Noisy Octopus Calcium Reactor

[ChuckP]

I just purchased a CR-140 for my tank and got it all setup, however the pump is making a fairly loud noise especially compared to my Eheim pump, almost as if the impeller is misaligned or it is bouncing on the bottom of a tank. Has anything had this problem? The pump is labeled as an "Octopus" pump but it looks a lot light the mag series.

The reactor is mounted externally.

-Chuck

[ChuckP]

Well I broke down the reactor and removed the pump, reset the impeller, placed it into the sump and powered it on. No rattle, put the reactor back together and fired it up, only to have the same result. The annoying part is to break it down you have to drain it fully. Anyone have any suggestions?

[Hop]

I wish I did chuck. I've never played with an octopus ca reactor. I had a noisy aquabee on the deltec reactor and found that the media had caused the impeller to egg-out the bushing hole for the impeller shaft. Being so new, I doubt that could/would be it

[ChuckP]

That could possibly be it, but the noise might be coming from the silt in the water, I didn't think about that. I am using "Rowa lith C+" because that is what the guy at the LFS told me was the best to use, at the same time I picked up the reactor from him. I am starting to have my doubts as the reactor recommends "Large Medium". I think I will drain it fully and fill it with just water this time and see if I have the same results.

[ChuckP]

Here is what it currently looks like notice the material at the bottom, it might be the sound of that getting kicked around. The second image is of when it is turned on.

[Jadinop]

Wrong media. The Octopus is a high flow reactor and requires the course media to prevent pieces from being pulled into the pump. I have the same reactor setup on my frag tank and the only noise it makes is from the CO2 bubbles hitting the impellar.

[Jadinop]

Just noticed this too, where is the sponge that goes on top of the media? There should be two sponges, a thin one for the bottom and a thick one for the top. The media should fill the reactor to just below the pump intake and the thick sponge should be on top of the media under the intake pipe. Don't you just love the included instructions, they really don't explain much.

[Jadinop]

Here is a pic from a few months back. The reactor is filled with ARM course media and you can see how the sponges go. I have added a controller and the plumbing has changed slightly but you can see the difference when the right media is used. What are you using as a supply pump? I run mine with an Aqualifter and it works great.

[ChuckP]

Jadinop: Thank you so much, I will have it setup tomorrow. I had originally put the large sponge on the bottom and the thin on the top, then read conflicting instructions on their website and did both on the bottom. I am going to drain it, find out why they sold me media that doesn't work with the reactor I purchased, and get it to run correctly.

[ChuckP]

Jadinop: I actually have it run off my UV which is split off my return. It is at about 60 gph on the flow. It seems to be working well on the fill side of things, just had issues with the setup. I was able to test the bubble counter and that worked well. How many bubbles per min did you set yours to?

[Jadinop]

60 gph is way too much. You will bottom out your ph if you run that much effluent into your tank. Thats is if you can even run enough CO2 into the reactor to keep up. You need a small (very small) supply pump. The aqualifter I use runs 3 gph. I have a small valve on the output of the reactor and restrict it to 100mls per minute (I hate counting drips per second, it's to innacurate) on the output.

I use a controller to run my CO2 but the bubbles are about 1 every 2 seconds or so. I set the needle valve to keep it close and use the controller to prevent any CO2 overdosing.

I'm sorry to say you received some bad info on the media and setup of your reactor. I have a few website links that I used to set mine up. I will see if I can find them when I get home.

[ChuckP]

Jadinop: thank you again. I have a valve on the line going to the reactor so I can easily adjust it, I will set it to 3gph to mimic the aqualifter.

Also do you use Korallin or CaribSea media? And I noticed in your picture it looks like a white disk above your top sponge, I don't believe one of those came with my unit, did you add that or did it come with yours?

[Jadinop]

The white "disc" is actually a piece of ro/di tubing coiled inside to help keep the sponge from floating up. When you first fill the reactor the sponge is full of air and when the pump is turned on it gets pushed up to the top.

Speaking of valves, you are going to want to replace those white airline thumbscrew valves with something that won't clog. You can buy these from Lowes or Home Depot and they work much better than the included ones.
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...BVA&lpage=none

Usually you put a valve on the output from the reactor and use that to control the flow. Keeping the reactor slightly pressurized will help keep the flow more consitent than trying to adjust the flow into the reactor with a valve. The only valve I needed was for the output. I didn't hook my reactor up as pictured in the instructions. The is no need for the valve that recircs the excess CO2 back into the pump, you can just hook that up with a piece of tubing directly. I also swapped my output and bleed connections.

I am using the Caribsea ARM Media. It dissolves at a slightly higher ph so you don't need to run your reactor ph very low. This will keep your effluent from affecting the tank ph as much.

In case you don't have it, here is a link for a poorly drawn setup pic and mostly accurate instructions.
http://www.coralvue.com/Reactors.html

Here is some good info about reactors from Melev. Once you understand the basic operation it is easier to see what needs to be done to get the Octopus Reactor running right.
http://www.melevsreef.com/calcium_reactor.html

Sorry for the long winded post. Don't get me wrong, I do like the Octopus Skimmers and Reactors but the detailed instructions for both are lacking.