chimera Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 I think my calcium reactor still needs optimising but its difficult to do with the driip rate being inconsistant. It is dripping about 2 per second (only way to keep it unclogged) and bubble rate is about 1 every 1-2 seconds. I've been monitoring water chemistry every 2 days over the past week. I havent been dosing anything (other than what the calcium reactor is adding) My Ca has remained stable at 410ppm in the last week but the kH is slowly declining, at around 0.5kH per day. If the Calcium reactor is optimised, is it also supposed to maintain kH as well? Or do the figures look around about right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 I could do with this info as I'm setting mine up at the moment. I was told 1 x drip per second and 2 x bubbles per second. What is recommended? have not done any testing until I can get the thing to settle down and work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 You can work out if it set correctly by testing the PH of the output. From memory it needs to be 6.4 but I really can't remember, there are plently of places on the net with the info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 The joys of tuning calcium reactors. Sell up and get some dosing pumps, it'll have it sorted in a day. But if you've got a soft spot for reactors, there's heaps of references here on tuning and drip rates, bubble counts etc: http://www.cnidarianreef.com/faq.cfm?FID=37 Layton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted June 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 yeah I just had a re-read of the reactor setup link i put in the sticky http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002- ... /index.php it basically says to measure the pH output and have it 6.5 - 6.7 (pretty close suphew!) it says to test for alkalinity as opposed to calcium and make sure its roughly stable in the tank. if its reducing, to up bubble rate and effluent output rate at roughly the same amount (because CR's are supposed to be a balanced Ca and kH addition) while maintaining the 6.5 pH. will try that i guess! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookie extreme Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 increase your co2 rate to around 2 bubbles per second (best is to aireate the effluent in a container with coral gravel and an air stone to degas some of the co2). this will / should keep your KH stable. and check if your drip water has the right Ph when it leaves the reactor as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 I was told 1 x drip per second and 2 x bubbles per second. What is recommended? This may be the problem mentioned in the other thread, of gas buildup, I think you have too much Co2 going in relative to water going through. You should start with 2 drops per second, and one bubble every 2 seconds. Leave a few hours & check all is OK. Once things running smoothly you can start tuning from there. Also I'm not sure which outlets you've tried but I think it will either be the black hose, or the thing with the red cap. In any case the water should be exiting from the very top of the reactor, so any gas buildup will exit out with the effluent, it should be impossible to get any more than a tiny bit of gas buildup in the reactor. And don't worry you have a fine reactor. Just figuring it out without instructions is hard but once you get there it will work sweet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 increase your co2 rate to around 2 bubbles per second (best is to aireate the effluent in a container with coral gravel and an air stone to degas some of the co2). this will / should keep your KH stable. and check if your drip water has the right Ph when it leaves the reactor as well. That will work. Also I think you may find that your calcium is slowly dropping, but this is harder to notice as KH drops proportionately more. Doing what Cookie says should solve this, but if all else fails just stick a bit of baking soda in the tank from time to time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted July 3, 2006 Report Share Posted July 3, 2006 Ok, update on my calcium reactor, Since i put a bigger inlet pump on my reactor my cal/kh have been perfect. KH of 11 and calcium of 420ppm. The media is disolving fast and will have to top it up. Note i dont have a standard calcium reactor so this will not work for other Reactors. Yahoo no additional cal/buffer to add every week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted July 3, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2006 yeah i've been reasonably happy with mine of recent too, still needs some tuning for alk, but ca is ok. i either need to upgrade the pump as well coz i shake it and CO2 bubbles rise through the media (either that or get some bigger media) the drip rate is relatively high otherwise it clogs up, otherwise levels are reasonably stable and corals are happy. i top up alk a little every now and then still but heaps better than before. Ca remains reaonably stable on 420. alk drops about 0.2 a day, sitting on 8 at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted July 3, 2006 Report Share Posted July 3, 2006 Good to hear, I knew it would come together in the end. To simple folks like me I just twiddle the knobs till the reactor is set about right, but for those who don't like dealing in anything "abstract" :lol: , or who enjoy mind numbing calculations :lol: , here is a reactor calculator. Not really necessary IMO, but interesting all the same. http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/reactor.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted July 3, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2006 yeah, same dude who does the ca, mg and alk calculator. the key (yet simple) things to remember are 1. CR's add balanced amounts of Ca and Alk and 2. when configured correctly they will simply maintain the right levels, not increase them. this obviously means, initially, you have to use dosing of some form to get the right level and the right balance of ca and alk then use the CR to maintain those levels. then, occasionally you have to ensure that the CR is keeping up with changes (corals grow, new ones get added, water changes alter levels etc) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted July 3, 2006 Report Share Posted July 3, 2006 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted July 3, 2006 Report Share Posted July 3, 2006 initially, you have to use dosing of some form to get the right level and the right balance of ca and alk then use the CR to maintain those levels. I dont know if I agree with this, there have been a number of times when mine has stopped working correctly, my bubble counter leaked, dripper clogged etc. I have just fixed it and a couple of days later the levels are all correct again. Maybe yours is just running close to maximum and is only able to maintain levels not inrease them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puttputt Posted July 3, 2006 Report Share Posted July 3, 2006 the calcium reactor certainly can build (increase) alkalinity very quickly, like suphew said, my drippers clogged at times and if your not quick enough alkalinity can plunge, but soon builds back up. I can't do the same with calcium though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted July 3, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2006 I dont know if I agree with this, there have been a number of times when mine has stopped working correctly, my bubble counter leaked, dripper clogged etc. I have just fixed it and a couple of days later the levels are all correct again. Maybe yours is just running close to maximum and is only able to maintain levels not inrease them You are misinterpreting my post. This is HOW you should be configuring your Calcium Reactor. If its increasing Alkalinity then you have not set it up properly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted July 4, 2006 Report Share Posted July 4, 2006 You are misinterpreting my post. This is HOW you should be configuring your Calcium Reactor. If its increasing Alkalinity then you have not set it up properly. No my point was, why do you need to dose? If your params are to low, turn the reactor up till you get to the level you want then slowly adjust it down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted July 4, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2006 No my point was, why do you need to dose? If your params are to low, turn the reactor up till you get to the level you want then slowly adjust it down because 1. it's quicker and more precise and 2. if you have unbalanced ca and kh, then a reactor wont bring one up higher than the other Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted July 4, 2006 Report Share Posted July 4, 2006 because 1. it's quicker and more precise and 2. if you have unbalanced ca and kh, then a reactor wont bring one up higher than the other how does the say go? bad things happen fast, good things take time. I prefer to make slow more stable changes and this also means I don't have to have the chemicals and dosing gear. 2 is a valid point but this just involves adjusting your reactor correctly, ie both bubble rate and drip rate and because the changes are slower the impact is less and can be adjusted for if they do swing to far out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted July 4, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2006 good excuse, but quickly doesnt mean immediately. i bring up alk 3 points over 3 days - i can control the levels via additives to get the exact target required. after this, the CR maintains those levels. based on experience, doing this with a CR is painful to say the least. if your CR is already "calibrated" to maintain levels, why adjust it to bring up those levels then go through that entire process again to get it to then maintain those levels? dumping in calcium chloride or baking soda is an efficient and practical method. you dont need dosing gear. you know we're both right, its just a matter of which method is more convenient - IMO dosing initially is alot more logical approach, plus for ongoing "topups" its much easier. as an aside, cracker doesnt use a CR at all, simply doses. he brings up his alk 3+ points in one hit every week (personally not my preference) but does he have any side effects? no. does he have a crap tank? far from it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted July 4, 2006 Report Share Posted July 4, 2006 you know we're both right, its just a matter of which method is more convenient - and I'd say dosing initially is alot more logical approach. Couldn't agree more. For me I don't want to have to buy and store the extra chemicals, plus I proberly have far lower CA and KH uptake in my tank. I can see the benifits in being able to just dose to correct levels but I'm lazy and would rather just turn up the reactor if I see my levels start to creep down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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