Calcium reactor issue (pH fluctuation)

[ReefGeezer]

... I tested the alkalinity of my effluent and it’s at 20.0 dKH which @Jose Esteves recommended.

I know that is the target some use. Some use 25 dKh. BUT... 20 dKh may be way too high for your very low demand system even at 1ml/min of effluent flow. I would target the alkalinity in the display tank rather than the alkalinity of the effluent. Let's say you want display tank alkalinity to stay stable @ 7.5 dKh. Once you set it there, (USE BAKING SODA TO RAISE ALK) you only need to replace what is used. You may find that you only need a little added alk to meet your demand right now. An effluent with a dKH of 8 or 9 might do the trick. It will take more when demand increases as you add growing hard corals and Coralline algae starts growing. Don't get distracted by theoretical numbers. I would start at 1 ml effluent flow, and a pH several tenths above what the media manufacturer recommends then start dialing in from there.

 

[dank reefer]

just like @ReefGeezer said, don't get distracted by numbers. Get a hold of some Baking Soda, or even Kalkwasser and raise your tank to the desired levels slowly while running you reactor, and once you hit your level test everyday to check and see what your consumption rate it if any. You don't have to burn the media at the manufactures burn rate levels either. You can run a ph of 7 in your reactor and it will still burn the media, just at a way slower rate.

Just whatever you do, do it slow.

 

[gilman]

Best thing for you to do is to plug your solenoid into a wall outlet and not the controller . Turn your regulator bubble count off . Set the versa to 10ml per minute . Now crack the needle valve so that its VERY slowly adding bubbles 10 per minute . Wait 24 hours and test your effluent DKH . You want to be around 20-30DKH . If its at that DKH range that is the effluent drip and bubble count rate for your tank .
Now test you tank DKH if it low , raise the bubble count and drip at the same rates to raise the dkh , if to high do the opposite. Wait a day and retest .

Tuning the reactor by the internal PH is usually not the best way to run it .
I hope this helps you .

 

[Lennon's Reef]

just like @ReefGeezer said, don't get distracted by numbers. Get a hold of some Baking Soda, or even Kalkwasser and raise your tank to the desired levels slowly while running you reactor, and once you hit your level test everyday to check and see what your consumption rate it if any. You don't have to burn the media at the manufactures burn rate levels either. You can run a ph of 7 in your reactor and it will still burn the media, just at a way slower rate.

Just whatever you do, do it slow.

I know that is the target some use. Some use 25 dKh. BUT... 20 dKh may be way too high for your very low demand system even at 1ml/min of effluent flow. I would target the alkalinity in the display tank rather than the alkalinity of the effluent. Let's say you want display tank alkalinity to stay stable @ 7.5 dKh. Once you set it there, (USE BAKING SODA TO RAISE ALK) you only need to replace what is used. You may find that you only need a little added alk to meet your demand right now. An effluent with a dKH of 8 or 9 might do the trick. It will take more when demand increases as you add growing hard corals and Coralline algae starts growing. Don't get distracted by theoretical numbers. I would start at 1 ml effluent flow, and a pH several tenths above what the media manufacturer recommends then start dialing in from there.

Thank you both for your continued input, I appreciate it!

I’ll check to see if my LFS has kalkwasser, And I’ll see if the grocery store has baking soda. I’m sure it won’t be an issue dialing in the reactor to meet my current demand once my levels are where they need to be. I’ll raise the pH and burn the media slower.

I did experiment some more with my CaRx and found that the pH fluctuates even when there is no CO2 entering the reactor. I unplugged the solenoid and the pH in the reactor still swings wildly when I turn the drip rate up past 1mL/min. I really think the tank water entering the reactor isn’t being mixed well enough or maybe this specific reactor wasn’t built to handle higher drip rates. Maybe the stirrer pump isn’t powerful enough to quickly mix the tank water entering the reactor and it’s creating pockets of slightly higher pH that my probe picks up on. I’m not sure if raising or lowering the probe will do anything but I think I’ll try that next. I double-checked to make sure the correct lines are all going into the correct ports. At this point I’m really curious if someone with this same nano reactor has been able to use it successfully at drip rates past 1mL/min.

 

[jda]

Mrs Wages Pickling Lime is available at a lot of grocery stores, wal mart and other places - this is the same stuff as Kalwasser. Every grocery store has baking soda unless there has been a run of grannies wanting to make cookies and banana bread.

Forget about chamber pH and just focus on effluent dKh. Wait at least overnight to retest after you change something - it can take a while to have an effect. I have no idea what the chamber pH is in any of my calcium reactors, but I can tell you what the effluent dKh is in each one of them.

 

[Lennon's Reef]

Mrs Wages Pickling Lime is available at a lot of grocery stores, wal mart and other places - this is the same stuff as Kalwasser. Every grocery store has baking soda unless there has been a run of grannies wanting to make cookies and banana bread.

Forget about chamber pH and just focus on effluent dKh. Wait at least overnight to retest after you change something - it can take a while to have an effect. I have no idea what the chamber pH is in any of my calcium reactors, but I can tell you what the effluent dKh is in each one of them.

Thanks for your reply!
It seems like I may have had a mild case of equipment fever... focusing more on being able to use my pH controller rather than just keeping it simple. I will focus on balancing my bubble count with the effluent drip rate to reach stable levels in my tank. I might use the pH controller as a fallback to shut off the co2 in case the effluent tube ever gets clogged and the reactor pH drops sharply. Other than that I’ll make sure the pH never gets low enough to trip the solenoid.

Thanks to anyone who commented!