dialing in ca reactor question

I am running it in rodi water... original levels were kh 1 and ca 0ppm

18 hours later levels read kh 8 and ca 300ppm

Can i get a heads up on what I should expect to happen with my tank params when i put it in the sump?

 

bump

 

You have a Ca Reactor and using it in your make up F/W ????

 

I think he is just testing it to see how it performs before he installs it...At least thats how i read it

 

no just testing it out...

 

First thing you want to do is get your calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium at the right levels, and then set up your calcium reactor. Calcium reactors will only maintain your current levels, it will not raise them.

 

Simply set it up are you using a PH controller or simply doing the bubble count route ? Simplest way I have ever found to set any of them up after all they are all the same from the smallest to the largest the only difference is the amount of media they hold . But set the effluent rate at 1.5 qts per Hr and bubbles at about 32 Per min. and allow it to run about a week and you should be about dead on . I have set up and or ran them all and I have never found a need to raise or mess with any levels myself the reactor does it .

I just had one guy here and a guy from another board to call and or e/m me that they applied this method and theirs dialed right in . One was using my reactor style and one was a reactor he had used and put away because he could not dial it in per the instructions that came with it .

There is a string on here from last Fall a guy had the same issues with his GEO reactor I told him toss the booklet out and try this he did and he had it dead on in about 2 weeks .
Reactors are slow to respond to any changes I base what I suggest on having ran about every model on the market at some pint in time and up till I shattered my leg I had 7 different types and brands going at once on several grow out systems at the shop .

I dialed them al in the same way as mentioned above and all the propagation systems where going full bore for close to 2 yrs then in my absence the guys tried to revert back to the booklets instructions for each model and lost about 12,000 corals frags and entire mother colonies of varying size

But again its no need to dose and buffer up your system as you can see and I can tell by the elevation of the R/O water you are on the correct track and you see what the reactor has kicked those water parameters . But every little tweak or setting change takes about 7 full days to tell the truth as to the way the changes will go .

 

Who told you that bunch of hogwash ? if you are running a reactor go test your parameters now and if you are employing a Ph controllers ? turn it down a couple of PH points if you are using a bubble count ? then increase the bubbles by say 5 and turn up the CO2 and tell me next week what the levels are setting at .

 

Sounded unusual to me too, so I took it as "won't affect the balance between alk and calcium"....

 

I think you may be correct , Most labor under the concept that a Ca. reactor is for ca ? actualy they are more of a Carbonate reactor , The Ca increase is simply a happy and needed byproduct of increasing the carbonates . Increase the CO2 to far and the DKH will shoot up over the Ca and decrease the CO2 the DKH will fall off as will the ca levels .. Its that happy sweet spot we search for . I myself use less CO2 to keep a lower internal PH and run a slower effluent that way I get total saturation with a controller set at 6.9 and or about 32 BPM count and the lower slow effluents simply keeps the CO2 from messing up the systems Ph .
I know I can make any reactor send the DKH and or Ca on some huge and rapid increases if need be