Knop C reator anyone?

[shaywood]

I absolutely can not get me Knop C calcium reator to work right. No matter what I try the drip rate on the effluent eventually slows, then stops, and the chamber fills with air or co2. How? I fill the reactor with a "t" from my sump return and have the co2 drip rate at about 1 per second, or so. I can't figure it out!

 

[twilliard]

I have a Knop..

Whats your CO2 bubble count?

I had that problem also. If you are adding more CO2 than can be dissolved it will fill with CO2 at the top. Thats when you will get into problems.
At first I was gravity fed. The pressures were too inconsistent. So I changed it to a pressurized setup.

Mine is fed wide open from a PCX-40 (teed from sump return) then the effluent is valved at 2 drips a second and my bubble count is 25 BPM. (for my reactor and tank demands)

 

[shaywood]

Thanks my co2 bubble rate is around 60/minute

 

[twilliard]

Oh my.. slow it down! Too much

 

[shaywood]

Thanks for the help. I now have the co2 bubble rate at around 25bpm.

Question - can you see co2 bubbles in circulating in the top of your reactor?

 

[twilliard]

No not at all. Air in there gives a chance for problems. If you still see CO2 coming up out of the media slow it down even more. You shouldn't see any CO2 in the reactor.
What media are you using?
I am using Elos media and it starts to dissolve at around 7 on the PH scale which requires just a little CO2 to get to that PH.

 

[twilliard]

Oh also if you have excess CO2 in there now try to get it purged out.

 

[shaywood]

I'm currently using ARM and use to use CRM (large peices from pacific coast imports). I slowly get air co2 buildup in the top of the chamber. It looks like air bubbles boucing around. Also, I can see small bubbles escaping out through the effluent.

 

[twilliard]

Dont give up yet

Turn off your Co2

Open your effluent all the way to purge ALL air out (into a separate container)

Let run for a few days without the Co2 to make sure no air gaps happen (using your normal effluent drip rate into the system).
If after a few days there is no "air" issues you can turn your Co2 back on with a SLOW bubble rate.
If after a few more days there are no air gaps then set your bubble count to where it needs to be to dissolve the ARM.

Thats what I had to do for my Knop
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