Lune2Moon2 March 20, 2015 Share March 20, 2015 Greetings Fellow Reefers, It's a privilege to be here! After much diligence and consistency of good friends I have finally joined! I've been in the hobby for 10+ years and I've owned Calcium reactors for a good five of those however I'm having issues with my current set up. I have a Geo 624 with a small industrial grade peristaltic pump. The chamber has 16lbs of extra corse large grain ARM media. Here's the problem. I want to keep my dkh in my DT higher around 9.5 but it only stays around or just below 8.4. I can't get my effluent dkh any higher that 12dkh no matter what I do. I read it has to be a minimum of 35dkh coming out the effluent. I did put extra course media in the reactor which I know is a little harder to dissolve, but is it supposed to be this difficult?? Any help would do me GREAT right now! Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ridetheducati March 21, 2015 Share March 21, 2015 If the reactor currently maintains the system at 8.4 dkh, use sodium carbonate or sodium bicarbonate to raise display alk to desired levels. The reactor will maintain the new level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami March 21, 2015 Share March 21, 2015 The effluent dKH depends upon a couple of factors: The reactor turnover, which is related to the volume of the reactor and the effluent output rate; and the pH inside the reactor (which is related to the amount of CO2 that is being injected into the reactor). You see, the CO2 acidifies the water which then dissolves the reactor media, enriching the incoming tank water with dissolved minerals before dosing the enriched mixture back into the tank. WIth an effluent output of 12 dKH and a tank at 8.5 dKH, it sounds like you're not getting much of a boost through the reactor. But that's not necessarily bad. You see, there are two ways that people typically configure calcium reactors. One way is to drip the effluent and the other way is to have a stream of effluent dosed back into the tank. Depending upon the method, you set the reactor up a little differently. However, the standard of 30-35 dKH really only applies if you're dripping effluent into your tank (typically at a rate of 1 - 2 drips per second or so). If you've got a stream going (as some people do), then you don't want your effluent to be saturated with calcium and alkalinity. I suspect that you're taking the second approach, using the stream. If your alkalinity level is holding where you want it to be, you're reactor is dialed in to match consumption. That's a good thing. If alkalinity is rising over several days, it means that you're dosing too much. In your system, you might slow the bubble rate down a little to raise the pH inside the reactor just a little to slow dissolution down. If alkalinity is falling, then increase the bubble rate just a little to lower the pH inside the reactor. If you're alkalinity is holding, but is a little lower than you want it to be, then manually dose alkalinity to raise it to a new steady state level and leave your reactor dialed in where you have it now. If it's higher than you want it to be, then unplug the solenoid on the reactor to stop the CO2 injection and just let the levels drift downward to your target level. It's all about balancing supplementation from the reactor to match consumption in the tank. As your reef grows, consumption increases and you will have to make adjustments to the reactor. But, over the long haul, calcium reactors can keep a tank operating for months without much interruption. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GraffitiSpotCorals March 21, 2015 Share March 21, 2015 Why are you trying to run it 1 dkh higher? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lune2Moon2 March 21, 2015 Author Share March 21, 2015 Thank you kindly everyone. Origami, very informative. Yes I have done the first method you have stated before and I could get the effluent much more saturated. The second method is what I have adopted now! This makes total since. I was confused because I would watch YouTube and some people would have there set up dripping and others streaming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lune2Moon2 March 21, 2015 Author Share March 21, 2015 The other big problem I have is my pH. My reactor (I'm assuming) keeps my DT pH depressed around 7.8 durning the photo period. I was thinking the higher dkh would make a pH drop less prone to fluctuate. I dosed kalk through my ATO top off reservoir and I didn't do too much for my pH. Bringing it only to 8.0. Any more tricks to keep the pH up? Oh ya and I just obtain a lot of Chaeto from a buddy and set up some LEDs over them in the sump. Should help stabilize the pH a bit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami March 21, 2015 Share March 21, 2015 The pH is depressed because of the residual CO2 in the effluent. Try running the effluent through some reactor media or rubble on it's way to your tank to see if that helps to consume the last of the CO2. You can also try dripping the reactor effluent just in front of your macroalgae, too. CO2 is like fertilizer for plants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GraffitiSpotCorals March 21, 2015 Share March 21, 2015 Try putting a fan on your sump to evaporate the water quicker and you will use more kalk, use a reactor or fully saturate the batch in your ago. 7.8 pH is average for calcium reactor users and won't hurt a thing. IMO your chasing numbers will not help anything, unless you have a good reason to raise your dkh one number. Like ridetheducati said, adding alk manually will get your dkh up and the reactor should hold that number. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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