8.0 (old 150 gal sps tank) after adding the kalk reactor it ran 8.10-8.20...The new tanks running a lot higher.

 

[attml]

I run a Geo Reactor as well (single stage). At first I didn't need to use Kalk either. Over time my PH began to fall so the kalk became necessary. I use a Milwauke ph controller as a safety valve. I have the probe of the controller measure my effluent drip and I have the controller set to shut off my CO2 input if my effluent PH gets to 6.7. If your effluent PH (basically the PH of the water in the reactor chamber) gets to 6.5 or below the reactor media will melt and become useless and if not caught it will lower your tank PH causing it to crash. By using a controller and having it monitor the effluent drip it is a way of preventing potential disasters!