Help me to next level with Calc Reactor?

[lanshark]

Hi folks,

Can someone tell me the process for "Dialing in" my Calc Reactor to maintain Alk,Ca,Mg? I had high Ca and borderline Alk before taking the Coraline C1502 reactor off line a month and half ago. I've been doing weekly appx. 10% water changes for the last five weeks and will continue into the future.

Here is my limited knowledge and process with the reactor;

a) I'm using JS media in the reactor.
b) I have a small microjet 400 rigged from sump to reactor input vs. old lift pump (not enough lift) to pressurize input flow and oem eheim to circulate flow in reactor.
c) I start with co2 bubble count at milwaukee regulator to 1 bubble every 3 seconds and reactor output line to drop per second into effluent cup with ph probe from milwaukee solinoid.... 2nd top output line on reactor is slowest drip direct into sump as possible.

Assumptions;

I auto top off and only use ro/di water.
My parms now are Ca 460, Alk 9.3 dkh Mg - Not tested lately

Questions - Here we go ....

1) PH of effluent must be 6.8 or lower to have any effect on tank parms? Told media won't melt if ph of effluent is not 6.5 to 6.8?
What is my TARGET ? is rule Ph of effluent 6.8 or lower?

2) Should I be testing Ca and Alk in EFFLUENT Cup? Tank?

3) I've heard one must know consumption numbers of tank? Based on a day, a week?

4) What if in a week Ca and/or Alk is too high based on Calc Reactor settings, what is the adjustment to reactor? If faster effluent drip, ph of effluent goes up, if above 6.8 does this mean add more c02 (Feeds the algae), viscous circle?

Obviously, I need some specific procedure to follow for my setup?

Appreciate all the help.... I've fallen into the ABYSS ....

[redawg]

these instructions are for a geo reactor I use but the same applies to you. http://geosreef.com/caReactorInstructions.pdf

that'll probably answer most of your questions

[bertoni]

If you have any questions after reading the article, we can help more. This page also is useful:

http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/reactor.html

Basically, the carbon dioxide and effluent flow rate need to be adjusted to match the consumption rate of your tank. That's done by experimentation, so there's no need to compute the current consumption rate, which is likely to change, anyway.