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Calcium reactors and how they work


skippy

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I use randy's 2 part with a dual dosing pump, I am pretty happy with it and dont do any maintenance on it at all ecxept for make the chemicals every 6-8 months. My brother doses the same a cracker manually 1-2 times per week. I tried this but noticed some bad reactions in my corals so prefer using the dosing pump

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I use randy's 2 part with a dual dosing pump, I am pretty happy with it and dont do any maintenance on it at all ecxept for make the chemicals every 6-8 months.

Same, i make up fresh batches every month. I found the dosing pumps to be a cheaper option for me.

I have always had problems with reactors, i could never get them set quite right so i went to the dosing pumps.

As a side note i am adding 250g (KH and CA) to 4ltr of water. Is there any reason why i can't add say 500g or 750g or 1000g to the 4ltr of water. It would then last longer which would be good.

At what point would i get a saturated solution.

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If you're using Randy's recipe #2, then the NaHCO3 (baking soda) solution of 297 grams in 4 litres in water is pretty much it's saturation point. You can't dissolve much more than that.

The standard calcium chloride solution (250 grams in 4 litres) is nowhere near saturation. Saturation is around 3.8kg (of dihydrate) per 4 litres of water.

I use a CaCl2 mix of 500 grams per 4 litres. Then instead of using the two part in a 1:1 ratio, I use it in a 2:1 (alk:calcium) ratio.

No reason why you can't go all the way to 14:1 Maybe watch when you're adding higher concentrations of CaCl2 solution it might cause localised precipitation? You'll notice a white cloud if it that happens, you want to avoid that.

Layton

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If you're using Randy's recipe #2, then the NaHCO3 (baking soda) solution of 297 grams in 4 litres in water is pretty much it's saturation point. You can't dissolve much more than that.

The standard calcium chloride solution (250 grams in 4 litres) is nowhere near saturation. Saturation is around 3.8kg (of dihydrate) per 4 litres of water.

I use a CaCl2 mix of 500 grams per 4 litres. Then instead of using the two part in a 1:1 ratio, I use it in a 2:1 (alk:calcium) ratio.

No reason why you can't go all the way to 14:1 Maybe watch when you're adding higher concentrations of CaCl2 solution it might cause localised precipitation? You'll notice a white cloud if it that happens, you want to avoid that.

Layton

Thanks, problem is my dosing pump adds the two at the same time.

How far do you think dosing pumps could suck/pump? 5+m :D

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How far do you think dosing pumps could suck/pump? 5+m

I dont really thing there is much of a limit (but I guess there must be at some point. Pies's dosing pump sucks the water right across his garage and through a wall. But this is all horizonal so there isn't really a head hight issue.

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I dont really thing there is much of a limit (but I guess there must be at some point. Pies's dosing pump sucks the water right across his garage and through a wall. But this is all horizonal so there isn't really a head hight issue.

Sweet, so pires would pump maybe 6 - 10 meters?

I won't have a head height issue either.

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