Calcium Reactor Adjustment Questions

[Catastrofe]

Well, after spending a small fortune on 2-part I decided to install a Ca reactor. I went with a GEO 612 based on quality, price, availability, etc.

I've had it up and running for just over a week now, and I couldn't be happier. I was dosing 90ml daily of 2-part and I can't tell you how nice it is not to worry about missing a day or going on vacation.

I've got the unit dialed in so that my Alk is steady at 8.3dkh and Ca is at 470. Unfortunately I've also experienced the dreaded PH drop. Prior to the reactor, evening PH was around 8.2. Now, evening PH is around 8.04 with a low of 7.8 early a.m.

Here are my questions:

Should I be concerned that Alk is slightly above the 8.0 ZEO recommended maximum?

What about Ca? Is 470 too high?

If I need to reduce both levels, what's the best way? Increasing the effluent rate or decreasing bubble count?

What should/can I do (if anything) about the PH? I've had the effluent dripping into my Chaetomorpha with the hope that the excess CO2 would be utilized by the macro but it doesn't seem to have an effect. I've also tried placing the effluent hose near my skimmer input (ER CS8-1). That seemed to provide a slight increase in PH but not the levels I had pre-reactor.

Any help/comments would be appreciated!

[GTR]

I'd decrease the bubble count which will reduce consumption of the co2 and maybe boost pH. You could increase the effulent but that offers no savings.

I drip the effluent about 12" down onto one of the overflow pipes in the sump. I never saw any differnce in pH after setting the reactor up about 3 months ago. My sump has about 175g in it though and I measure pH in one of the tanks and not the sump.

SteveU

[Orion76]

Alk 8.3 is no reason for concern, Ca 470 is a little high though. I'd slow down the Ca reactor by decreasing or stopping bubble count while keeping an eye on alk to make sure it doesn't drop too low.

At night your chaeto will not use up any CO2 so what you are doing now will only help during the photo period and you will still get a nightly PH drop.

I would recommend you try a reverse daylight on your refugium, ie. burn the lights on your fuge when the lights in the display are off, this should prevent your nightly PH drop from happening.

[Orion76]

BTW PH around 8.0 is not a problem IME, stability is more important. I think many people do more damage to their system trying to correct a perceived problem

[gqjeff]

my PH stays constant at 7.8-8.0 no lights to lights on. No problems here...

[wasp]

I'm just new to the world of calcium reactors also, but from what I understand so far, the reactor will work most efficiently in terms of ca and alk produced, to Co2 used, if the effluent is comming out with a dkh of 35 -40. So drip and bubble rate should be set to achieve this, increasing bubble rate to increase dkh until desired dkh is achieved. Then, if it producing more than your tank requires, turn bubble and drip rate down together, to still maintain an effluent dkh of 35 -40. Once you have it about right, make further fine adjustments by increasing or decreasing the time it runs, but ideally should run around 8 hours per day.

[nyfireman3097]

so a calcium reactor shouldnt run 24/7 ??? doesnt the water in the reactor go stagnant sitting there for 16 hours ?
Nick

[Orion76]

doesnt the water in the reactor go stagnant sitting there for 16 hours ?

Not if you have a pump that recirculates the water through the reactor.

[nyfireman3097]

i dont understand ???? so r u saying to shut off the pump in the sump and not the circulation pump to the reactor ?????
Nick

[Orion76]

Well I'd recommend stopping the CO2 and leaving the pumps running, but if you stop dripping water from the Ca reactor while leaving the circulation pump in the reactor running the water shouldn't go stagnant.

[nyfireman3097]

doesnt mush the media either ?
Nick

[gqjeff]

I personally run mine 24/7.... Most peeps I know run them 24/7...

[Catastrofe]

I've heard of switching off the CO2 by plugging the solenoid into a timer, but that's typically for low demand tanks where 24/7 operation keeps driving the Ca concentration upwards.

We'll see if a tweak to the bubble count gives me a reduced but steady calcium level.

[wasp]

Well the instructions with my reactor stated it should not be run 24/7, but should be started 4 hours after lights on, and run for around 8 - 10 hours. So that's what I'm doing, and that is presumably what the solenoid is for.
Having said that, I would assume the only reason for not running 24/7 would be to avoid low PH at night, if that can be dealt with, probably no harm in it. I'm having trouble adjusting the drip rate in mine, because the fine adjustment is extremely touchy. I am awaiting delivery of another dosing pump to run it, which should take care of that. But in the mean time, I'm just running it 5 hours per day, because I cannot get the drip rate set properly. This is meeting the tanks calcium needs, although probably not ideal.

[Diesel3443]

I have a moderate demand 55g and I run mine 24/7 I just tweak both the effulent drip an bubble count, to keep it stable, although Im still tweaking it to get it just right. A recent growth spurt forced the tweaking