Calcium reactor setup?

[TAXMAN]

Ok. I need your help. I have to start this calcium reactor that came with the 180 I just set up. All I have in the tank is 100lbs of crushed coral. The current test as of tonight is 270 on calcium. I have to get this up of course. I dosed Calcium by SeaChem and started the reactor.

I need to know the volume/amount of solution to drip into the tank. And what the setting is for the Co2 Bubble chamber. I can raise it quickly, I am assuming. Since I do not yet have anything in the tank that could be harmed. So a fast raise is ok for me if it is possible. So just let me know if I can raise the Ca quickly and either way, I need to know how to set this reactor up.

SG, Alk and PH are good.

Thanks
Johnny

[eleyan]

I haven't got arround to setting up mine yet, but I've been reading about the optimal flow rate. What I've heard is that for the water flow rate you should use 13GPH. I'm not sure how this looks stream wise, but I was thinking of using a small 1G container to adjust the rate so that it fills in 1/13 of an hour (about 4-5 min).
for CO2 flow the guys at aquatek told me to use beween 1 bubble/sec to 1 bubble/2sec. Your PH of your effluent should be arround 6.5-6.6. If you increase your co2 then you would get lower PH and more Ca, but your PH in the tank migh also drop. Best thing is to start with the default setup of 13GPH & 1 bubble/2 sec and monitor your PH in your main tank. If it looks stable you can increase your CO2 rate or yout flow rate or both and keep monitoring the tanks PH.

[matt]

If you hunt around a bit, you can find a previous thread where I explained in detail how to "dial in" a reactor. There's also an article that's bookmarked in that thread. Basically, you should not try to raise your calcium that much with the reactor; use calcium chloride and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) to bring up the calcium and carbonate. Use a salifert test kit to measure your ca and dkh levels; some other kits vary wildly.

The "bubbles/sec" measurement is kind of useless as an absolute, because bubbles are different sizes. You can use it as a comparison, though, and you use a ph probe to test effluent ph. That's how you set your CO2. 6.5 is a very low reactor ph; I'd go more like 6.7; depends on what kind of media you're using. ARM can run at a slightly higher ph than crushed coral as a reactor media. As far as effluent flow; I have no idea what 13gph is, or how eleyan got that number. You can start with a steady drip, like a drop or two every second. Try to find that previous thread, it'll explain the whole thing. Of course, this all depends on how big your reactor is, what kind of calcium drain you have, etc.

BTW, if you're setting up a reef tank, I'd strongly suggest removing the crushed coral substrate from the tank. Use a fine grain sand instead, like Southdown or Pure Caribbean. There are all sort sof reasons for this.

[TAXMAN]

Ok. Thanks for the info. I'll look for the thread.

And why should I remove the Crushed coral bed? It is Aragonite with some shells in it. And it is going to be a reef tank. I am going to add some sand to the bed. I used the coral to take up more space. I didnt want to have to buy 300lbs of sand. This way I can get about 80 lbs and add it. I will also have 80lbs of live sand from my 58 that is going into my fuge.

[TAXMAN]

Ok. I found and read the thread. I noticed the part about dripping the efluent through the air before it gets to the sump water. Mine is already set up like this. I guess this is better? Also I guess my reactor is a pretty good size. It was made custom for this tank, by the guy that built the tank. I will continue to play with it, and it appears that I need to check the ph of the efluent to help set the Co2.

[eleyan]

matt, thanks for clarifing the flowrate for me. I got the 13GPH number from a DIY article on the animalnetwork.com that seems to be gone now.

[matt]

The main reason to remove the crushed coral is that sand bed animals that process detritus and produce larvae, like bristleworms, cannot live in crushed coral. Mixing it in with your sand will probably render your sand bed fairly useless, except as a detritus trap.

But, look on the bright side. You can probably find 300lbs of southdown for $50-$60, and you can use the crushed coral as reactor media. ARM is at least $20 a gallon.

[matt]

I just did some readings on my reactor, and I thought this would be a good place to post them. Current readings are: effluent ph 6.8, effluent dkh 26.2, tank ph 8.3, tank dkh 9.1. This basically means I can raise the effluent flow a bit to bump my dkh, but since I'm happy with 9.1 dkh, I'm going to leave it alone. Effluent flow is about 30ml/min.

The best adjustment is with really high effluent dkh, at a slower flow. IOW, if I had 60ml/min at 13dkh, I'd be theoretically putting the same amount of carbonate into my tank, but in reality less would stay in the tank, because some of it would be spent neutralizing the low ph of the effluent. Make sense? The "holy grail" of reactor set ups is to produce a very high dkh effluent at a reasonable ph. I'm VERY happy with 26 dkh at 6.8 ph. I guess the upflow modification to my reactor is working.

[TAXMAN]

Ok. that helps. I have already added sand to my crushed coral bed. I have added 100lbs of sand to it. So I hope it works for me. I will also check my #'s on the effluent. But this is pretty much useless until I get my load into the tank. Maybe this week. I have to get the Ca up 1st. I am doseing with Turbo Ca to get it raised.