Reloading the CA reactor...

[lanman]

I know - some of you have probably done this a dozen times.

 

But you know how scary and exciting the first time can be!

 

After a year of operation, there was only about an inch of media left in my CA reactor - so... with some trepidation (considering I knew NOTHING about them when I set it up), I disconnected everything - dumped out the gunk, and cleaned everything up.

 

NOTE the area circled - there had been a small leak, and the salt creep ate the paint right off the motor; but it seems to run just fine.

 

The leak - appears to have been caused by constant vibration of the motor slightly loosening things. ALL of the circled connectors and screws needed to be tightened - despite having done it once, a week after I set it up (per someone's suggestion):

 

And then... all put back together, with fresh media in it. I started it running about 20 minutes ago, and pH is down to about 7.25 last I looked. (look at my sig to see where it is NOW!)

 

All in all - the job was much easier and quicker than anticipated!!

 

bob

Edited August 19, 2009 by lanman