Controlling CaRx Output Flow

[Snowboarda42]

I just bought a Lifereef Calcium reactor which is good up to 300G. Since its on my tank with a total volume of 55G, the drip rate is turned WAY down to ~20ml/min. It uses a plastic clamp to pinch down the output tube to where I want the flow, but I keep on having to adjust it since it keeps slowing down over a few days.

Is there a better way to control the output?

I was thinking of bringing the flow up quite a bit and lowering the concentration of calcium in the effluent, but I'm not sure whether I should raise the pH or take out some of the Korallith media?

 

[apollothesun]

how are you feeding the reactor? gravity or with a pump..

 

[Snowboarda42]

It has a Rio 180 pump to feed it

 

[bc_slc]

I would rope down the input with a gate valve. Gate valve will give you the most control and then the reactor is less susceptable to pressure changes. Also, by clamping the output, calcium and other stuff will buildup, slowing things down over time.

 

[Snowboarda42]

Hey Matt,

How do you go about doing that? The line input is ~1/4"

 

[apollothesun]

i think they make gate valves for that size if im not mistaken, i thinks, but you can use a valve to control the input, they have em at lowes and homedepot for about 6 bucks.

 

[Skimmy]

i would increase the process water through the reactor so it doesnt dwell as long inside, and decrease the co2 bpm.
this way the water is constantly "pissing" and easier to control, and the valves dont clog as fast.

if you just slowed down the process water, it would dwell longer in the reactor and your ca/alk levels will go up, and the ph will go down, so that would have the opposite effect of what your looking for.

 

[Skimmy]

also, you really really should feed it with a better pump than a rio 800...
i'd do an eheim pump, like a 1048 or 1250 depending on reactor size. that would help alot as far as stabilizing the effluent output as well

 

[Snowboarda42]

i would increase the process water through the reactor so it doesnt dwell as long inside, and decrease the co2 bpm.
this way the water is constantly "pissing" and easier to control, and the valves dont clog as fast.

if you just slowed down the process water, it would dwell longer in the reactor and your ca/alk levels will go up, and the ph will go down, so that would have the opposite effect of what your looking for.

I have the CO2 on a Milwaukee pH controller set at 6.2, which is what I'm told the Koralith media starts to melt at. If I decrease the CO2, won't the pH rise and the media not melt?

I was thinking of using a john guest ball valve on the effluent line out of this thing.

Something like this:

 

[bc_slc]

So no matter what you do to mess with the flow through the reactor, you are going to have to dial in the CO2 all over again. No matter what you do, you need to have the balance of flow through the reactor and the CO2 entering so that the media will disolve. You can either have the flow through the reactor fast with lots of used CO2 or flow slow and use less - but still maintaining the pH you need.

In general, it is easier to regulate flow on the inflow side of the reactor, because if you restrict the outflow then it pressurizes the reactor. Some reactors will even leak if this is the case.

The valve you show is a ball valve - they are very hard to fine tune. You want a small gate valve. In the drip-irrigation section of home depot, there are plastic gate valves that are black plastic. They have a spike on one end. They are perfect for this. They cost about $2-3 or so.

(I looked on Homedepots site to see if they have something similar, but could not find anything).

Mat

 

[Snowboarda42]

Only ones I could find around any drip irrigation stuff looked like this:

Are these the ones?

 

[bc_slc]

This is not it - but it looks more like this...
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=44223-1029-MLD-STA&lpage=none

Black with a stake. There is a barbed inlet and outlet with a little square screw to dial in the gate.

Mat