Ph controller question..

[mr. tuna]

I am getting a dual chamber cal reactor. I have heard that with dual reactors, the PH comes out a bit higher, but not hight enough. So if i were to get a PH controller, i heard that they lower the amount of C02 to get the pf stable... well, wouldnt that affect the amount of calcium that will then be in the water?

 

[attml]

Bascically PH controllers control the solinoid on your C02 bottle (which opens & shuts off C02 flow). The CO2 entering the reactor lowers the PH of the water which makes it acidic. The acidic water breaks down the reactor media which releases equal parts of Alk & CA back into the tank via the effluent drip. As the drip enters back into your tank/sump at a lower PH it causes the tank PH to drop. This is why a lot of people drip kalk (to bring the PH back up). A PH controller is PH tester with the added feature of being able to shut off your CO2 when your PH gets to a certain level which you choose. What most people who use a PH controller with their CA reactor do is have their effluent drip collect in a cup which then overflows into the sump. They put the probe for their PH controller in the cup so that it measures the effluent PH. Then they set their controller to shut off the C02 when the effluent PH gets down to a certain level. I have mine set to shut off my C02 when my effluent PH reaches 6.7 (as a safety precaution). If the PH in the reactor gets to 6.5 or below the reactor media turns to mush and causes big tank PH problems. At that point your reactor media has to be changed and the reactor cleaned (if it doesn't cause a tank crash!)
The red circled part is the controller portion of the the PH controller

 

[mr. tuna]

Thanks.
Could you please post pic of how you got it all set up?
Thanks

 

[mr. tuna]

If the PH in the reactor gets to 6.5 or below the reactor media turns to mush and causes big tank PH problems. At that point your reactor media has to be changed and the reactor cleaned (if it doesn't cause a tank crash!)
If i were to get a dual chamber cal reactor, and a PH moniyor and controller ( which i am), is it possible for my PH to come out that low?
Would i be able to set the monitor for like.. 8.0?

 

[attml]

Here are the pictures of my setup below The reactor comes already setup you just add the C02 and the reactor media (I use Carib Sea ARM)
Here is a shot of the CA reactor & C02 bottle with all the major parts labeled.
1. Reactor media in the reactor in the reactor chamber.
2. C02 Bottle.
3. C02 Solinoid.
4. Tank gas gauge (how much C02 in the tank).
5. Tank pressure gauge.
6. Bubble Window (C02 bubbles per minute entering the reactor (BPM) measured here).
7. Water from sump pumped into reactor by a MJ 1200 through this hose.
8. C02 enter reactor through this hose.
9. Circulation pump (circulates water in reactor chamber).
10. Needle valve (controls BPM -(how much C02 enters the reactor).
11. Effluent drip hose (CA & Alk enriched water enters bck in sump here)

 

[attml]

In the picture below you can see the effluent drip hose which is where the CA & ALK enriched water from the reactor enters back in the system. I have the effluent drip in a cup and the probe from my PH controller sits in that cup. I have it set so that if the PH of the effluent drip gets to 6.7 it turns off the C02 flow to the reactor until the PH rises back above 6.7. The cup overflows back into the sump.

The way that the controller actually physically works is that it hooks into the solinoid. The solinoid is a valve that is hooked into electrical power. If you loose power the valve shuts immediately so that the C02 flow is shut off. The PH controller has a special plug that hooks into power then the plug for the solinoid hooks into the controller plug. When the PH gets to down to where you want it to stop, the controller kills power to the solinoid plug which stops the C02 flow (hence controlling the C02 flow). In the picture below the big plug (#1) is the controller plug and (#2) is the power for the solinoid which is hooked into it.

 

[attml]

If i were to get a dual chamber cal reactor, and a PH moniyor and controller ( which i am), is it possible for my PH to come out that low?
Would i be able to set the monitor for like.. 8.0?
Your reactor output will be naturally lower than your tank PH and depending on how much C02 BMP you put in the reactor and how fast you set the effluent drip you could definitely get that low. The more C02 you add the lower the PH will be and the less drips per minute of the effluent drip the lower the PH will be. With a dual camber reactor it will come up higher in the effluent output but being able to set at 8.0 probably won't work because it is too high. The lower the PH in the reactor the faster the reactor media melts. If you have your reactor set to keep the PH too high it won't melt the media and you don't get enough CA & Alk in you output. It is just kind of like running water over crushed coral at that point.
Here is a thread on how a reactor works that might be helpful as well https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/128188/what-is-a-calcium-reactor

 

[mr. tuna]

Thanks alot!!! :yes:
But now i am hearing that i can maintain my cal and alk fine by dripping kalkwasser.

 

[chris17]

Not to butt in Tuna, but do you have to run a calcuim reactor and a kalk reactor?? (for sps that is) Or do you just run 1 or the other??

 

[attml]

There is no one way to do things in this hobby that is for sure! I have tried most methods out there. Kalk, dosing, reactors, etc. Because I run a SPS tank I like to have a 24/7 consistant supply of calcium and alkalinity. For me the best way that I found is to run a reactor. Dosing is expensive. With kalk I could never keep my alkalinity where I wanted so I settled on the reactor. Once you get a calcium reactor dialed in you get an ionically balanced supply of Alk & Ca. You also get trace elements like strontium, magnesium & potassium as one of the side effects of running a reactor. Plus, I like the fact that once you get it dialed in you only have to do minor tweaks here and there for 6 - 8 months with no additional costs. There are may ways to keep a reef tank and if you asked 100 people each one would tell you a different way. About 75 of them would probably work! In the end you have to find the best way that works for you!
Not to butt in Tuna, but do you have to run a calcuim reactor and a kalk reactor?? (for sps that is) Or do you just run 1 or the other??
You can get away with just a reactor for SPS as long as your PH doesn't drop too much. Dual chamber reactors help keep the tank PH up somewhat but it really depends on your situation. If your reactor begins to drop your tank PH Kalk might be needed. I use a $20 Kent drip system for my kalk not a kalk reactor.
Mark

 

[kpk]

Hey Mark, I am going to try and build a reactor and am kinda basing it on the Geo. Just wondering where the water comes into the reactor from? Also do you think I should build it like the Geo where the water is sucked from the top down to the pump and pumped up throught the skimmer? Could I make the bubble counter built in like they did?
Thanks,
Kyle