Do I need a bigger calcium reactor?

[Piper27]

I am using a Geo 618 keeping the ph in the reactor set between 6.39 and 6.59 and the drip rate has been set at a stream for a while and if I open it up more it will be open about all the way. I can't get my alk any higher than 8.2. The tank is a 210 with a decent amount of sps and the ph probe has been calibrated recently. I was hoping this one would work on this system but I am thinking I need to upgrade. I had redbugs and after I got rid of them it seems like I had to bump up the drip, same thing now that I think the aefw are gone. Last time I increased the drip rate the alk didn't really go up any. I would hate to have to dump a bunch of money on another reactor but I think thats what I gotta do, what do you think? And if thats the case is there any cheaper reactors other than the Geo that are just as good? I love the geo and I am scared to buy anything else. Also if I upgrade should I go as big as I can? I am planning on letting everything grow out more than trimming all the time, plus I am adding a frag tank once I am sure these flatworms are toast.

[Waterobert]

Before you spend big $ on new reactor you should consider changing Eheim 1048 pump for something larger. That way you will increase virtual height of you reactor. Many people believe that pump on Geo 618 is to small.

[Piper27]

Hmm, I wonder what pump is best to switch with, I see the next step up on the ehiem has one side with a different size. Also I would think that switching out the pump would only have a small effect on the performance, anyone have any experience with this one? Also I am using the small arm media, its all I have ever used and I was under the impression that as long as you keep it from clumping up its more effective since it has more surface area.

[shifty51008]

can't you just increase the co2 bubble rate?

[Piper27]

If I increase the bubble rate its going to just make the chambers ph go from 6.5 to 6.3 quicker from what I understand. As long as the chamber has the right ph the bubble count shouldn't matter right? I have it set so the solenoid doesn't click on and off too often and the ph in the reactor slowly goes from one setting to the other.

[tinmanhouston]

Using the calcium reactor to increase the alk will also increase your ca. Try to increase the alk alone by dosing just the alk supplement until the desire level then use the CaX to maintain it. This is what I had to do with my GEO 612 on my 185gal with lots of SPS.

[Piper27]

Well the calcium needs to come up also, when you dosed how often were you dosing? I have already had to dose a few times to get the calcium level back up, I still don't know how it fell that much. I think it was at like 320 and now its up to 400. I have never heard of having to dose when running a reactor I have always just used the reactor to increase the levels, dosing with it seems kinda pointless. I think I need to find out what pump I can use with this reactor, the 1050 ehiem or whatever the next step is, has a 3/4 inlet and the reactors pipes are all half inch so not sure what I can do with that. Also if I buy a new pump and it helps a little bit, that may only work for a few months then I am back where I started and out 150 bucks. I really wanna figure out whats going on. I wonder if a maxijet would work as a recirculating pump on it?

[tinmanhouston]

Lets say you want to keep your ca at 400 and raise your alk only then the only way to do this is to dose only alk supplement without raising your ca level. Once you reach your desire alk level then you stop dosing. This is not pointless. Since my ph is low (7.9 - 8.0) , I use Soda Ash (Sodium Carbonate) instead of Sodium Bicarbonate from BRS to raise my alk to 9. The mixture of 1 teaspoon with a gal of ro/di will last for 2 days with a peristaltic pump at a low rate to avoid the alk shock.

[Piper27]

How often were you dosing to keep your alk in check when you had your 612? And yea its not pointless if its saving me from buying a new reactor of course.

[tinmanhouston]

Originally Posted by Piper27

How often were you dosing to keep your alk in check when you had your 612? And yea its not pointless if its saving me from buying a new reactor of course.

Only when I need to dial in the reactor again (adding media, cleaning, replacing regulator) so not too often that I dose. I have no problem keeping up the demand of ca/alk with my 612. I am currently set my bubble rate of 1 bubble /3 sec but I do have an effluent chamber and zeomag in my main so it helps .

[Piper27]

Right on, I think I am going to try this for a while and maybe research a better pump to see if it will slow down my drip rate some but I don't think it will be worth it. If anyone has ever switched pumps on the 618 let me know what you used and how it worked. Or if anyone has any ideas do the same. I never found out why my calcium dropped so much. I didn't test for it for maybe a month and a half and it dropped from 425 to 330 or something, while alk stayed the same the whole time.

[tkeracer619]

Add a second chamber. A bigger pump won't increase contact time.

[Da Saltwater DJ]

I'm having a calcium drop also . Do you guys dose at night or during the day ?

[tkeracer619]

Also consider adding kalkwasser to your top off.

It doesn't matter when you dose. Whatever you find more convenient.

[Piper27]

I use a second chamber and also dose kalk in a kalkstir. And I do think the money and time finding a pump that is a little stronger probly won't help as much as I would want it to.

[sirreal63]

Adding the higher capacity pump will help, it did in my case but there are limits. a 618 is a large body and the 1048 is about as wimpy as a pump can be, I would run a 1260 on it, the piping will limit the GPH but the 1260 is plenty strong. Virtual height is real and does have an impact. I would not change reactors, the GEO is a good piece of equipment, but it can be improved upon. For reference, I use a 1250 on a 3x12 (actual media holding capacity is 3x9) body and it is about perfect.

Borrowed from JDieck here... http://reef.diesyst.com/crarticle/crarticle.htm
"Virtual height of the media column: What? Well let me explain. Every time the water passes trough the media it is equivalent to having a media column equal to its height. If the water re-circulates five times, it will be equivalent to have a media column five times taller in comparison to a reactor with no re-circulation pump thus achieving a virtual height of five times. A more powerful pump may re-circulate say ten times thus creating a virtual height twice as tall as the reactor with the pump re-circulating only five times.

The higher the virtual height of the media the longer the time the media will be in contact with the acidic water or in other words the longer the retention time will be and the longer the time, the more effective the dissolution and CO2 consumption will be.

Also the higher the virtual height, the higher the water velocity will be thus making it more effective to drive the calcium and carbonate ions away from the media surface resulting in an increased performance.

In summary, a larger re-circulation pump will increase the performance by increasing the virtual height of the media thus the increase in retention time and the flow velocity.

Now hold your horse! This does not mean that installing a swimming pool size pump in a reactor will make it better, of course there are practical and physical limitations to the size of the pump, limitations like wasted power consumption, propensity for cavitation at the pump, vibration, media tumbling and breaking apart, media carry over and so on."

Some may not agree, and that is ok, my own experience shows me that it does make a difference, as well as adding a gas recirc loop. When trying to crank the reactor up, not all of the CO2 gets dissolved and collects in the highest part of the reactor, in most reactors this is where the effluent leaves the system, and also where any undissolved gas exits, and you don't want that, you want as close to 100% of the CO2 to be used, not expelled. GEO's are not as bad as some reactors with expelling gas, but they can. That probably isn't you issue you are having so I would concentrate on getting rid of the wimpy pump.

[Piper27]

Right on thanks for the help man, do you think the 1260 will be too much flow through it since I use the small arm media? I would think that since the reactor is fairly wide it would be okay. That would be 4x the flow I think. Also I would worry that the input and output are twice the size of each pipe running from it, you think that would make the pump struggle and not last as long? I surely don't want to spend 100 bucks to double the gph and have the same problem I had before or spend more and have the pump burn up quickly.

[reeffreak25]

Why are you trying to raise your alkalinity? 8.2 dKH is fine.

A lot of people do more harm than good trying to manipulate their parameters too much. Not that you are... just saying.

[sirreal63]

I haven't used the small media in many years, so I am not sure on that. As far as burning the pump out, it is possible but not very probable. You can always drop back to the 1250 if you want or use a different pump altogether. I used the 1250 because I already had it, but you could use anything that won't leak. I am not sure how handy you are, but a larger piping would also be possible. Even a Mag 3 or 5 would be better than that 1048. I would also consider the water blaster pumps or a newer Rio. The 1048 is a great pump, but just too small for that volume of reactor.

I agree with not elevating too much more than 8.2, but if the kalk and CaRx isn't doing it, something is wrong. You should be able to crank that 618 far beyond the demands of a 210 gallon tank unless it is chocked full of mature sps.

[Piper27]

I normally keep it at 8.5 and was always able to tweak the alk with the drip rate. I think I am going to try to get a better pump and hope that it helps this thing run better. Its definatly a good reactor and I would love to keep it as long as I can. Seems like I would be more comfortable with the mag 5 even though I have never used one before, it has both half inch in and outs so I won't have to change anything or worry about the pump running hot or something. And I wish the tank was "chocked full of mature sps" but it may be a year or two before I can make that claim!

[Piper27]

So I am going to go pick up a mag 5 today and I post if it helps or not.