Calcium Reactor owners, or those knowledgeable w/ CA Reactor

[ismvel]

Picked up Brad's calcium reactor this weekend. Now I have a question on PH controllers, I am completely ignorant when it comes to this peice of equipment, but Brad did mention that I need to have a PH controller to run this.

Anyone have any recommendation for a PH controller? What do you all use to run your calcium reactors?

ismael

[ErikH]

Alot of people use controllers for that kind of stuff. From the looks of that Avatar, you might want to look into one :) Profilux makes what looks to be a knockout product, although aquacontrollers and reefkeepers are favored as well. Some people have such large setups that they actually run a ph controller seperate for the CA reactor due logistics in the fish room. Depends on how much and how crazy you want to get. :)

[ismvel]

Thanks Erik...I better get rid of my avatar, that was my old tank in Missouri...135 gallon. :) But I have a 220 now, and that is on a stand that I made, no fish room as I built for the smaller one. Everything has to fit under the stand....

I don't really want to buy a controller for all the $$$ and then not use it for anything. I have heard where some folks buy a controller such as the reefkeeper or the Aqua Controllers and then end up not using it but for one or two smaller functions. For example, I believe Ace said he doesn't even use his controller but for two or three features.....and others I have heard say that these controllers are useless for lighting and stuff..

Although I did like the look of the Reefkeeper Extreme/Elite, whatever the new one is that is coming out in the near future....supposedly has everything you need for $470.

I will have to take a look at profilux....but like I mentioned don't feel like buying a 700 - 800 dollar unit if I am not going to be using it to its fullest extent.

[JeffCo]

If you just want the controller for a descent price, the milwaukee sms 122 works very well. I've used mine for about 4 years without any problems.

You don't "need" a PH controller to run the reactor, but it does make it much easier.

[Fish4life]

i run an sm 122 and have no regrets.

cheers,

kurt

[Bill S]

I don't run a controller on mine. I just adjust the bubble rate to one about every 2 seconds, and let it fly. Probably not the BEST way to do it, but it works, and I'm afraid to change it... BTW, I have an ACII and I don't use it for this.

[bronck83]

They make ones that only come with the pH probe and a pH controller if that is all you are interested in controlling. I think Milwaukee makes one for $99. I assume your guage set on your co2 tank already has an electronic solenoid?

[matt]

The way a ph controller is usually used on a calcium reactor is to control the ph of the effluent. An easy way is to stick the probe in a cup or tube and drip your effluent into that, letting it overflow into the sump. Some calcium reactors have a fancy port for a ph probe to go right in the reactor, but it's not necessary and honestly I never looked into it in the reactors I've made because it presents a possible leak point, and I really hate leaky equipment.

Anyhow, it works by activating a solenoid on your CO2 regulator, so that when the effluent ph drops below a certain level, it shuts off CO2 flow to the reactor. Then eventually the effluent ph rises, which turns on the solenoid and CO2 flows to the reactor again. It is a nice feature, but if you have a good way of controlling CO2 flow like a dwyer flowmeter, and a reliable way of controlling the reactor effluent drip rate, then you don't need one.

I've built lots of reactors and helped lots of people use them. IMO, the trick is to get good control of the CO2 flow and effluent rate. None of the typical regulator needle valves that I've seen work even close to as well as the dwyer flowmeter, i think it's model RMA151, but it's been a while so I'm not sure. It's the one with a flow rate of 5-100 CC/min if I remember, and it's about $40 from dwyer instruments.

For the effluent, I've had the best luck by far with a mini ball valve feeding the reactor off a tee on the return line, and a nice pinch valve like they use on medical drip bags on the output. In my experience, it requires some fiddling no matter what you do.

[Paul28]

Here is a link Dwyer Flowmeters also are very nice to have with protein skimmers http://www.dwyer-inst.com/htdocs/flow/SeriesRMPrice.cfm#CRA