CA Reactor Advice

JurisHP · 09/11/2016, 04:15 PM

Dear Group:

I have read almost every post regarding CA Reactors, and was hoping you could be of help with mine, which is a Aquamaxx C-tech T-2, which is being fed by an APT peristaltic pump. First of all, for the life of me, I cannot get the air bubbles at the top to go away.

The MAIN reason I am reaching-out is because I cannot seem to get the pH level of my aquarium down below 8.93.

Right now, my reading are as follows:

System pH: 8.93
Reactor pH: 6.51.

My settings in Fusion are as follows:

Fallback: OFF
Set OFF
If Car_pH > 6.50 then ON
If Sys_pH < 7.85 then OFF

I have an Aquariumplants Carbon Doser (electronic), which is set as follows:

BBM: dial is set at 8.5
Pressure is at 10 psi

I do regular water changes.

Any suggestions?

mtraylor · 09/11/2016, 05:40 PM

The first thing I would do is to make sure you are only getting about 1 bubble per second in your bubble counter when the reactor is on. Also I would recalibrate your aquarium PH probe first before you make any other changes. Have you taken a test kit to test aquarium PH?

JurisHP · 09/11/2016, 05:54 PM

I did calibrate the probe. Does the amount of bubbles/sec effect the tank pH?

mtraylor · 09/11/2016, 08:11 PM

The calcium reactor is adding alkalinity to your aquarium. This will reduce your PH until the excess CO2 is degassed out of the water column. Once you get that dialed in you can maintain and level out the ph. My guess is that your PH has always been high and now you want to lower it. Is that correct?

The reason I said go to a one bubble a second is because that is a good place to start a calcium reactor. Sounds like you are producing allot CO2 in your reactor. I"m not familiar with your current design as I have a GEO reactor, but if you provide a pic it would be much easier for advice.

IF you increase your effluent into the aquarium, it will reduce your ph but you have to be really couscous before you start making adjustments like that because your alk can go out of wack and kill everything. You are in a delicate area right now.

Before you start to make any changes, have you tested the aquarium ph with a test kit? 8.9 is aweful high to have with a calcium reactor. Hard to believe. What is your effluent rate? Is it dripping, trickling or steady flow?

csb123 · 09/11/2016, 09:18 PM

Also, depending on the pump, it should be pulling water out of the reactor instead of pushing it in. Some pumps can over pressurize the reactor in the event of an obstruction.

stravo71 · 09/11/2016, 09:40 PM

The pH in your tank will always read in the 8s. Even with a calcium reactor. The only water that will read a ph of 6.8 or whatever number you are trying to hit is in the reactor itself. The effluent. Effluent is the water that exits the reactor. Fine tuning the reactor is the only way to get air bubbles to stop. Just keep playing with it and don't give up. It is well worth it. I absolutely love my reactor and will never go back to dosing. Hope that helped

Sent from my SM-S975L using Tapatalk

stravo71 · 09/11/2016, 09:45 PM

The co2 is what drops the pH. If you add more co2 the pH will fall. If you take away co2 it will climb. Once the effluent enters your system the co2 is dispersed out the top of water level. And if you ph probe is away or up current from reactor it will read a normal ph for sea water. I drip my effluent into a cup and keep my ph probe in cup. And let it overflow into sump chamber with return pump. So the excess co2 is buffered out. Pit ph probe in cup and check the effluent ph there then take probe to tank and check ph there. See what happens

Sent from my SM-S975L using Tapatalk

JurisHP · 09/12/2016, 08:03 AM

Thanks for all of the replies. I re-recalibrated the probe, and I am now getting a steady reading of 8.11.

09/11/2016, 04:15 PM	#1
JurisHP Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 168	CA Reactor Advice Dear Group: I have read almost every post regarding CA Reactors, and was hoping you could be of help with mine, which is a Aquamaxx C-tech T-2, which is being fed by an APT peristaltic pump. First of all, for the life of me, I cannot get the air bubbles at the top to go away. The MAIN reason I am reaching-out is because I cannot seem to get the pH level of my aquarium down below 8.93. Right now, my reading are as follows: System pH: 8.93 Reactor pH: 6.51. My settings in Fusion are as follows: Fallback: OFF Set OFF If Car_pH > 6.50 then ON If Sys_pH < 7.85 then OFF I have an Aquariumplants Carbon Doser (electronic), which is set as follows: BBM: dial is set at 8.5 Pressure is at 10 psi I do regular water changes. Any suggestions?

09/11/2016, 05:40 PM	#2
mtraylor Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Texas Posts: 295	The first thing I would do is to make sure you are only getting about 1 bubble per second in your bubble counter when the reactor is on. Also I would recalibrate your aquarium PH probe first before you make any other changes. Have you taken a test kit to test aquarium PH? __________________ Anything New is worth Learning. Current Tank Info: 255 A.G.E Rimless mixed reef

09/11/2016, 08:11 PM	#4
mtraylor Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Texas Posts: 295	The calcium reactor is adding alkalinity to your aquarium. This will reduce your PH until the excess CO2 is degassed out of the water column. Once you get that dialed in you can maintain and level out the ph. My guess is that your PH has always been high and now you want to lower it. Is that correct? The reason I said go to a one bubble a second is because that is a good place to start a calcium reactor. Sounds like you are producing allot CO2 in your reactor. I"m not familiar with your current design as I have a GEO reactor, but if you provide a pic it would be much easier for advice. IF you increase your effluent into the aquarium, it will reduce your ph but you have to be really couscous before you start making adjustments like that because your alk can go out of wack and kill everything. You are in a delicate area right now. Before you start to make any changes, have you tested the aquarium ph with a test kit? 8.9 is aweful high to have with a calcium reactor. Hard to believe. What is your effluent rate? Is it dripping, trickling or steady flow? __________________ Anything New is worth Learning. Current Tank Info: 255 A.G.E Rimless mixed reef

09/11/2016, 05:54 PM	#3
JurisHP Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 168	I did calibrate the probe. Does the amount of bubbles/sec effect the tank pH?

09/11/2016, 09:18 PM	#5
csb123 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: minnesota Posts: 104	Also, depending on the pump, it should be pulling water out of the reactor instead of pushing it in. Some pumps can over pressurize the reactor in the event of an obstruction.

09/11/2016, 09:40 PM	#6
stravo71 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 141	The pH in your tank will always read in the 8s. Even with a calcium reactor. The only water that will read a ph of 6.8 or whatever number you are trying to hit is in the reactor itself. The effluent. Effluent is the water that exits the reactor. Fine tuning the reactor is the only way to get air bubbles to stop. Just keep playing with it and don't give up. It is well worth it. I absolutely love my reactor and will never go back to dosing. Hope that helped Sent from my SM-S975L using Tapatalk

09/11/2016, 09:45 PM	#7
stravo71 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 141	The co2 is what drops the pH. If you add more co2 the pH will fall. If you take away co2 it will climb. Once the effluent enters your system the co2 is dispersed out the top of water level. And if you ph probe is away or up current from reactor it will read a normal ph for sea water. I drip my effluent into a cup and keep my ph probe in cup. And let it overflow into sump chamber with return pump. So the excess co2 is buffered out. Pit ph probe in cup and check the effluent ph there then take probe to tank and check ph there. See what happens Sent from my SM-S975L using Tapatalk

09/12/2016, 08:03 AM	#8
JurisHP Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 168	Thanks for all of the replies. I re-recalibrated the probe, and I am now getting a steady reading of 8.11.