Calcium reactor

[FreakinReefin]

Trying to get some opinions since I am a complete newbie at calcium reactors. I purchased the Korallin C1502 complete package from a guy on Craigslist today, which is all fine and dandy except for the fact that I have no idea how it is set up or how it works, however I have a DIY reactor that I purchased several months ago. The DIY is obviously in the second picture. I am wondering if there is an advantage to using either one. I see that the korallin definitely looks more professional, however there had to be some sort of method of creation for the DIY that was based on what worked and what didn't. Can anyone see/comment??

Also, with either one, how the hell do I set it up. I know that the CO2 gets slowly leaked in and I can keep track of that with the bubble counter, and I know that water is supposed to be in the reactor with the media which is slowly dripping into the tank. Now am I supposed to have another external water source that is feeding into the reactor to refill the expressed water?

Aw crap forgot to post the pics...

 

[FreakinReefin]

Here ya go...

 

[lvsuckerfish]

I can help you out thats the easy part getting it running the hard part is getting it dailed in with out killing anything. I will m my number to call me.

 

[roscoe]

Yeah the easy part is setting it up. Dialing it in can be a little challengeing. Some reactors are better than others. The most important piece of the puzzle is your regulator. I would reccomend the aquariumplant.com regulator which I will upgrade to sometime down the road. It has a built in micro processor that let the exact amount of CO2 you set into your chamber so no guess work. It is around $200 for this piece though.

 

[tamarindthai]

try this,,you will learn alot from your reactor what it can do it for you,,have fun
http://akamai.f3images.com/IMD/UserManuals/KL1502.pdf

 

[NaTe R]

did that one come with the ph probe hole in the lid? or did you get a ph controller or monitor?

 

[FreakinReefin]

Thanks for the responses guys. I am just now able to take a look at that website Tamarindthai.

The Korallin is supposed to be able to accept a PH probe, however from my untrained eye, I do not see where this is supposed to go. I do not have a controller yet since every group buy that I've participated in has taken 2 months to do and then fallen through. So basically I am wingin it right now and believe that I need to do a lot of testing to get it dialed in. What I assume is testing the PH a lot as well as the dKh and calcium.

 

[NaTe R]

fyi, unless you are dosing cal hydroxide now, you ph is going to drop when you hook that thing up. food for thought if you aren't dosing cal hydroxide you may want to come up with a plan to do so while your amassing parts to hook up you cal reactor. ie Kalk reactor or some kalk ato idea

about the ph probe in the chamber, personally i haven't had one without a ph controler/monitor but, cant imagine even thinking about dialing one in without one. you might have to pick one up. the Milwaukee is cheap and works just fine.

if you go with the regulator that Rosco told you about i would think you could do it with out, after you got the chamber ph dialed. that regulator is nice for sure

 

[tamarindthai]

fyi, unless you are dosing cal hydroxide now, you ph is going to drop when you hook that thing up. food for thought if you aren't dosing cal hydroxide you may want to come up with a plan to do so while your amassing parts to hook up you cal reactor. ie Kalk reactor or some kalk ato idea

about the ph probe in the chamber, personally i haven't had one without a ph controler/monitor but, cant imagine even thinking about dialing one in without one. you might have to pick one up. the Milwaukee is cheap and works just fine.

if you go with the regulator that Rosco told you about i would think you could do it with out, after you got the chamber ph dialed. that regulator is nice for sure

that's right on NateR

 

[FreakinReefin]

fyi, unless you are dosing cal hydroxide now, you ph is going to drop when you hook that thing up. food for thought if you aren't dosing cal hydroxide you may want to come up with a plan to do so while your amassing parts to hook up you cal reactor. ie Kalk reactor or some kalk ato idea

about the ph probe in the chamber, personally i haven't had one without a ph controler/monitor but, cant imagine even thinking about dialing one in without one. you might have to pick one up. the Milwaukee is cheap and works just fine.

if you go with the regulator that Rosco told you about i would think you could do it with out, after you got the chamber ph dialed. that regulator is nice for sure

Okay, that is great to know! I do use a Kalkwasser reactor now for my top off water so I should be in good shape there. Can't I dial the PH in the chamber by testing the effluent? Granted that will still be a PITA but at least it would be testing! What is the PH supposed to be in the chamber? If I remember from past conversations I think it is supposed to be in the 6's right?

 

[NaTe R]

6.4 - 6.5 ph in the chamber. do you have a top or lid pic of the reactor?

 

[roscoe]

Depending on the media. Some requires lower PH to melt but in the range of 6.4-6.7 is about right. If yo udon't have a built in PH probe adapter on the lid of the reactor you can always drip your effluent into a small cup with a PH probe in there to measure what your effluent PH is before it enters your sump.

 

[FreakinReefin]

6.4 - 6.5 ph in the chamber. do you have a top or lid pic of the reactor?

This is the top of the reactor copied from the manual.

 

[FreakinReefin]

Okay, on this diagram, I see that there is a water inlet from an external water source to go in to the reactor pump...does it matter what size pump I use to pump from that water source to the Eheim? With my Kalkwasser reactor I use a Maxijet 1200 to pump to the reactor and build enough pressure to pump to the sump for ATO; is this enough of a pump to go to the eheim? Does is always need to be on? This is supposed to reacting with RODI water and not pumping saltwater into the reactor right? WOW do I feel like a dummy!

 

[roscoe]

Your calcium reactor need to be feed saltwater from your aquarium and a MJ1200 is more than enough. the eheim on the reactor is the recirc pump to keep the effluent moving in the reactor.

 

[FreakinReefin]

Your calcium reactor need to be feed saltwater from your aquarium and a MJ1200 is more than enough. the eheim on the reactor is the recirc pump to keep the effluent moving in the reactor.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....okay.:idea:

I am picking up a Pinpoint monitor and probe today from Barrier so hopefully that should help. Still don't know how the hell the probe will go into the lid...or if it even does go into the lid...

 

[roscoe]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....okay.:idea:

I am picking up a Pinpoint monitor and probe today from Barrier so hopefully that should help. Still don't know how the hell the probe will go into the lid...or if it even does go into the lid...

The probe adapter on the lid is an additional option one has when ordering new reactor. It is Ok if you don't have a built in probe adapter. Alot of folks running a reactor don't have that option. The alternative is what I posted earlier. Let the effluent drip into a small bowl and place your probe in there. Also to you don't want to get a PH monitor you want a PH controller. The monitor will not shut down the electronic selenoid when it reaches your predetermined effluent PH to stop CO2 from entering your CaRx and potentially crashing your PH in the reactor and in turn crashing your whole system.

 

[FreakinReefin]

Okay, but I can run the reactor without having the controller on there right? It would make life just a little bit harder I would imagine...

 

[roscoe]

Okay, but I can run the reactor without having the controller on there right? It would make life just a little bit harder I would imagine...

You can run it without the controller but yes life will be harder. It is much safer to use a controller. I beleive someone here ran one without a controller and the outcome wasnt good. I think it was Mike (returnofsid). If it wasn't you Mike sorry

 

[roscoe]

To be honest with you. With your size tank and I'm not sure if you are SPS dominate or not. You really don't need a CaRx if you are already topping off with lime water. I did just fine with my 40b SPS dominated tank without a CaRx for 3 years just by topping off with lime water. The SPS grew like mad in my 40B. I sure miss that tank!