calciuum reactor help
 

How low should the ph drop? what level should i set my ph to? and I have the bubble counter at about 80 bubbles per min, that ok?

Depends on the size of the reactor, 80bpm might be normal. When I had my larger reactor I had bubble rates around 120-150bpm, but with my smaller reactor (probably about 2l of media) I have it around 30bpm. The flipside to a smaller reactor is I have to refill it more often, but I don't mind.

I run my reactor at a pH of 6.7. You can get away with a lower pH but the more you lower it, the softer the media gets. Once it turns to mush you pretty much have to throw it out because the pump has a harder time pushing water through it.

You can also get away with a higher pH but you might have a harder time maintaining levels in the tank.

I find that 6.7 is a happy medium though.

One caveat: I use the older style calcium reactor media (2-3mm particle size). The newer medias tend to be things like really coarse crushed media (like 1/2" - 1" in size), you can run a much lower pH with that kind of media than you can with the smaller stuff. I'm not sure but you might even *need* to run the pH lower with the coarser stuff.

thanks for the help Tony

Its a GEO 612 rector, holds quite a bit of media.ome question, after the solenoid closes, is it normal for the bubble counter to take a few mins to stop?

Hmmm, I think it's normal for it to be non instant because what's happening is the valve is shut upstream of the needle valve, but there is still residual pressurized CO2 downstream and so however long it takes to reach equilibrium is how long it will take to stop bubbling .. a few minutes does seem sort of long though.. What's your outlet pressure set at? I run mine around 18psi, I found anything less I just couldn't really get a consistent bubble rate (I have a Milwaulkee brand regulator which is reputed to be not really one of the best, so that could be a part of it for me).

hmmm the guage on the right says 5, the one on the left we had at between 0.1 and 0.2. not sure which one is which

I'm running the same reactor, what is your effluent flow?
Mine is on the high side I think about 200ml/min. Co2 is about 60bpm.
PH in the reactor is about 6.8. My Aquamedic regulator is preset at about 18-20psi. I open the needle valve on the reg to get a steady flow and fine tune it with a Redsea needle valve.
I'm pretty impressed with the larger media it's only gone down about an inch in 2 months I would have used 1/2 a chamber of the fine stuff in my K2R.

is psi the guage on the right? mine is at 5.and how do i know what my effluent flow is at?

I'm not sure what units 5 and 0.1 would be. The two numbers though, should represent inlet pressure (the pressure on the inlet side of the valve, the tank, basically) and outlet pressure. Tanks are usually around 800psi or so when full. The other pressure unit I know of is kPA (kiloPascal) but I think it's something like 1.5 psi per 10 kPA which means 800psi is something like 5500 kPA. :neutral: Unless the guage is reading in "thousands of kPA"? I guess that would explain the 0.1 reading though because 18psi is about 100-something kPA which would be 0.1 "thousands of kPA".

There's nothing on the guage itself that says what the units are?

lol it's all in chinese or something.. all i know is that the BPM is around 70-80...is there any dangers of having it run the way it is? the effluent is running at about the same speed as a 100gpd RODI filter

Sorry, missed your second question there.

To measure my effluent rate, I just take a 15ml measuring spoon and count the seconds it takes to fill. I run my reactor at 60ml/min so I expect it to take 15 seconds to fill the spoon - and just adjust accordingly until I get it close (it's pretty fussy work getting it dialed in just right).

You could always get a peristaltic pump but they tend to be pricey. There are those that are fixed-flow for around $80-120 but you can also get adjustable peristaltic pumps but they tend to run in the hundreds to thousands of dollars (depending on how used&abused a model you can find on ebay or whatever).

i just have the lil valve open all the way, is it unsafe to run it all the way open?

My guess is the units then are probably "thousands of kPa". The bubble rate is not abnormal. So long as your effluent pH is at 6.7 (or where-ever you want it set at), it should be pretty safe.

Assuming you get 100gpd out of your 100gpd RO/DI (usually you don't get the full flowrate out of those things, but let's just ignore the details for the sake of guesstimating the flowrate :lol:) that's. . um .. 100gpd =~ 400 litres per day = 400,000 ml per 24 hours ~270 ml per minute (1440 minutes per 24 hours). Hmmm, ok, that seems a little fast.

60ml/min is basically on right on the verge of starting as a steady stream, whereas any slower it's actually perceivable as a "fast drip-drip-drip-drippety-drip."

Basically I'd just take a known volume container (measuring spoon, measuring cup, whatever), and count how long it takes to fill up to a certain level, from that you can figure out your flowrate.

ok thanks..i will do that.

well it did 88ml in 15 secs LOL, I think that is too fast

Make sure you also kept an eye an your Alk. Found with my reactor if pushing it, very easy to spike the Alk.

alk should be around 9-11 dkh right?

Good range, NSW is something like 8 dKH.

Help!
ok I got the effluant down to 60ml/min and now i have to turn the regulator all the way just to get to 0.1 and there are no bubbles... Tony..help me lol

Ok .. um .. hmmm. I guess the question I have is, how did you dial down the flowrate? Is the valve on the output of the reactor or the input?

Your regulator - you should have a main pressure adjustment knob and a needle valve - you should be able to just open the pressure knob a little more to increase the outlet pressure, thus giving you some bubbles?

Can you post a picture of the regulator?

there is a little hose clamp thing on the end of the efffluant hose

there is a knob on the cylinder and then a knob on the regulator.. the guage closest to the cylinder is at 5, which i suspect is the psi

This is the one I use:
http://www.automatedaquariums.com/mw_ma957.htm (just picked a site that had a good picture of it, I got mine from one of the usual MO suspects in Canada :) )

Anyhow on mine the black knob is the outlet pressure setting, the brass knob is for fine tuning the bubble rate. The throat valve on the cylinder is just open all the way when you have a regulator, and then you close it for transport or storing...

It sort of sounds like you might not have a needle valve? (You'll definitely need one if you don't). I realize this is sort of inconvenient but think you could snap a quick picture of the cylinder and regulator just so I can visualize what you've got going on there?

which part in that pic is the needle valve? i'll go take a picture

1st guage tank pressure
2nd guage supply pressure
then the soleniod
then it looks like the needle valve.....for gas input to the reactor
there should be a clamp of sorts on the in flow line from aquarium to the reactor...this regulates water input

thanks. right now the tank pressure is just over 5 MPa which would be 750psi if i'm right. its a 10 pound tank. 1 MPa = 150psi, the other gauge i had about 0.1 which is 15psi. so i just need to adjust the needle valve then. think i have it figured out

hmmm guage says 0.2 and there are absolutely no bubbles... am i leaking co2?

My discharge pressure is 20 psi. Your soleniod might be the problem. Open up the needle valve a little more to see if you can get it to bubble in the chamber

I'm inclined to think solenoid valve too at this point..

Dumb question....is the soleniod plugged in.....sorry had to ask

found the problem!

the needle valve and the solenoid were both clogged up, got them all apart now and cleaning them.

If they are plugged up it sounds like they might have had water back up into them. Use should have a check valve between the solenoid and reactor I use two cause I haven't found them to be 100% reliable.

my solenoid and needle valves are toast

Try immersing the needle valve and valve part of the soleniod with a vinegar soln. Whadda you got to lose

we did..it is insanely corroded inside the solenoid. i'm upgrading all new regulator/solenoid etc.