Calcium reactor setup calculator

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Balanced Calcium is:. Ca pH effect:. Alk pH effect:. Generally speaking a pH of 6. If the pH is too high there will not be a sufficient acid environment to dissolve the aragonite. Trial and error with your brand of aragonite should be performed. There are several equipment considerations:. Consider the following setup into a marine aquarium sump:.

Calcium Reactor — houses the aragonite chips and has a mechanism to infuse CO 2 gas inside the reactor. Some models have a built-in port to accommodate a pH probe. I add the remaining alkalinity and calcium with a calcium reactor as described in the next step.

With this setup, I never have to worry about a kalk overdose or having to add water to the system. The calcium reactor part is only required if your tank demands more alkalinity and calcium than can be delivered with kalkwasser due to tank evaporation limits as described above. If you determined that, after adding the maximum amount of kalkwasser you can to your tank as a result of evaporation, your alkalinity and calcium parameters are still dropping, you will need to add the calcium reactor.

There are many articles on the web that outline how to set up a calcium reactor. In general, they sound complicated. I have found that setting up a calcium reactor is much easier than it sounds. In order to set up the calcium reactor, you will need a calcium reactor, calcium reactor media, a cylinder containing CO2, a pH controller I use a Milwaukee SMS , a small pneumatic check valve, and a CO2 regulator assembly including a bubble counter, solenoid and fine adjustable needle control.

A calcium reactor works by reducing the pH of the water in the reactor to below 7. Typically an internal reactor pH of between 6. There are two key reactor settings that will need adjusting to tune the reactor and to maintain your systems demand for Calcium and alkalinity.

This schematic shows how I recommend you set up your calcium reactor. To tune the reactor for best performance you first need to set the effluent rate.

I suggest adjusting the peristaltic dosing pump to deliver a slow drip rate of around 1 drop every 4 seconds 15 drops a minute. Once the reactor is set up the effluent rate can be increased to match the demand of the tank. Once the initial effluent rate has been set we need to look at the internal pH of the reactor and CO2 bubble rate.

First, set the pH controller to switch the C02 supply solenoid off at a pH of 6. Using the needle controller, adjust the CO2 bubble count to around 30 bubbles per minute to begin with.

Leave this for two hours then check the pH controller display, the pH inside the reactor should have dropped down to the desired pH i. If you find the pH has not dropped sufficiently, slowly increase the bubble rate leaving an hour between each adjustment until the pH has dropped to the setting on the controller. Also, if the solenoid becomes stuck open and you happen to have the bubble count cranked up, the media in the reactor will turn to mud and be worthless.

Once the desired pH has been reached in the reactor, check the effluent alkalinity, the ideal alkalinity should be between dkh. If the effluent alkalinity is low drop the controller pH setting by 0. You may find you have to increase the bubble rate with each adjustment of the pH controller to achieve the new pH setting. Remember to calibrate your pH probe see probe manufacturers calibration instructions before set up. Once the reactor has been set up to achieve the optimum effluent alkalinity you will need to tune the reactor for system demand.

With the reactor running check your systems alkalinity, write down the results and check the systems alkalinity again 24 hours later. If your systems alkalinity has dropped you will need to increase the output of the reactor to match demand. To increase the alkalinity, adjust the peristaltic dosing pump to increase the flow rate by 1 drip per minute more than the current drip rate.

Check the aquarium alkalinity again 24 hours later and if needed follow the steps above to increase the reactors output again. Repeat these steps until you find the aquariums alkalinity and Calcium demands are being met by the reactor. It is important to test the aquariums alkalinity 24 hours after any adjustment so demand can monitored and the reactor adjusted to suit as above. If you make adjustments to increase or decrease the calcium reactor effluent rates you might also need to make appropriate adjustments to the CO2 bubble rate to maintain effluent pH.

Set the effluent flow rate and effluent pH to keep up with system demand, if the system alkalinity decreases then increase the effluent drip rate and visa versa. Always specify the correct size calcium reactor for the aquarium, when you reach the maximum effluent rate for the reactor the effluent dkh will drop regardless of pH or CO2 input. Leave at least an hour after adjusting the reactor to test effluent dkh.