So it's 2010 now. Who still uses a calcium reactor and who's all on 2-part dosing?

[lastlight]

The regulator reliability was the big reason I've never liked reactors. Which do you use? I know the aquariumplants.com is supposed to be one of the better hobby ones but I'm guessing yours is not hobby marketed.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by lastlight

The regulator reliability was the big reason I've never liked reactors. Which do you use? I know the aquariumplants.com is supposed to be one of the better hobby ones but I'm guessing yours is not hobby marketed.

mine is a full sized one from a welding setup for shielding gas. it is rated in CuFt/min so it is an actualy flow meter not a pressure regulator.

sounds like a small differance but depending on your set up a pressure regulator (which is what is used on most CO2 reactors) will let in more or less CO2 as long as the pressure is the same, causing your bubble count to change. all it take to change this is a little change in the internal pressure of the reactor or even water evaporating out of the bubbler.

with mine it couldn't care what the pressure is as it will always let the same volume/time into the reactor so I get no changes. you can get a cheep flow meter for about 100 bucks but the deicent ones start at 200 and up.

I also made both chambers in my reactor upflow which got rid of the problems Tony was mentioning.

Steve

[Delphinus]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

I also made both chambers in my reactor upflow which got rid of the problems Tony was mentioning.

You know, I tried that too on a couple different units I had. I can't remember what the issue was but it wasn't a complete slam dunk either. Upflow does make more sense, for one you can do away with the CO2 recirc line. I wonder if it was I was losing too much CO2 into the tank and I was noticing a depressed pH. Might have been something else. I can't actually remember now.

[Delphinus]

I remember why the upflow mods failed for me - it was too hard on the pumps as it must have been just a little too restrictive on the intake side. They would get super hot, one got so hot the casing of the pump melted (warped and started leaking water all over).

I guess definitely something you want the reactor to be designed for rather than arbitrarily switching the input/output lines on the pump.

Originally Posted by Delphinus

You know, I tried that too on a couple different units I had. I can't remember what the issue was but it wasn't a complete slam dunk either. Upflow does make more sense, for one you can do away with the CO2 recirc line. I wonder if it was I was losing too much CO2 into the tank and I was noticing a depressed pH. Might have been something else. I can't actually remember now.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

I remember why the upflow mods failed for me - it was too hard on the pumps as it must have been just a little too restrictive on the intake side. They would get super hot, one got so hot the casing of the pump melted (warped and started leaking water all over).

I guess definitely something you want the reactor to be designed for rather than arbitrarily switching the input/output lines on the pump.

, um dude, you had something else going on there, what kind of pumps?

Steve

[Delphinus]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

, um dude, you had something else going on there, what kind of pumps?

Steve

Mag drives .. went through 2 or 3 of them then switch the reactor back to downflow and stopped wrecking pumps. Yeah, weird, I know.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Mag drives .. went through 2 or 3 of them then switch the reactor back to downflow and stopped wrecking pumps. Yeah, weird, I know.

Weird. I've been running the same MAG 3 for 8 years on mine, still going strong.