Calcium Reactor

[gods_angel77]

Hi Guys,

Need some help and advice here?

I have been using the reef manic calcium rector & secondry chamber for the past 4 months now.

Would like to share & find out more information on the tuning form the various reefers out there who have been using the similar combination.

Details of the reactor, media & setup are as follow.

Rowalith C 90% + ZEO Magnesium 10%.

Ph Controller Set At 6.36 (Probe Calibrate on 16 Dec 2005 Using Solution 7 & 4)

Drip rate is set at 1 drip per second.

Main Tank Size 4x2x2 & Sum Size 2.5x2.5X2 using DSB

MH 2 x 150 watts artic blue 2x 30 wattes

Water Perimeters of Main Tank last check on 141205 using Salifert Test Kits

PH:8.1

NO2: 0

NO3: 2-7

NH4: 0

PO4: 0

CA: 440

MG: 1290

Kh: 8-6 (This has been gradually dropping form initial of 10 to 6 now. not sure why??) Started to boost it up using Tropic Marine triple Buffer since 16 Dec 2005 the present reading measure today 10)

Sr:16

Specific Gravity: 1.024

Salinity: 33ppt

Chiller Set Temperature is 25-27 Deg C

Water change routine is once a month using tropic marine pro salt.

I dose Kalk once every week

Reactor Out Influent Perimeter are as follow measure on 18 Dec 2005

PH:6.7

CA: 440

KH: 30

Mg: 1290

From my understanding a calcium reactor would manage both CA & KH but strangely I don’t understand why my KH has stated to drop for the past one month

I believe most of us down here would sincerely appreciate any information, from experience reefers who are using calcium reactors on their set up,

[gods_angel77]

wow seem like not much people own a CR down here man

[blueheaven]

I'm not using the same configuration as yours as I do not have a secondary chamber but here's what I think.

There are many factors affecting the kH levels in your tank.

Other than calcification of corals, the growing of macroalgae or precipitation would also affect kH levels.

For macroalgae, uless you are growing them very aggresively, it should not impact kH that much and as for precipitation, look out for it in phosphate reactors or other parts of your tank.

Instead of trying to buff up kH using additives, buff it up to the desired level and set your CR higher.

[madmac]

wow seem like not much people own a CR down here man

Yes a CR does balance out Ca and Alk... theres no doubts about it.

Your imbalance Alk loss relative to your Ca means there are things going on in your tank that does not relate to balance uptake of calcification.

I believe its more due to acids, neutralizing your base(carbonates). Do your run a sandbed? It has been discussed that sandbeds "takes up" a great deal of alk, due to the weak acids that are present in there.

As BH has said, you can run your bubble count higher, it would maintain out your alk, but your Ca would also go higher.... or you could remove your sandbed... or you could simply continue dosing once a week to balance out the shortfall in the alk... I would find out the source of your alk uptake and deal with it.

[gods_angel77]

for the input, will be grateful for more information form reefer on CR effluent data such as Ca,Kh,Mg & Ph values and also main tank water perimeters.

[madmac]

In cases like this, there will be nothing wrong with the CR or the effluent it produces. Your pH is tied to the CO2 bubble count, the more BPS the lower the pH, the more Ca, CO3 it produces. It has nothing to do with precipitation of CaCO3, as both your alk and Ca will go down in balance, this is also the same for calcification of stoney corals.

GA, the general consensus is that for every lost of 20 ppm of Ca, you dKH drops by abt 2 dkh, if your Ca is 440, and you lose 20, its a very small fall, only 5% drop, not significant. but if your dKH is at 8 then it may be 6, a 25% diff. Above this, because of the low kH, your water will not be a good buffer, ie. pH will fluctuate wildly. You need to keep a close tab on kh. The CR then becomes a pain.

You need to balance the consumption of your tank, it is taking too much alk for comfort. Find the root cause, and it isn't your CR. After which your CR becomes a very useful device to have around.

[gods_angel77]

dear bh & madmac

update

After pushing up kh from 6 to 11 using tropic marine buffer I monitor the kh level.

I discovered now the kh is dropping 1kh daily it is now 8 kh already any idea why such a drastic drop? ph is stable around 8.1 to 8.2

Main tank perimerter measure today

Ph 8.2

no2 0

No3 5

Nh4 0

Po4 0

Ca 390

Kh 8

Mg 1290

Sg 1.024 salinity 32

Temp 25-27

Cr ph controller is set to 6.2 now

Effluent out data

Ph 6.4

Ca 600

Kh 43

Mg 1320

1 drip per sec