fluctuations in the pH of source water and Calcium reactor

[jrmailo]

How much does the pH of water source effect the overall pH inside the calcium reactor and could this cause a wide swing in the concentration of the effluent?

The problem that I am having is that whenever I change the CO2 scrubber media, my tank’s pH climbs, which also means that the Calcium reactor source water/feed line becomes more basic and ultimately “melt” less media at constant CO2 injection. The ph swing that I am experiencing is from around ~8.15 (pre-co2 scrubber media replacement) to ~8.35 (post-co2 scrubber media replacement). I change out my media around once a week.

Does anyone else have a similar experience and/or have a troubleshoot?

FYI I run my Calcium reactor with a peristaltic pump at 25ml/min effluent rate and constant rate of co2 injection.

 

[P-Dub]

How much does the pH of water source effect the overall pH inside the calcium reactor and could this cause a wide swing in the concentration of the effluent?

The problem that I am having is that whenever I change the CO2 scrubber media, my tank’s pH climbs, which also means that the Calcium reactor source water/feed line becomes more basic and ultimately “melt” less media at constant CO2 injection. The ph swing that I am experiencing is from around ~8.15 (pre-co2 scrubber media replacement) to ~8.35 (post-co2 scrubber media replacement). I change out my media around once a week.

Does anyone else have a similar experience and/or have a troubleshoot?

FYI I run my Calcium reactor with a peristaltic pump at 25ml/min effluent rate and constant rate of co2 injection.

This swing is more than acceptable.

 

[jrmailo]

This swing is more than acceptable.
View attachment 2732349

Your log looks more or less like my daily pH swing. I’ve had no issues tuning the calcium reactor with the daily pH fluctuations as these swings stay fairly consistent day to day. Here I can tune my calcium reactor co2 injection rate to match and counteract against the daily AVERAGE tank pH for a consistent effluent concentration.

The issues that I am having has to do more with the significant weekly pH elevation from co2 scrubbe media replacement.

When I do a scrubber media change, I can expect an OVERALL tank pH increase of around 0.2 pH value, which also elevate my AVERAGE daily pH swing for the same amount and indirectly increase the pH inside the calcium reactor. This boost in pH decay by about 0.03 pH value per day as the scrubber media deplete.

Unfortunately I do not have an access to pH graph for visual representation of my issue as I think that will make it a lot more easy to understand..