CalcFeeder Basic/Pro - latest generation calcium reactor

[gcarroll]

Originally Posted by Johnseye

Despite my replacement pump being shipped from PacSun on 6/5 it is still in Cologne Germany according to FedEx tracking. It was supposed to arrive today according to original estimates, which would have been just over a week in transit. Now I have now idea when it will get here.

Despite PacSun having a US distributor for purchases, that distributor is not currently carrying the Aquabee pump. So, it shipped from Poland like everything else so far. Without a US distributor for these parts there is a risk when failure occurs. @gcarroll pointed this out earlier in this thread and he is spot on. When you rely on this equipment to keep your livestock alive and healthy a long outage like this puts that livestock at risk.

So far my reactor has been down or not working properly more than it has been working well. I don't blame PacSun for the Aquabee failure, although they did select this pump as a part of their reactor. Their parts distribution should be handled better, and is something I will now consider more in the future. PacSun has done a lot to help me troubleshoot and resolve problems, but I continue to have problems and shouldn't have had them in the first place.

Hopefully the controller doesn't fail...ever and the new pump allows the reactor to be stable for years to come.

Actually, you can contact Deepwater for all your service needs. I confirmed this with Dean Tapper at Reefapalooza Orlando. I will however say that in my experience, Aquabee pumps are the worst pump I have ever seen when used on a calcium reactor. My second calcium reactor (ATI) used an Aquabee and I went through three pumps before I gave up. Don't know why any high end product would choose an Aquabee over an Eheim or Sicce.

[Johnseye]

Originally Posted by gcarroll

Actually, you can contact Deepwater for all your service needs. I confirmed this with Dean Tapper at Reefapalooza Orlando. I will however say that in my experience, Aquabee pumps are the worst pump I have ever seen when used on a calcium reactor. My second calcium reactor (ATI) used an Aquabee and I went through three pumps before I gave up. Don't know why any high end product would choose an Aquabee over an Eheim or Sicce.

Probably cost related, but when you depend on the Aquabee to support your own brand and its reputation is the loss of sales worth it? Hopefully I don't go through more failed pumps after this one.

I asked PacSun if they could ship from Deepwater, but the parts aren't there yet. Hopefully in the future.

[gcarroll]

Originally Posted by Johnseye

Probably cost related, but when you depend on the Aquabee to support your own brand and its reputation is the loss of sales worth it? Hopefully I don't go through more failed pumps after this one.

I asked PacSun if they could ship from Deepwater, but the parts aren't there yet. Hopefully in the future.

Dean is really good with customers. I have known him since he worked at Sunlight Supply and he has always been great!

[Przemek_PacSun]

Hello,
We can only apologize for that situation.
In next week we will sign additional agreement with Fedex for IP parcels(actually we have only Economy available on our account).
We are sure that within short time all parts(if they will be needed) will be stocked by DeepWater and in case any failure direct shippings help protect Customers tanks.
About Aquabee - we have only good experiences with their pumps (new series) and they have very well reviews in Europe. They stand behind their products and in compare to other brands from China - they react very fast.
BR

Przemek

[robbous]

Quick question for all that own these reactors, how long have you had yours and have you been running yours without any issues? I'm a little disappointed that I can't get any text support until June 19.

[lionfish300]

Originally Posted by robbous

Quick question for all that own these reactors, how long have you had yours and have you been running yours without any issues? I'm a little disappointed that I can't get any text support until June 19.

I have my for 6 months plus now I gave up because of all the problems Back with dosing pump. An expensive piece of equipment that just sitting taking up room

[robbous]

I meant tech support, And yes lionfish i'm beginning to feel your pain but still holding out hope I too am back to dosing, owning a 500 gallon system I need a calcium reactor. I will admit I'm getting very very frustrated not being able to get this thing running and then have it running stable

[Przemek_PacSun]

Rob,
I have replied to your messages.
We have free from work days in Poland and there are high financial penalties if anybody is working(only pharmacy and petrol stations can work normally).
As I said informed on messenger - I will back to you asap without matter for this.
Thank you for understanding.

Regards

Przemek

[Ted_C]

After reading through this thread and waiting for mine to be delivered, I did develop some questions:

The Aquabee Pump: Did anyone try taking a look and seeing how hard it would be to replace with some other DC pump? Like a vectra or other? Is it impossible to do because of the plumbing/unions/euro fittings instead of US fittings or no one has tried this? Are the fittings glued in such a way that it makes this impossible? Is it a warranty concern?

Earlier there was mention of reborn being the wrong media to use in this reactor and a switch was recommended to ARM media. BulkreefSupply has three grades of ARM: Extra Coarse, Coarse, and Small. Considering the "backpressure" requirements needed for the AC4 - which is the correct media to run in the reactor?

[TerenceF]

Originally Posted by Johnseye

Despite my replacement pump being shipped from PacSun on 6/5 it is still in Cologne Germany according to FedEx tracking. It was supposed to arrive today according to original estimates, which would have been just over a week in transit. Now I have now idea when it will get here.



Despite PacSun having a US distributor for purchases, that distributor is not currently carrying the Aquabee pump. So, it shipped from Poland like everything else so far. Without a US distributor for these parts there is a risk when failure occurs. @gcarroll pointed this out earlier in this thread and he is spot on. When you rely on this equipment to keep your livestock alive and healthy a long outage like this puts that livestock at risk.



So far my reactor has been down or not working properly more than it has been working well. I don't blame PacSun for the Aquabee failure, although they did select this pump as a part of their reactor. Their parts distribution should be handled better, and is something I will now consider more in the future. PacSun has done a lot to help me troubleshoot and resolve problems, but I continue to have problems and shouldn't have had them in the first place.



Hopefully the controller doesn't fail...ever and the new pump allows the reactor to be stable for years to come.

AquaBee pumps should not be used in calcium reactors. This info I got straight from the founder of AquaBee himself at Interzoo when I asked him about the two pumps I went through in five months on my deltec reactor.

He told me first that They do not "allow" the pump for this purpose. Crazy huh?

From inspection on two failed pumps my opinion is what happens is fine dust of the media gets in the back bushing/bearing of the pump and causes it to begin to seize and slip in the plastic retaining area of the pump body. This tears up the flexible holder for the shaft bearing a bit until things begin to be eccentric enough that it just gets worse and worse from there. If you want to see pics and more info, it is somewhere in the middle of my build thread.

[Johnseye]

Originally Posted by Ted_C

After reading through this thread and waiting for mine to be delivered, I did develop some questions:

The Aquabee Pump: Did anyone try taking a look and seeing how hard it would be to replace with some other DC pump? Like a vectra or other? Is it impossible to do because of the plumbing/unions/euro fittings instead of US fittings or no one has tried this? Are the fittings glued in such a way that it makes this impossible? Is it a warranty concern?

Earlier there was mention of reborn being the wrong media to use in this reactor and a switch was recommended to ARM media. BulkreefSupply has three grades of ARM: Extra Coarse, Coarse, and Small. Considering the "backpressure" requirements needed for the AC4 - which is the correct media to run in the reactor?

The flow would have to be very very close to the same. You may need adapters for the unions or use some other kind of fitting but I'm sure it can be done. PacSun would have to confirm whether this voids their warranty but I'm guessing they don't want support issues related to something they didn't sell.

I was told by PacSun to use ARM Coarse. I don't think it matters whether it's Reborn or ARM. Your PH needs to be low enough to break down the coral.

Originally Posted by TerenceF

AquaBee pumps should not be used in calcium reactors. This info I got straight from the founder of AquaBee himself at Interzoo when I asked him about the two pumps I went through in five months on my deltec reactor.

He told me first that They do not "allow" the pump for this purpose. Crazy huh?

From inspection on two failed pumps my opinion is what happens is fine dust of the media gets in the back bushing/bearing of the pump and causes it to begin to seize and slip in the plastic retaining area of the pump body. This tears up the flexible holder for the shaft bearing a bit until things begin to be eccentric enough that it just gets worse and worse from there. If you want to see pics and more info, it is somewhere in the middle of my build thread.

Companies like Deltec and PacSun are going back to Aquabee with these failed pumps so they must have an arrangement, or else Aquabee can tell them to pound sand. Maybe the line is fine between "allow" and "covered under warranty".

I believe it's possible for the dust to cause an issue and disrupt the impeller. I'll have to check out your build thread. Where can I find that?

Unfortunately it was a bad weekend for me. A couple hours before my flight Friday morning my Apex literally started smoking. Talk about panic mode. I had a spare Apex but no time to clone it. I plugged my stalwart RD3 pump into an outlet along with a backup heater and my wife plugged the lights on and off while I was away that weekend. My alk and calcium which I had moved over to the DOS with the PacSun down plummeted without any supplement. It's all back up now but when it rains it pours.

[TerenceF]

Sorry to hear about the apex woes. The aquabee pump issue on deleted is well documented on forums for years. I tool mine off and retrofitted it for a sicce. So did Brad Syphus who also has a huge graveyard of aquabee pumps from over the years.

Can't post the build thread link here but you can google Gilroy 425g apex and prob come up with it.




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[HippieSmell]

I found something potentially helpful. I had issues where my ALK kept dropping, eventually falling to 7 dKH with an effluent pH of 8.1. The confusing part was the bioball chamber was half full of what I assumed was CO2. However, I think it was just air. The reason is because my dosing pump intake was in the drain section of my sump, which has a lot of microbubbles. I think that was enough to fill the bioball chamber over time and slowly raise the pH. So, I removed all the air and moved the intake to a different section, and now it's working properly. My tank ALK is already up to 8, from 7, in one day.

I also had the co2 recirculation valve open, which may have been part of the problem.

[HippieSmell]

How often is the solenoid supposed to trigger? Mine is about every 15 seconds.

[HippieSmell]

My solenoid fails to activate a couple times each day, which stops dosing. Anyone else having this issue?

[Przemek_PacSun]

Solenoid trigger time depend of reactor state.
If it's during saturation(first day - maybe two) phase - it will do very often.
In next phase - frequency depend from effluent flow.
Higher flow = more "fresh water"(from aquarium) added to reactor = more co2 saturated in water = frequently triggering solenoid

Also if your CO2 flow is too low(2-3 bubbles/s) it will turn on/off more often.
If it's opened too long it will start CO2 alarm - controller stop solenoid valve and inform about not proper work.
Solution is increasing co2 flow - you can simply check it by putting tube (from co2 bottle/after solenoid) under the water level - you will see how many bubbles/second it dose.

[HippieSmell]

My problem is that the solenoid never triggers and requires a reboot. What is the latest firmware version? Mine says v.s10

[Przemek_PacSun]

What it mean - never triggers?
Without triggering it will be still opened or closed. If close - co2 is not dosed.
You wrote above that "solenoid fails a couples time each day".
Red LED on solenoid is on or off?
Maybe water was flown thru solenoid(back from calcium reactor) and jammed it?
It can require reboot if there is CO2 error(too much time taken for co2 refilling but without success - solenoid will be switched off)
Yes, latest firmware is v.s10

Please send details above solenoid to service/support - they will ask you for more informations about that.

[HippieSmell]

Originally Posted by Przemek_PacSun

What it mean - never triggers?
Without triggering it will be still opened or closed. If close - co2 is not dosed.
You wrote above that "solenoid fails a couples time each day".
Red LED on solenoid is on or off?
Maybe water was flown thru solenoid(back from calcium reactor) and jammed it?
It can require reboot if there is CO2 error(too much time taken for co2 refilling but without success - solenoid will be switched off)
Yes, latest firmware is v.s10

Please send details above solenoid to service/support - they will ask you for more informations about that.

The solenoid will fail to open multiple times a day. Red LED on optical sensor, no color (black) on solenoid.

There is a check valve after the solenoid, so there shouldn't be any water flowing back.

Bubble rate is around 10 bubbles per second. Any lower and I get an error.

[Przemek_PacSun]

Thank you for explanation.
Can you confirm that have you sent mail to service with that details also?

[Johnseye]

Update. I received the replacement Aquabee pump after about a week of shipping time and my reactor is now back up and running. No issues with the current pump. If it breaks again I'll be looking at a better pump and custom plumbing work.

[robbous]

Anyone else here own the AC4 reactor and if so which regulator are you using ? Apparently my top-of-the-line regulator does not pump out enough CO2 gas to fill mixing chamber in time before getting error message.

[robbous]

This is what I'm currently using

[HippieSmell]

Originally Posted by robbous

Anyone else here own the AC4 reactor and if so which regulator are you using ? Apparently my top-of-the-line regulator does not pump out enough CO2 gas to fill mixing chamber in time before getting error message.

I'm using a Harris 15psi dual stage and Hoke Micromite on an AC3.

[biecacka]

I fell off this thread for awhile, what is everyone's thoughts on these units? Like them, worth the hype, worth the money? Ease of set up an operation.

Corey