New Avast Marine Calcium Reactor

ScottB · Jan 6, 2020

ctenophore said:
I will build this chart when I get back in town.

No need for this. It can go next to the sump, or really anywhere you want within about 4ft of head pressure below the sump (i.e., try not to make it pump more than 4ft uphill)

Yes, you're definitely in the range where a calcium reactor will save you money over two part. You should consider kalk dosing as well. The two systems complement each other nicely.

Happy New Year everyone!

Thank you. The kalk dose is to manage pH levels correct? Or other purpose? And aside from trial and error, are these “dosing” processes monitored or controlled by a controller of any kind? Happy to read up if you can shoot a link. Thanks.

Mrx7899 · Jan 10, 2020

Mine comes tomorrow cant wait to set it up.

markstubb · Jan 10, 2020

Got mine back to Malaysia but haven’t set it up yet. We just found out we’re moving the end of the month so I have to break down my whole tank anyway. Never moved a tank before. Should be interesting.

Mrx7899 · Jan 10, 2020

Its here ! The build quality is very nice like all my other avast products. Going to try and install it tonight. I'm Intrested to see how this new design compares to my old calcium reactor.

Brew12 · Jan 20, 2020

Well... I did something that I never do. I ordered this with the secondary chamber and I have no idea how I am going to control it. I like to have a plan in place to make sure it is what I need but... my 2-part usage is out of control, I love the stuff I've gotten from Avast, and this design fascinates me.

Sounds like the next batch is in production so I have a few weeks to figure out what I will need to integrate this into my Profilux.

Brew12 · Jan 20, 2020

I'm not sure why it took so long, but it all just clicked. I don't know why I struggled so much to figure out how the input and output flows could be matched. I guess I assumed there must be some form of venting because of the CO2.

Now to start getting everything else I need to make it work with a little protection built in.

ScottB · Jan 20, 2020

I keep saying I am going to move over to CaRx as I am ESV dosing over 500ml a day across two systems.

But then I hear that many CaRx users are also dosing 2 part and Kalk to keep ALK stable and manage pH. That feels like adding two more maintenance tasks and failure points. (Actually four in my case.)

I'll just keep reading up on the adventures of others while my basement fills up with empty ESV buckets.

Brew12 · Jan 20, 2020

ScottB said:
I keep saying I am going to move over to CaRx as I am ESV dosing over 500ml a day across two systems.

But then I hear that many CaRx users are also dosing 2 part and Kalk to keep ALK stable and manage pH. That feels like adding two more maintenance tasks and failure points. (Actually four in my case.)

I'll just keep reading up on the adventures of others while my basement fills up with empty ESV buckets.

My Profilux should help automatically control the CaRx so I'm hoping to get away from the 2 part completely.

bradenr · Feb 14, 2020

@Mrx7899 Any updates or videos or it in action

Mrx7899 · Feb 14, 2020

It's been running great nice steady drip rate very quiet haven't had a problem with it at all. Running it at 6.7 and its keeping up with the demand of 225 gallon tank that's sps dominate with a few large colonies. One thing is that its completely fully of water avast said that it was fine.

ctenophore · Feb 20, 2020

Mrx7899 said:
It's been running great nice steady drip rate very quiet haven't had a problem with it at all. Running it at 6.7 and its keeping up with the demand of 225 gallon tank that's sps dominate with a few large colonies. One thing is that its completely fully of water avast said that it was fine.

Correct- this just means that it is running well under its maximum CO2 input capacity. If you need to run it harder (i.e., lower internal pH) in the future to keep up with demand, you will see the CO2 start to displace water in the chamber, and this is okay.

RSnodgrass · Feb 25, 2020

Correct me if I'm wrong but since you already adjusted the effluent output rate all that's left to "tune" is the co2 input rate. A person wouldn't even need a pH probe or they could temporarily reassign their tank probe just for the initial setup.

After that it's the basic unavoidable maintenance with minimal failure points and far less cost than some other options.

Brew12 · Feb 25, 2020

I've got more playing around to do but so far it cannot keep up with the demand in my 187g system. Running 50ml/min with a pH of 6.2. I'm dosing an additional 100ml of 2 part to keep alk steady.
Part of the issue may be that I am using ARM media in the reactor which I've heard takes a lower pH to melt. Unfortunately, the TLF Reborn media still has supply issues.
Still, I'm not having to refill my dosing containers every week so I'm calling it a win. Just be aware that if you have a high demand system this may not be enough. For low and medium demand systems it's a fantastic solution.

Crashjack · Feb 25, 2020

Brew12 said:
I've got more playing around to do but so far it cannot keep up with the demand in my 187g system. Running 50ml/min with a pH of 6.2. I'm dosing an additional 100ml of 2 part to keep alk steady.
Part of the issue may be that I am using ARM media in the reactor which I've heard takes a lower pH to melt. Unfortunately, the TLF Reborn media still has supply issues.
Still, I'm not having to refill my dosing containers every week so I'm calling it a win. Just be aware that if you have a high demand system this may not be enough. For low and medium demand systems it's a fantastic solution.

Have you measured the effluent alk? I wouldn't trust the pH reading from the probe. The "automatic" reactors peg pH around 6.0 so even if correct, your pH is still above that.

PerplexyHexy · Feb 25, 2020

Brew12 · Feb 25, 2020

Crashjack said:
Have you measured the effluent alk? I wouldn't trust the pH reading from the probe. The "automatic" reactors peg pH around 6.0 so even if correct, your pH is still above that.

I did earlier and I can't remember the exact number. It was around 30dKH at 50ml/min.

I have a very high demand system. I was dosing close to 500ml per day before I put this online. It's well over 4dKH per day that my system would drop.

Brew12 · Feb 25, 2020

Crashjack said:
Have you measured the effluent alk? I wouldn't trust the pH reading from the probe. The "automatic" reactors peg pH around 6.0 so even if correct, your pH is still above that.

I should add that if I drip in more CO2 it starts causing the pump to cavitate so I'm avoiding going any lower.

xaflatoonx · Feb 26, 2020

thats not good - i would think the point of adding a Cal reactor is to be able to support a high demand system more cost effectively than the dosing.

THank you for sharing your experience so far - and hope you continue to do so. Following this thread still.

Brew12 · Feb 26, 2020

xaflatoonx said:
thats not good - i would think the point of adding a Cal reactor is to be able to support a high demand system more cost effectively than the dosing.

THank you for sharing your experience so far - and hope you continue to do so. Following this thread still.

I think it could support my system if I could have gotten my hands on the Two Little Fishies Reborn media. My understanding is that it dissolves at a ph of 6.4 at a higher rate than what I'm using does at 6.2. And I'll point out that my demand is nuts compared to most systems its size. Too many rapidly growing monti caps that suck up the alk and calc. I think most people would consider "high demand" needing to dose around 200ml per day on a system my size. I'm well over twice that.

But.. I'm going to continue to tinker with this and see what I can do to boost output. It's really a beautiful unit and I love many things about it.

Brew12 · Feb 26, 2020

To follow up, I've reached out to Avast and they believe I need to run much more flow through the reactor. I'm going to kick flow up through the reactor to 120ml/min tonight and see how it performs.