Installing my CA reactor... good bye 2part!

Discussion in 'Filters, Pumps, etc..' started by Thatgrimguy, Jun 15, 2012.

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  1. Thatgrimguy

    Thatgrimguy Flying Squid

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    Awesome!! I really do appreciate you sharing your experience! I know ya'll have had enough.

    FYI: I buy pretty much all of my dry goods online, from you!
     
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  3. Thatgrimguy

    Thatgrimguy Flying Squid

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    Ok, co2 on a pressure of 8lbs starting at say 15 bpm?


    Edit: I'm starting at 6 bpm then planning to bump 1 every hour till I get to 15 and then sleep on that and see what happens.


    I'm also planning on leaving my system dosing through the night. I'll cut it off when the ph has dropped. (if that happens before bed I'll cut it tonight.)
     
    Last edited: Jun 18, 2012
  4. Thatgrimguy

    Thatgrimguy Flying Squid

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    How fast should I expect or even want the PH to drop in the reactor?
     
  5. Thatgrimguy

    Thatgrimguy Flying Squid

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    Since I know a few said they were following, I'm going to update the first post with this as well, but here are the articles I have used to make my decisions. (along with many threads and a guy who really took some great lengths describing what to do and lead me directly to the pump I purchased)

    But here are the main articles.

    A Guide to Using Calcium Reactors by Simon Huntington - Reefkeeping.com - This is the best one I have found.
    Melevsreef.com - Calcium Reactor - Equally as good. Mark is very well regarded.
    Geo's Installation Guide - General enough to be good for most any reactor
    Acroholic's Guide - A different method, but he's very successful.
    Geo 818 by Reefkeeping.com - Could I be so lucky.... Reefkeeping.com did an article on my exact reactor!
    Cal/Alk Calculator - Randy Holmes Farley designed this very handy calculator.
     
    Last edited: Jun 19, 2012
  6. Thatgrimguy

    Thatgrimguy Flying Squid

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    Now the ph is only 7.48. About an hour ago I was reading through my posted articles and saw that Reefkeeping guy says he shoots for .1 drop in ph per minute and will run at 100bpm+ till it gets near where his target is, as it approaches he slows down. That makes sense, so I'm now greatly increasing my input. I cranked the bpm way up and the pressure up to 11lbs.
     
  7. Rawdogz

    Rawdogz Torch Coral

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  9. Thatgrimguy

    Thatgrimguy Flying Squid

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    Ok, seeing as my controller was going to keep it between 6.5 and 6.6 I went ahead and went to sleep last night.

    I had it turned up so high that I was over shooting the ph in the reactor to keep it stable. That's no big deal because it was only a few hours that it was bouncing.

    So today I will work on getting the ph stable in the reactor and start testing my alk levels every 12 hours.
     
  10. Thatgrimguy

    Thatgrimguy Flying Squid

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    Ok, I'm really having trouble keeping the PH down in the regulator... I am throwing like 3 bubbles a second at 15lbs of pressure and still the ph is rising?!?! any ideas?
     
  11. MarineDepot

    MarineDepot 3reef Sponsor

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    We recommend 10 bubbles per minute to start then adjust as needed. I just checked the pH on my calcium reactor and it takes my system about 2 hours for the pH to increase before the solenoid turns on.

    I have attached a screen capture of my Apex pH graph for the calcium reactor so you can get a general idea of the fluctuations.

    If you are having troubles keeping the pH down in your calcium reactor, you will need to reduce the drip rate of your effluent to keep more CO2 in the reactor or increase the bubble count to keep up.

    Dan
     

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  12. Thatgrimguy

    Thatgrimguy Flying Squid

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    I have decided to get fresh ph solutions, recalibrate, and double check before continuing.