Ca reactor Ph=6.2=Media MUSH! Now what....

[ckusnierek]

Somthing caused my PH controller to go goofy lastnight and the reactor PH droped to 6.2. The media is pretty mushy.... Should I rinse the media and see what can be salvaged or just replace it all?

[Hop]

If I remember right it's better to empty it now while it is mush otherwise it can become a brick. It's been so many years since I ran one

[ckusnierek]

I'm taking it apart now and all the seems to be left are some shells and larger aragonate. I have been wanting to use the coarse media and get rid of the foam filter in the reactor. I think I will just dump it and clean the unit and replace it with the coarse media...

[Big B]

What media are you using? I run my reactor at 6.2 PH all the time and it does not turn to mush.

[ckusnierek]

ARM Fine....
It goes to mush at anything below 6.4

What are you using? I wanted somthing that can handle a lower PH and raise the Alk of the effluent.

Right now with the Fine ARM. I'm only getting about 22 dkh in the effluent.

[OneDummHikk]

Chris, not sure if it helps but all of the reactors that I have seen running in person had the larger media in it. None of them had the fine media. Don't know if it was availability, choice, or why. one of them actually had broken up/crunched coral skeletons in it. From what I remember of what tom (tdwyatt) has told me, the larger the media the lower you can run the pH but the slower it raises the Ca level in the tank.

Since you are emptying and cleaning the reactor, do you have any dead SPS skeletons, or similar, that you could break up and put in the reactor? You could test it that way and see how well it performs. If it performs as you want, you can get the larger media and if its too big, get a big hammer and start smashing

[ckusnierek]

I dont have enough to fill the reactor.

ARM fine was all that was avaliable locally.
I need to place a order with PA tomorrow and wa thinking about gettng this stuff:
(all it is is cleaned corals skeltons)
http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merch...ry_Code=cmedia

I thought that with the larger media and lowering your PH you dissolve the media more rapidally and raise the ALK/CA in the effluent? You say it will actually lower the levels in the effluent.

I wanted to try this at 1st but was told I should use the fine......
I want to remove the media pads so they cannot get clogged...

[OneDummHikk]

That is about what the "large" ARM media I have seen in the LFS looked like. With all else being the same, the smaller the media the faster its going to dissolve it. The smaller media has more surface area for the lower pH water to act on so it dissolves faster. When it dissolves faster, you see more Ca in the effluent. When you go to a larger media, it can't dissolve it as fast because the surface area is lower. With the lower surface area, you get lower Ca in the effluent.

At least I think thats how it works. I could be disastrously wrong though. If I have it wrong, hopefully someone will correct it and let me know (and you).

[ckusnierek]

Actuall I think your right... Thats why I went with the fine media.

[Fat Tony]

I have done this same thing in my reactor before, I need to check mine again to make sure that everything is Aok

[tdwyatt]

Randy is right with the smaller medium having larger surface area per unit medium (= more reaction surface and faster dissolution).

Just curious, why would you want to run a reactor so low unleses it was way too small for your tank? I can understand the accidentao drop, but if the reactor is adjusted right, runninug at 6.6-6.7 would give you PLENTY of clcium and alk. I run a CR6 (MRC brand) with abut 8 lbs in the primary and 4 lbs in the secondary chamber using ARM 2-4mm medium, and I maintain calcium at 400-425 PPM and alk around 10 dKH at 35 PPT salinity in a total system volume 230 USGal with MANY many rapidly growing stony corals and clams (and I still have issues with calcium scale forming in pipe). I think it would be prudent to be checking the calibration of my reactor's controller probe with the borax test if it is reading 6.2 and you don't have medium issues or other Ca/alk related issues (even with large medium, as you'll be dumping a ton of CO2 into the tank without the benefit of the extra Ca++ nor the alkalinity).

Big B: just curious, but how are your system and reactor set up? (reactor brand and size, system volume, average tank pH, coral pops and density, salinity, etc...)

[Fat Tony]

Originally Posted by tdwyatt

Big B: just curious, but how are your system and reactor set up? (reactor brand and size, system volume, average tank pH, coral pops and density, salinity, etc...)

You addressing me here Tom?

The tank is doing great, since I did the meshmod and venturi mod on the skimmer my average pH in the tank is now...ready for this.... 8.2, instead of 7.9

I am using the Korallin c1502, but will likely have to step up to a larger reactor as this one is barely able to keep up with the stony growth right now. Average salinity is 1.025 according to my distilled water calibrated refractometer. System volume is somewhere around 150 gallons, with another 35 or so gallons going to be added in the very near future with the new waterchange loop that i will be adding. I have about 35 different stonies. Mostly frags, but some decent sized colonies now

If I decide to keep the reactor, I will be adding a larger second column and maybe keeping the current second column for a dolomite column to help maintain the mag level We need to take a ride down to MRC someday this spring so I can either buy a larger reactor or get a larger second column . I also will have to replace the lid to my current reactor with the available lid with the probe holder to help tidy up the plumbing in my stand a bit. Alos replace the pump on the reactor with a larger Eheim for a little more flow.

[tdwyatt]

Originally Posted by Fat Tony

You addressing me here Tom?

The tank is doing great, since I did the meshmod and venturi mod on the skimmer my average pH in the tank is now...ready for this.... 8.2, instead of 7.9

I am using the Korallin c1502, but will likely have to step up to a larger reactor as this one is barely able to keep up with the stony growth right now. Average salinity is 1.025 according to my distilled water calibrated refractometer. System volume ...

Nope, Tony, but I AM always intereseted in what you're doing with your system..

the comments and q's were actually addresesedd to Brian (Big B) from his post:

Originally Posted by big b

What media are you using? I run my reactor at 6.2 PH all the time and it does not turn to mush...

[Fat Tony]

LOL... I didn't even see him when I scrolled though, not to mention the frequency that I am called Big T... I thought it may have been just a typo

[ckusnierek]

My reactor is a DIY 6" and 4" chambers both 12" tall.
I am still having trouble maintaning Alk (right now I'm dosing baking soda)

I thought that having a lower PH would dissolve more media increassing the effluent levels. I still am going with the large media just so I can do away with the filter pads. I'm worried about them clogging after time.

Right now I'm using a reef fanatic PH controller and I checked it sumday AM and the LCD and all the lights were off but the PH selenoid was open.....
I'm calling reef fanatic today about that. I am also going to hook the controller to my RK2 so if the tank PH falls too low it will shut down the reactor....

Here is my reactor: