pix please!!!
Run the drip rate initially up to the point where the water effuent starts just forming a solid stream, then back off until you get steady individual drops (sorry, the ony way I could think to describe it...
I will use a cylinder this afternoon to calculate a rate for you)
CO2 delivery rate (bubble rate) should be around 60 bpm= 1/sec=6/6sec to start, then measure your pH in the effluent with a pH probe after 24 hours of operation (make sure it passes the borax test first!). If this is your initial setup, you'll need to check bubble rates and effluent delivery rate every 30 minutes or so until they are steady. If after 24 hours pH is not 6.7
+0.05 pH units, then bump up the bubble rate to 90 bpm. Repeat this every 24 hours until the pH in the effluent is consistently 6.7-ish. At this time, measue the tank values for Calcium and Akalinity. Document this in your log book and measure the Ca and alk again in 48 hours, monitoring the pH values of the effluent to make sure that the value of the effluent is consistently 6.7 (you need to do this at the same time every day to reduce variations due to photosynthesis in the tank, the reason you'll need to acquire a pH controller eventually). When values are consistent within 20 PPM Ca and 0.25 dKH alk, evaluate this against what your targets are for the system. If you are significantly below your target Ca and alk, and the values for the water column are not changing over a 48 hour period and the pH of the effluent is steady (remember, check the same time every day), then bump up the effluent delivery rate to just barely a steady stream. You will need to readjust your CO2 delivery rate to control the pH again in the effluent, as well as check your Ca and alk values. If yu supplement the Ca and alk to your expected values with CaCl2 and NaHCO3, it may throw off your titrations, so I do not suggest doing that unless you're just refilling the media in the reactor and trying to get back on target values.
This may take a few weeks to get where you want to be, so keep in mind that you're still tweaking the system over time, and recheck your CO2 delivery rates and your tank parameters for the hermatypics every week untill stable, then once a month as the medium dissolves and the CO2 starts to reach empty.
More if you need it,
HTH
