retractors, and ph controllers

[jmaness084]

does anyone know of any good articles explaining calcium retractors , ph controllers, and there uses together. or could anyone give some info on this.

[cnaegler]

A calcium reactor is simply an enclosed area filled with media, namely aragonite. You inject CO2 into this enclosed area to lower the PH of the water inside the reactor to approx. 6.8. Theres an attached pump on the reactor that circulates the water and CO2 inside the reactor to mix it. When the water reaches approximately 6.8, the media begins to "melt" releasing calcium and raising/ maintaining alkalinity. Theres a feed line via a tee in your return line (more reliable) or a seperate powerhead that feeds the reactor saltwater from your tank and pushes it through the reactor to another line that returns back into your sump. That return line has some sort of flow control knob on it to control the drip rate back into the sump.
The PH controller does exactly what it's name states, it effectively allows you to control the level of PH inside the reactor, therefore controlling the amount of "melt" that occurs. A PH probe, also connected to the controller, inserts into the reactor and measures the PH INSIDE the reactor. The controller, that you have set to prefered PH levels, reads the PH and controls the flow of CO2 into the reactor via a solenoid switch and needle valve, of which is attached to the CO2 bottle.
If you can't understand my entirely too long jibberish, check out this site. Melev can explain it WAY better than i can.

http://www.melevsreef.com/calcium_reactor.html

[Cove Beach]

That was actually pretty much as good as it gets without describing where to mount stuff!