Vertex Calcium Reactor - Owner's Club

[abcha0s]

I own the Vertex RX6-Duo Calcium Reactor and I am having trouble setting it up. I'd like to hear from anyone who owns a Vertex Calcium Reactor about any tips and tricks you have for making it work.

I am using "Rowalith C+ Calcium Reactor Media" - I suspect this may be part of my problem?

Specifically, the main pump seems to be way to powerful. This causes two problems:

1. The pumps sucks in any air that is trapped in the media chamber. This by itself isn't really a problem but it then gets trapped underneath the foam in the bottom section of the media chamber. When the air builds up, it comes to the surface in large bubbles which disrupt the media.

2. The media is getting blown around and sucked into the pump. This has obvious problems including a significant risk of damaging the pump.

The pump is also very loud, but I think this is because there is air trapped in it? - I figure once I resolve the air issue, the pump noise will settle down?

Am I using the wrong media? - I can't find the recommended Media type in the Vertex instructions?

I did find an alternate media - "Caribsea A.R.M. Coarse Calcium Reactor Media"
- The product description states "Ideal for rapid upflow type reactors".

Is the Vertex a rapid upflow type reactor? - It sure seems to be.

Are you guys running them in sump? - I had planned to run it outside of my sump, but the pump appears to be a submersible pump - just curious.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!!

- Brad

[Zoaelite]

Just ordered mine from J&L last night so I will certainly stayed tuned, I read this off of Marine Depot:

There is a connection between the reactor chamber and the CO2 chamber that houses the pump. If you fill the reactor chamber too full, media will flow into the chamber with the pump and two things can happen. One, it blocks the tube that joins the two chambers and second it can hurt the pump. When you first turn the unit on, the reactor media rises up a few inches so beware! I suggest only filling to the lower half of the decal they put on the chamber. It is easy to add more media later. And speaking of media, the CaribSea A.R.M. Aragonite Reactor Media works great in this unit

[RuGlu6]

- Use coarse media
- Do not overdose Co2, just enough to keep internal Ph below 7.0 but above Ph 6.4
If you have too many Co2 bubbles it will make noise and all of it will not dissolve. If your media is smaller particle size the it Will get disturbed if there is too much flow and may end up in the the circ pump intake.

[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.
  .
• 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.
  .
• 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...
  .
• 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.
  .
• 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?
  .
• 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?

[cale262]

Thanks for the tips. I have the 4 which I'm going to swap into my system this wkend, it's currently running in the sink with vinegar/rodi. My plan was to run it internally which is good as I've already found a couple leaks. The pump is very noisey, I was hoping it would quiet down as it breaks in, my IN-180 skimmer was the same way for the first few days. I'm not planning to use a pump to feed it, the calc reactor in my system now is running via syphon, so the plan is to use the same line already in place. I have a container of the coarse ARM and ZeoMag, Arm for the main and Mag for the secondary. I think I'm running my reactor with a target PH of 6.0, I'll have to confirm on my controller when I get home but it's working well now.

[Bblinks]

Hey guys, I am in the Vertex Club. Bought it on the weekend after a month of research. Thanks to Brad for helping me make up my mind and picked the Vertex over Geo and Deltec. I will get some pictures up as soon as I get a chance.

[tankmates]

hey guys, I fired mine in today, using maxijet 1200, but water keeps poping out of the ph probe area? what am i doing wrong...

[abcha0s]

Originally Posted by tankmates

hey guys, I fired mine in today, using maxijet 1200, but water keeps poping out of the ph probe area? what am i doing wrong...

Welcome to the club!

Generally speaking, my Vertex reactor is fairly water tight. There is some minor salt creep at a couple of the John Guest connections, but nothing major and nothing that worries me.

My guess is that you are missing the round rubber band (washer/o-ring/thingy) that fits around your pH probe? Without this band, the probe holder would not work.

If you are not missing the band, but it is still leaking, try fitting the original plug back in and see if the problem persists. If it leaks with the original plug in place, then something isn't right. Check the threads to make sure they aren't stripped or damaged.

Please let us know how you make out and post any tips you discover.

- Brad

[tankmates]

I did not get any ring with my PH probe and I believe that is what I am missing here, any idea what will fit in? Also, I don have the original plug..but i do feel the ring is what it is

[abcha0s]

Originally Posted by tankmates

I did not get any ring with my PH probe and I believe that is what I am missing here, any idea what will fit in? Also, I don have the original plug..but i do feel the ring is what it is

So, here's the bad news. The ring seal that you are looking for comes fitted onto the plug that comes with the unit. If you can't find the plug, that might explain why you can't find the ring. I expect they are in the same place.

You might be able to DIY a new ring. Of course it would help to know what the original ring looks like. If anyone can snap a photo of this before bringing their reactor online, please post it..

If you would like, I can see if we could special order the part for you. You will end up paying way too much for a $0.99 part, but at least your reactor will work. Before we go there, let's see whether anyone can post a picture of the ring seal that you are looking for.

- Brad