Official: Masterflex Calcium Reactor Setup Thread

[slief]

Originally Posted by ReefTron5000

Just got home, I'm about to connect it to the Apex.

Something I'm confused about -- while I was at work a couple hours ago I called and had my wife and had her disconnect the carbondoser power. However the pH in the reactor continued to go down. It went from 5.96 to 5.88. Shouldn't the gas flow have stopped with a carbondoser turned off? I assumed once it was off the pH would gradually increase again in the reactor. I don't see any bubbles in the counter.

Yes. With the carbon doser unplugged, the reactor pH should start to go up shortly after cutting off the Co2 unless the regulator has an issue but if that was the case, you would see bubbles rising in the bubble counter. This leads me to question your pH probe. I would check it with some pH 4 or pH7 calibration solution for proper calibration or recalibrate it.

[slief]

Originally Posted by Vinny Kreyling

On the Mini Cal there is a check valve beneath the bubble counter.

You are correct. I just looked at pictures of a MiniCal I had and it did have a check valve on the bubble counter and as I recall, it was a serviceable one. If he’s getting water down past that check valve, I would see if it comes apart and check it. Granted, that won’t address is current pH issue but it will certainly help protect his regulator.

[ReefTron5000]

Originally Posted by slief

Yes. With the carbon doser unplugged, the reactor pH should start to go up shortly after cutting off the Co2 unless the regulator has an issue but if that was the case, you would see bubbles rising in the bubble counter. This leads me to question your pH probe. I would check it with some pH 4 or pH7 calibration solution for proper calibration or recalibrate it.

Yeah the reading on it is not quite making sense. Just found my calibration solutions, going to do that in a minute.

Also, does it matter how much water is in the bubble counter chamber? Mine is damn near filled with water. There is like 1/2" of air at the top.

[ReefTron5000]

Probe was wildly off earlier. New reading post calibration is 6.82.

[slief]

Originally Posted by ReefTron5000

Probe was wildly off earlier. New reading post calibration is 6.82.

[ReefTron5000]

Still wondering about this

Also, does it matter how much water is in the bubble counter chamber? Mine is damn near filled with water. There is like 1/2" of air at the top.

[dodgerblew]

Good to see you're up and going

[slief]

Originally Posted by ReefTron5000

Still wondering about this

Also, does it matter how much water is in the bubble counter chamber? Mine is damn near filled with water. There is like 1/2" of air at the top.

Nope. It doesn’t matter. IN fact, mine is completely full. Its only purpose is to have water in it so you can count the bubbles.

[ReefTron5000]

I think you already touched on this but I'm basically finding it very very difficult to get consistent readings on the bubble counter. It is in no way corresponding to the Seconds per Bubble dial on the CarbonDoser. I know you mentioned this is because I have the PSI set so low. Right now I have it set at 3 PSI and 10 seconds per bubble. I think you also mentioned that this is the basically the lowest I can go with the regulator in terms of supplying co2 to the reactor? Do I have that right?

Basically I can't rely on the bubble counter other than being able to see there is in fact gas going to the reactor, correct? Hence the Apex.

[slief]

Originally Posted by ReefTron5000

Basically I can't rely on the bubble counter other than being able to see there is in fact gas going to the reactor, correct? Hence the Apex.

You are correct. The bubble counter is nothing more than a means for you to see the gas released. The Carbon doser uses a solenoid that opens at set intervals based on the dial and it releases gas when the solenoid opens. The higher the pressure, the great the bubble size or the amount of gas passed with each opening of the solenoid. What passes through the tubing will break up into smaller bubbles that work their way out of the tubing. It’s very similar to how the effluent leaves the tubing into your sump. You likely have a 1/4” tubing and while the Masterflex outputs a consistent rate of flow as you have it set, what comes out of the tubing is a drip drip drip or a very broken up drip rate to slow stream depending on the flow rate you have set. You are running such a slow Co2 rate that what you see coming through the counter will be very inconsistent in terms of bubble size and bubbles per second but the carbon doser is releasing a very precise amount of Co2 between the bubble rate and output pressure. As such, don’t waste your time counting bubbles because you will drive yourself nuts doing so unless you are running a much higher bubble rate and even then, it’s not necessarily going to match what you have it set to because the gas will break up in the tubing and make it’s way out of the tubing as the pressure in the tubing sees fit.

[ReefTron5000]

Originally Posted by slief

You are correct. The bubble counter is nothing more than a means for you to see the gas released. The Carbon doser uses a solenoid that opens at set intervals based on the dial and it releases gas when the solenoid opens. The higher the pressure, the great the bubble size or the amount of gas passed with each opening of the solenoid. What passes through the tubing will break up into smaller bubbles that work their way out of the tubing. It’s very similar to how the effluent leaves the tubing into your sump. You likely have a 1/4” tubing and while the Masterflex outputs a consistent rate of flow as you have it set, what comes out of the tubing is a drip drip drip or a very broken up drip rate to slow stream depending on the flow rate you have set. You are running such a slow Co2 rate that what you see coming through the counter will be very inconsistent in terms of bubble size and bubbles per second but the carbon doser is releasing a very precise amount of Co2 between the bubble rate and output pressure. As such, don’t waste your time counting bubbles because you will drive yourself nuts doing so unless you are running a much higher bubble rate and even then, it’s not necessarily going to match what you have it set to because the gas will break up in the tubing and make it’s way out of the tubing as the pressure in the tubing sees fit.

Buddy I wish I could buy you a beer.

The pH has been kind of stable at little more than 6.5 for the last few hours. I have it set at just under 3 PSI and 10 seconds per bubble. Will monitor and see how it goes.

[ReefTron5000]

The questions never end...

I'm using a Masterflex 7523-60 with an ezload head. I'm unable to set the flow to anything lower than 30 ml/min. Pressing the down arrow just makes the 30 blink. I'm looking at the online manual but I don't see anything about this. Shouldn't I be able to go lower than this?

[slief]

Originally Posted by ReefTron5000

The questions never end...

I'm using a Masterflex 7523-60 with an ezload head. I'm unable to set the flow to anything lower than 30 ml/min. Pressing the down arrow just makes the 30 blink. I'm looking at the online manual but I don't see anything about this. Shouldn't I be able to go lower than this?

That pumps minimum RPM is 10 RPM. Depending on what that head flows at with LS17 tubing, that could be correct. If the flow rate is 3 ml per rotation than that would explain it. FWIW. A standard Easy Load head such as a 7518-00 flows at 2.7ml per RPM with LS17 tubing so the minimum flow rate would me 27ml/min.

[ReefTron5000]

Originally Posted by slief

That pumps minimum RPM is 10 RPM. Depending on what that head flows at with LS17 tubing, that could be correct. If the flow rate is 3 ml per rotation than that would explain it. FWIW. A standard Easy Load head such as a 7518-00 flows at 2.7ml per RPM with LS17 tubing so the minimum flow rate would me 27ml/min.

Okay so I'm limited to a minimum flow rate of 30ml/min. Hopefully this will still work for my application.


Soooo last night there were further...developments. I had plugged the CarbonDoser into Outlet #8 in my EB8. It was off. I switched it to on manually and immediately heard a pop. Carbondoser no longer working.

The adapter I got for the CarbonDoser was a 12V .5A. I called AquariumPlants this morning to seek some advice and the guy said that many years ago they switched to a 1A adapter. I go to the office and try to find a replacement adapter and come up with a 12V .75A. Plugged it in and thankfully the CarbonDoser is working.

But now I'm hesitant to plug it in to the Apex again. Thoughts?

[slief]

Originally Posted by ReefTron5000

Okay so I'm limited to a minimum flow rate of 30ml/min. Hopefully this will still work for my application.


Soooo last night there were further...developments. I had plugged the CarbonDoser into Outlet #8 in my EB8. It was off. I switched it to on manually and immediately heard a pop. Carbondoser no longer working.

The adapter I got for the CarbonDoser was a 12V .5A. I called AquariumPlants this morning to seek some advice and the guy said that many years ago they switched to a 1A adapter. I go to the office and try to find a replacement adapter and come up with a 12V .75A. Plugged it in and thankfully the CarbonDoser is working.

But now I'm hesitant to plug it in to the Apex again. Thoughts?

There is no reason you should have any concerns controlling it through the Apex. I’ve had mine plugged into my apex for years now and I’ve installed many others that way. If I had concerns, I would not have made that suggestion.

[slief]

Originally Posted by ReefTron5000

Okay so I'm limited to a minimum flow rate of 30ml/min. Hopefully this will still work for my application.

6.5 at 30ml a min may be a bit much alk/ca for your tank depdning on the system size and uptake. Measure alk daily and see what it does but I suspect that you will need to increase the pH in the reactor either through Apex control or decreasing the pressure on the regulator since I think your at the max interval between bubbles. Then again, I don’t recall what media you were using but if it’s reborn, you will most likely want to run a higher pH than that if you are stuck at 30ml/min. Testing will be the only way to know for sure though.

[ReefTron5000]

Okay understood.

Another question...

Last night before the Carbondoser stopped working the pH in the reactor was 6.5-6.6. I continued to have flow through the reactor all night at 30 ml/min. When I checked in the morning, the pH was still 6.55. Shouldn't the pH have gone up in the reactor by the morning?

When the adapter blew up on me, I went to check the setup and thought maybe the solenoid got stuck open or something but there were no bubbles going through the counter.

[ReefTron5000]

I rescind the above question. Something is up with the BRS inline PH probe holder I'm using is. The readings didn't make sense to me so I turned off the Eheim pump and removed the probe. I collected some effluent water into a little vial and put the ph probe in that directly. It reads 7.7!

I'm not sure if the probe is not sitting right in the fitting or what. There is a little black pin that sits under the probe in the fitting. I think water is supposed to push up and around the probe. I think maybe its not working right and the probe isn't getting flow around it or something.

[slief]

Originally Posted by ReefTron5000

I rescind the above question. Something is up with the BRS inline PH probe holder I'm using is. The readings didn't make sense to me so I turned off the Eheim pump and removed the probe. I collected some effluent water into a little vial and put the ph probe in that directly. It reads 7.7!

I'm not sure if the probe is not sitting right in the fitting or what. There is a little black pin that sits under the probe in the fitting. I think water is supposed to push up and around the probe. I think maybe its not working right and the probe isn't getting flow around it or something.

I know nothing about that probe port you are using but the end of the probe needs to be in the path of the water and not obstructed.

[Krazie4Acans]

Originally Posted by ReefTron5000

I rescind the above question. Something is up with the BRS inline PH probe holder I'm using is. The readings didn't make sense to me so I turned off the Eheim pump and removed the probe. I collected some effluent water into a little vial and put the ph probe in that directly. It reads 7.7!

I'm not sure if the probe is not sitting right in the fitting or what. There is a little black pin that sits under the probe in the fitting. I think water is supposed to push up and around the probe. I think maybe its not working right and the probe isn't getting flow around it or something.

Refer to my post #3210. I believe that you are having CO2 gas build up either in the T or at the probe holder. I think you would be better off to have the T placed in the vertical section of pipe going to your Eheim pump instead of the flat section at the top.

[ReefTron5000]

Originally Posted by Krazie4Acans

Refer to my post #3210. I believe that you are having CO2 gas build up either in the T or at the probe holder. I think you would be better off to have the T placed in the vertical section of pipe going to your Eheim pump instead of the flat section at the top.

Totally missed your post. You may be on to something. I was sick of the inconsistent readings so I just removed the probe from there altogether. I've got the effluent overflowing from a cup in the sump and I have the pH probe in that cup.

I may install it vertically but I think that may be trickier because that pipe extends up and down. If its fine in the sump though I may just leave it where it is.

[biglurr54]

I have a masterflex 7520-00 with a 7518-00 head. It makes a squeaking noise when its running. It sounds like it needs lubrication somewhere. Are there bearings that can be serviced? Any other points that can be lubricated (Like the rollers)? Its not a problem as it is in my basement but a squeaky bearing is a failing bearing….

[Krazie4Acans]

Originally Posted by ReefTron5000

Totally missed your post. You may be on to something. I was sick of the inconsistent readings so I just removed the probe from there altogether. I've got the effluent overflowing from a cup in the sump and I have the pH probe in that cup.

I may install it vertically but I think that may be trickier because that pipe extends up and down. If its fine in the sump though I may just leave it where it is.

You could also drill a hole in your reactor lid and pot a new probe holder there so it's directly in the reactor body instead of in the plumbing.

[ReefTron5000]

Originally Posted by Krazie4Acans

You could also drill a hole in your reactor lid and pot a new probe holder there so it's directly in the reactor body instead of in the plumbing.

Not sure how I'd install it without leaking?

[Vinny Kreyling]

There are fittings for a top install. Many reactors come with them.