Vertex Calcium Reactor - Owner's Club

[abcha0s]

My RX6-Duo is online and seems to be working, but it's not completely dialed in yet. I do have a couple of tricks to pass on.

Tips

• I found it helpful to use John Guest Elbows to route the 1/4" Polyethylene Tubing.
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• I am driving the reactor with a Marineland Mini-Jet 404 Adjustable Flow Powerhead - Same category as Maxi Jet PHs. I attached a John Guest threaded fitting directly to the pump and it seems to have more than enough head pressure.
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• The fine media was a big mistake and it damaged my pump. It's still working, but I've ordered a replacement impeller assembly anyway.
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• I am using ARM Coarse Media - More on this below...
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• I am having a problem with excess Co2 buildup in the reactor (as described by RuGlu6). It seems to me that the RX6 pump is somewhat overpowered. I hope I can find the balance.
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• The pump produces a lot of vibration and the reactor should be cushioned to reduce the noise. It's not the quietest pump, but the noise is tolerable and not as loud as my MP60s.

Questions

• I'm running the reactor external to the sump. I'm pretty sure the pump is submersible. Running the reactor in the sump would likely quiet it down significantly. Is anyone doing this?
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• I've set the target pH at 6.5 - I'm not sure what the optimal target would be?

BRS doesn't recommend running phosphate remover in the third chamber. Instead, they recommend running phosphate remove in a dedicated upflow reactor independant of the calcium reactor. This makes sense to me.

I am running the reactor with a slightly modified configuration. I have the chambers in the following sequence.

• Main Chamber - ARM Coarse Media
• Small secondary chamber - Brightwell Aquatics NeoMag Magnesium
• Large secondary chamber - Rowalith C+ Calcium Reactor Media - Fine

ARM COARSE - "The Complete Reactor Media"

CarbiSea lists the following specifications for this media:

Calcium: 416,000 ppm
Carbonate: 577,000 ppm
Strontium: 3,300 ppm
Magnesium: 1,400 ppm
Potassium: 56 ppm

The product is described as a High Magnesium Aragonite Formula. It states "Now With 3 Times More Magnesium!"

The reason I mention the increased magnesium is because I wonder if I actually need to be running the BrightWell Magnesium as well? - Historically, it seems everyone recommended adding Magnesium to the reactor media, but that may have been based on the original ARM media. 1,400 ppm seems like a reasonable target to me.

I guess I will need to test the levels in my tank to determine if the additional magnesium is required, but if any one has any advice on this, please let me know.

Anyone else have any tricks?