Having trouble setting up my calcium reactor

[Derry]

I'm looking for advice on two different problems I'm having getting my calcium reactor dialed in. The reactor is a Knop C being fed by an Aqualifter pump. The CO2 value is a brand-new single-stage Milwaukee with a solenoid and needle valve, connected to a 5# tank. The first problem is that I can't get a constant bubble rate from the CO2 valve. I've got 800 psi coming in and 20 psi going out. I'll set the bubble rate at about 20/min, but when I come back a couple of hours later, it's dropped off to 10/min or less. I can't find any kinks in the tubing, so I'm at a loss as to why the bubble rate won't stay constant.

The second problem is with the effluent drip rate from the reactor. There's no built-in effluent value on the Knop C, so I've tried a couple of different approaches. I first ran the effluent line through a simple ball valve, but fine adjustments were tricky, and the flow rate would drop off over time. I next tried a simple air line valve to the end of the line to control the drip rate. Same problem - the drip rate falls off over time.

Anybody have any suggestions for me (other than going back to dosing two-part)?

[pbnj]

I've never run a calcium reactor, but during Precision Marine's calcium reactor presentation at RCA a couple of months ago, I believe they said to run it at no more than 10psi.

[offroadodge]

set the PSI higher on the out. It wont hurt anything and will make it easier to tune. Forget what all the books say, i set my new bottle at 40psi and when it starts gettn low i turn it up to 60psi. JMO. Also on the drip rate, sometime u have to keep playn with it till the media in reactor gets set. May take a day or two. U can always use the clamp technique at the end of hose. Dont give up, the 1st time i set up my reactor it was a PITA.

[+Hydro]

I think that I can help you. Most likely you have 2 adjustments on your regulator. One that adjusts the pressure on the right side guage and the other is the bubble adjustment. You want to start by setting the pressure on the to around 10-12 but my goal is to turn the bubble adjustement to about midway (this leaves you adjustment either way) and then adjust the pressure on the regulator so that there is a constant bubble and the ph inside the reactor is at about 6.5, then I use the bubble adjuster to "fine tune" the bubbles so that my reactor is on almost all of the time at around 6.4. You don't have to fine tune it so that it runs constatnly but you do want it to run most of the time so that you aren't wearing out your regualtor switching it on and off many times an hour. I have my meter set at 6.3 but it seldom turns off while my lights are on. I only run my reactor while my lights are on so that the co2 doesn't drop the ph levels to low at night, if you have ph problems you might think about that. I have to run my reactor with twice as much flow in order to do this. I think that the reason why you are having problems is that your pressure is to high and its making your bubble counter to sensitive to adjust, lower the pressure and it will give you more control over it.

For the flow adjustment you will need a new inline valve, mine has a wheel type handle that must be turned several time to to turn off. Mine came with my reactor but I'm sure that you can find one online.

[+Hydro]

set the PSI higher on the out. It wont hurt anything and will make it easier to tune. Forget what all the books say, i set my new bottle at 40psi and when it starts gettn low i turn it up to 60psi. JMO. Also on the drip rate, sometime u have to keep playn with it till the media in reactor gets set. May take a day or two. U can always use the clamp technique at the end of hose. Dont give up, the 1st time i set up my reactor it was a PITA.

Jeremy when I turn my pressure up my bubble adjustment gets really sensitive, a small turn to it makes a big difference in the output. With lower pressure it allows me to be able to turn the bubble adjuster more without greatly increasing or decreasing the flow. Do you have a milwuakee regulator or a different brand? I have the milwuakee and I can't say that I'm very impressed with it. I'm having problems with mine right now, sometimes it won't open so Milwuakee told me to drill the hole out inside to allow more flow so I did, the pressure was up to high and blew my plastic pump for my reactor apart and flooded my stand. I have it rigged right now holding it together with a couple of zip ties.

Also Jermey do you have yours set to where it is on most of the time with a slow amount of bubbles or does your come on and off more often with more bubbles?

[+Hydro]

1/4" fine adjustment valve

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/hayward-needle-valve.html (still needs quick connect fittings)

[acropoorer]

Here's my advise for what it's worth. If you have a small load, get a timer to control your solenoid and set the drip to a solid steady stream, with a bubble rate of say 100 to 140 per minute. Let it run for 15 or 20 minutes and check the KH of the affluent. It should be > 25 dkh and < 40 or you need to increase/decrease the bubbles or decrease/increase the drip. 20 lbs should be plenty on the pressure. Use the timer to turn on the C02 for 4 or 5 Hrs a day and watch the kh of the tank. If the kh stays in the 9-12 range you should be good. If it creeps up decrease the on time or if it creeps down increase the on time. Slow drips and low bubble counts are your worst nightmare as the water control valve plugs (particulates) and small changes in pressure affect the bubbles with low counts.

I run mine this way without the timer as my calcium load is high (have lots of big acros, coraline and lps) but many tanks run lower loads and can't run full bore 24/7. As your coral grow you will have to slowly increase the ontime once you find the sweetspot.

i have a ph probe in mine but more to keep an eye on things, it doesn't control anything. Once in a while I make an adjustment to the bubbles or flow, maybe once a week.

Another thing you might like if you don't have a dual chamber is to run the efffluent into a bucket with an air stone (drives off excess C02), in my tank this raises my ph about 0.2 and keeps me above 8.2 in the daytime. You may not find this a requirement if you are only running C02 in the daytime as photosynthesis burns the excess C02 off.

Just works for me and no or few system failures as it is simple.

[+Hydro]

Derry are you using a controller? My advice was assuming that you were using a controller for the valve.

[Derry]

Guys, my intention is to eventually run this through my Milwaukee pH monitor/controller, but the controller is moot until I get consistent output from the CO2 and effluent, right? What's the controller going to control if my CO2 is out of control?

[+Hydro]

Yes and no. As long as your bubble count is higher than what you actually need the meter will turn off the regulator at the set point. The bubble counter is much less relevant when you are using a ph controller because even if you are injecting too much co2 the controller will always turn it off at its setpoint. I'm assuming that your reactor has a port for the ph probe so that you can meter the water inside the reactor chamber. I have mine set just barely above what I need so that the meter barely cuts off (as I mentioned before) I was having the exact same trouble as you with my counter at first, I would make an adjustment and it would seem right, I would come back in 5 minutes and the bubbles had slowed down or stopped. This happens because you have the pressure to high, I know this doesn't right but it is. Bascically when the pressure is high even slightly turning the bubble adjustment is opening it too far or closing it too much. It seems to be ok right after adjustment and that is because once you change the flow rate it takes a minute for the pressures to equalize (especially when you start with higher pressures). For an example my bubbles continue for probably 10 seconds after my regualtor turns off, this is becuase there is still pressurized co2 inside the regualtor that is still coming out. If my pressures were higher this would take even longer to bleed out the leftovers....that is what is happening to you. You are adjusting it but aren't seeing the true results of that adjustment until after it bleeds down. Bottom line is that you need your pressures low enough on your regulator so that you have more adjustment with the bubble counter whcih is only a fine adjustment of the pressure regualtor...the higher the pressure the smaller the window you are working with.

Now on the other hand you could be having a problem with your regulator which will display the same problems you are having now even with the pressure lowered. Dust could be stuck inside the tiny supply tube, this happens from dust being in the co2 bottle. This happended to me recently and I had to go in and drill out the passage way larger to stop that from happening again (instructions from Milwuakee). I wouldn't suggest this unless necessary because with the larger passage way my pressures are higher and harder to adjust. Since your regualtor is new I don't think that is what it is.

I was going to offer you some advice on dialing in the flow rate. Get you a good quality KH testing kit (if you don't already, I use Salifert) and test the KH daily until you are sure that it is stable and dialed in, this could be a week after your final adjustment. I don't set my reactor based on calcium levels, I set my reactor based on KH levels in my tank. My target is 10 so I adjust my flow rate so that it is high enough to maintain 10 and I don't worry about the calcium. Once a week I have to add just a little bit of calcium to maintain 450 which I just add to the top off water. KH is more important than Ca and running the reactor to acheive 10 adds lots of Ca by defualt but for me its not quite enough which is fine. You probably won't be able to dial in the reactor to maintain both KH and Ca perfectly. To start out don't worry to much about the bubble counter as long as you are using the ph controller, just make sure the bubble are more than what you need. The controller will turn it off no matter what maintaining 6.3-6.4 inside your reactor, and this will allow you to focus more on your flow rate which is more important. Once you get the flow rate correct (KH at 10) then adjust your bubbles down until you have your gas ON most of the time and you are done. Also you really need to wait at least 12 hrs between small adjustments and at least 24 hrs between large adjustments to the flow rate to see how much difference it makes. I have never checked the effluent KH or PH. I know that 6.3 ph inside the reactor will dissolve the media so that is where my controller is set. I also know that I want my KH at 10 so I adjust my flow rate to that....I make a small adjustment and check it 12-24 hrs later, more flow rate through the reactor the higher it will drive the KH.

When I got my reactor I couldn't find good info to help me and I ended up figuring it out for myself, I hope my info helps you. It seems complicated but once you got it down it really easy. Its probably going to take you a week or 2 to get it perfect. Keep in mind in the future when your reactor media gets lower it will throw your levels off a little, just check your KH and Ca at least once a week after it is dialed in just to be sure everything is right.

[Derry]

Ok, time for an update on this. I dialed the outgoing pressure on the CO2 tank down to about 10psi and set the bubble rate at about 2/sec. The pH controller turns the solenoid on and off as needed. I also had a bad connection between the controller and the power outlet which wasn't helping matters. Once I reseated the wiring and dialed down the CO2 pressure, that part of the equation seems to be working fine now. Thanks to everyone for their advice.

The only remaining problem is that, even after installing the $40 needle valve, I'm still not getting a consistent effluent rate. The drip slows over the course of a couple of days to the point where it stops altogether. I keep having to open the valve up to reestablish the drip, which isn't exactly "set and forget." Any ideas as to why the valve won't give me a consistent output?

Thanks again, everyone!

[+Hydro]

I think that you can move the needle valve to the incoming water line instead. Double check the instructions to make sure that is ok. What is happening is the calcium is building up on the needle valve slowing down the water flow. So where is your KH staying at with 2 bubbles per second? How often is the regulator turning on and off? 2 bubbles per second seems like alot.

[Derry]

The owner's manual on my Aqualifter doesn't say anything about limiting the flow from one side or the other, so I'll try moving the needle valve to the incoming side. My KH isn't staying put because the effluent rate from the reactor keeps changing, but it doesn't sound like my solenoid is turning on and off very often. I'll dial the bubble count back once I stabilize my effluent rate.

[+Hydro]

Sounds like a plan. I actually had to send my regulator back to millwuakee and they are going to replace it. The regulator was leaking gas in 2 different places and the hole they had me drill let way to much co2 out, I couldn't dial it back or I had the same problem that you were. I'm glad they are replacing it but in the meantime I'm having to dose the tank, my kh is all over the place right now. I'm still trying to figure out how much to dose per day and as soon as I do I'm sure my regulator will show up.