High Tide Aquatics

Calcium reactor, ok what do I need?

Currently doing a 2-part DIY dose, and I fricking hate it. Needing to be there every day to dose it out sucks. That and my baking soda alkalinity treatment seems to leave a white precipitation on the walls of my tank which I've told could be from dosing too quickly (1 drop a second is apparently too quickly) or too high a magnesium (see other post). Not to mention I'm dealing with algae problems that I just have this suspicion is coming from water quality issues. So brass tacks is I need to automate my system a bit for stability incase I forget something so what the hell do I need to get a calcium reactor off the ground equipment wise.

CO2 tank: I got a beefy big 20 pounder, empty, but I can fill it up when I get the stuff ready.
Reactor itself: Probably going to go DIY here, this way if it's too small I can always get a bigger one without feeling like I wasted money, I already have it to the point where a few more pieces of acrylic and it's ready to go.
Pump: what type of pump do you use to circulate the water through the reactor? I've heard pressure rated is needed, any recommendations? Low power? Low cost? Low flow?
Solinoid valve thingy: I'm guessing one off ebay will do fine, and this is a needed
pH Controller: Milwauke brand one fine? Something to keep the water from going crazy.
bubble counter: I guess this is to measure the bubbles going into the reactor so you have a way of counting the CO2 usage? Is this something that comes with the solinoid valve?
Anything I'm missing?

Also when measuring pH with the meter do you have a place to stick it into the reactor to measure the pH in there? Or do you measure it from the tank side?
 
I believe the pH controller needs the pH probe, which plugs into the reactor to measure pH in there... shooting co2 when needed.

for the pump, I've seen people use eheim and mag. My current one uses an Eheim.

Solenoid valve thingy: I believe is a needle valve and solenoid. Gen-X makes fairly cheap ones, I think you can find them on ebay.

I haven't put my co2 reactor together yet either =P it's just sitting in my cabinet.
 
You need a solenoid valve to dose the co2 into the reactor - I use a JBJ model (I hear there are issues with the Milwaukee ones in the short term). The better one to get is the one sold by Marine Depot - M3 - it's a little more expensive than the JBJ model.

The solenoid valve usually comes with a bubble counter it's not an extra.

You ideally want a pump to recirculate the water and co2. I would not use a Mag pump as it will lock up overtime. I use a K2R which uses a small Eheim pump (1058 I think).

The bubble counter tells you how much CO2 is being injected into the reactor - you need to dial in the co2 injection till you get the effluent (output of the reat around 6.7 (Shuran type media needs 6.3 to melt properly)

PH controller essentially tells the solenoid valve when to turn on and off according to the ph level in the main system. Milwaukee makes a nice controller. Be mindful that the solenoid uses a powerblock as does the the controller so that's two powerblocks that are tied (the solenoid power block plugs into the controller which in turn plugs into the wall) together (something to consider if your tank is up against the way as is the outlet).

Methinks you are overdosing the baking soda and it is precipitating out i.e. your wasting it. Check with Norm to see how he does it. I still does the smaller tank to some degree and probably dosing two to three ml every couple of days (alk solution i.e. baked baking soda).

Mike what are your water parameters in your affected tank?
 
[quote author=sfsuphysics link=topic=1867.msg17707#msg17707 date=1174509716]Not to mention I'm dealing with algae problems that I just have this suspicion is coming from water quality issues.[/quote]
That can happen with lower pH.

I dose my 2-part pretty quickly. Just dump 80ml in front of an MJ-mod before I leave for work. The alk makes a cloud that disperses within a couple seconds after I stop dumping.

Maybe get a dosing pump if you don't want to do it manually.

White ppt... you are using a salt that's high in Ca? Not IO, right? That could drive your alk down and cause the ppt, if I remember right.
 
Could be right about calcium being too high, I'm almost done with the oceanic bucket, think I'm going to go back to IO and just be done with.

However the last time I checked, a couple days ago, my calcium was 360ppm, my alk was 6.0, and couple days before that calcium was 330ppm, alk was 6.0, like the baking soda didn't do squat, except keep things level.
 
And to add to the precipitation issue, yeah, it royally mucks up my pumps, not to the point of destroying them, but it seems that the ceramic impellers get "fused" to the magnetic housing, they work until I shut down the pumps, when I start up they won't pop back on so I need to soak them in vinegar to remove the stuff.
 
Hi Mike
Good for you when I switched over to a reactor it was light night and day for me.I was very happly with the results .I'm running a KR2 reactor and it's just simple.Set and forget...almost. I 'm not sure if you really need a PH contoller (also need to clean probe and recal time to time)since mine doesn't turn off very offten. I do pipe the out of it into my Refugem just in case too much Co2 or you can pipe into skimmer and any exess Co2 will be expelled from there. I think it a must for any Reef. :)
O...20lb will go a long way since I have a 5lb and it's been over 1 1/2 yrs and its still 1/2 full.Also you need a check value and line that's Co2 safe.
Wayland
BTW: how's the red mille doing?
 
Thanks Wayland, The red Mille is doing fine, I meant to take pictures but all the brown crap on my acrylic got the better of me and I basically cursed a few four letter words and took a basic picture (on my other computer). It should do fine in my tank though.
 
Wayland,

Do you drip kalk in addition to your calcium reactor? Or does dripping it into the 'fuge seem to be enough? I have a KR2 as well, but haven't set it up yet, because I don't know if I feel like having to drip kalk to make up for the pH drop.
 
mike i am running in to the exact thing you are. i hate dosing my two part. i cant get my cal over 350 and alk over 4. i let it be for 1 day and cal went to 450 and alk to 1. lost more then a few nice colonies there. i am currently gathering peices for a cal reactor and right now i have the reactor but nothing else. where are good places to find this equipment.
Solinoid valve thingy
C02 tank
pH controller.

and once it's set up. how hard are these things to tune. i mean will i nuke every SPS in my tank trying to get my peramiters right?

chris
 
"Do you drip kalk in addition to your calcium reactor? "

I use Kalk in my top-off water. My Ph will get to 8.3 during the day, and 8.1 before the lights come on.

Chris & Mike - you can get the solenoid and controller used. On Ebay you can get the Milwaukee ph controller new, probably same for the solenoid. If you have an Aquacontroller you can utilize the controller function.

I have heard that he Milwaukee solenoids have a higher failure rate within the first year. The JBJ ones were better which is what I am using.
 
Eileen - for your topoff, do you drip it? I'm using a JBJ auto topoff right now, so it tends to just pump in a small amount at a time, rather than a drip. Is it safe to add kalk that way?
 
[quote author=sfsuphysics link=topic=1867.msg17720#msg17720 date=1174524355]
However the last time I checked, a couple days ago, my calcium was 360ppm, my alk was 6.0, and couple days before that calcium was 330ppm, alk was 6.0, like the baking soda didn't do squat, except keep things level.[/quote]

Way low on Ca and alk. Sounds like you're just not dosing enough. Your corals aren't upset with only 6dKH??

What's the system volume and your dosing rates?

You use this calculator, no?

http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chemcalc.html
 
[quote author=LordHelmet link=topic=1867.msg17736#msg17736 date=1174557495]i cant get my cal over 350 and alk over 4. i let it be for 1 day and cal went to 450 and alk to 1. lost more then a few nice colonies there.[/quote]

Ca went from 350 to 450 in one day? If it's 100gal system volume, that would take over a liter of the Ca part of the DIY 2-part.
 
Hmm... you guys are talking dKH and not meq, right?

Mike, if you have 6meq/l alk, that could explain the precipitation and how you can get only 350ppm Ca with Oceanic.
 
[quote author=Natterjak link=topic=1867.msg17746#msg17746 date=1174591331]
Eileen - for your topoff, do you drip it? I'm using a JBJ auto topoff right now, so it tends to just pump in a small amount at a time, rather than a drip. Is it safe to add kalk that way?
[/quote]

I use a Litermeter for daily top-off so there are small measured doses throughout the day.

I use a diy top-off via a Kalk-reactor (top-water to Kalk reactor to tank) on my smaller tank.

It really depends on how much your are topping off a day and how much kalk you're planning on adding. Kalk can help keep the balance of alk and calicium as well as keeping the ph up.
 
[quote author=Mr. Ugly link=topic=1867.msg17747#msg17747 date=1174591954]

Way low on Ca and alk. Sounds like you're just not dosing enough. Your corals aren't upset with only 6dKH??
[/quote]
Well, my corals aren't dying on me, they seem to be doing fine :D

What's the system volume and your dosing rates?

You use this calculator, no?

http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chemcalc.html
No I don't use that, I've used that before but that seems to indicate how much you use to bring a particular volume up in a static case, if I had to guess I'd say my system is sucking calcium & alk like crazy. I didn't dose yesterday due to work issues, and my calcium is now at 330ppm, and alk is at 5.0, I also ran out of DowFlake, this friday I might make a run down to Leslie's and get some hardening plus since I doubt I'll have my calcium reactor running by this weekend (maybe the week after next though because I have spring break).
My volume is anywhere from 100-120 gallons, the tank is 100g, and the sump/refugium/etc is 50g, but with rock and other stuff I probably say 120 is close. I just checked my dosing cups and it seems to be about 2 liquid cups, so that translates to approximately 500 mL per day of each part.

I am sure it's dKH though and not meq/l. My tank is all stony though, with 2 clams, that might have something to do about consumption, but unless it's my a) test kits gone bad or b) magnesium issues, I don't know why my tank is sucking calcium&alk like this, a drop of 1dKH in a day sound right? 30ppm calcium?

My pH is at 8.0-8.2 so that isn't too badly out of whack.
 
Mike, I'm guessing that you are way overdosing and getting precipitation leading to big swings in Ca and alk.

If you you went from 6dKH to 5dKH in one day, your dosage rate to keep up with consumption calculates to only about 80ml(which is how much I dose to my 72).

You'd dose ~500ml only to bring your dKH up from the current low to about 10, and you'd have to do that over several days at maybe 150ml/day to zero in on the right levels. No wonder you were talking about pH swings before. 500ml in one shot would do it.
 
Yeah, seems a bit odd - Randy's article recommends a dosage of 1 mL/gallon for high Ca demand (all SPS). This obviously would have to be adjusted a bit for each tank, but 500 mL versus 120 mL is about a 4x difference.
 
[quote author=Natterjak link=topic=1867.msg17746#msg17746 date=1174591331]
Eileen - for your topoff, do you drip it? I'm using a JBJ auto topoff right now, so it tends to just pump in a small amount at a time, rather than a drip. Is it safe to add kalk that way?
[/quote]

FWIW - This is exactly how I dose kalk - I add it to my topo off water using a DIY Kalk Mixer. No problems to date ..
 
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