Effluent cups/Reactors...

[Bob 1000]

Is there any effluent reactor users here???

What's you opinion on them????

Do they really help with PH???

My ph is staying steady at 8.06 in the display is this to low for colorful acros????

My colors are good now but I like to think ahead..

I would just dose kalk but I dumped in 1 gallon in the last 2 days and it seems like a temp fix for the ph because it goes right back down...

My effluent ph is currently 6.97 in a cup filled with media....

My effluent ph is currently 7.03 when dripped into a clean cup 1 minute later with no media in it..

Are calcium reactors worth the headache??? Will I have this ph problem on a regular basis????

I know there probably aren't to many people that can answer these questions but any input that is well thought out is well appreciated

 

[juiceguy]

that ph value shouldn't be a problem as long as your alk is normal, CO2 is a normal bi-product of cal reactors, if you can increase circulation you will blow off that CO2. my ph drops to 7.98 when the reactor is on and then increases to 8.16 when the reactor is off.

 

[Bob 1000]

This is good to know but I would like to have an ideal ph of 8.2 or higher is this possible.. with a calcium reactor or no????
I don't want to have to dose and use this reactor that just defeat's the purpose to me and will eventually create an ionic imbalance leading to something I have never experienced.....

TANK CRASH...

 

[juiceguy]

you 're reading to much into the #'s, cal reactors lead to a more stable environment because of the lack of dosing, your tank is now getting a steady amount of cal and alk from the reactor thus eliminating the highs and lows of dosing manually. if the ph bothers you try moving the effluent drip to a spot where it has more time to blow off CO2, i put mine right over the refugium part of my sump, which is the middle so it has go thru 1 more chamber before going to the tank. some ppl drip the effluent near there skimmer so it has to combine with the skimmer and gets O2 rich water. the other way is to get an kalk reactor to counteract the CO2

 

[Bob 1000]

I just bought a effluent reactor from custom king on the thread here, do yo think this will help.. The skimmer part may not be an option because my skimmer intake is under water...

 

[juiceguy]

i know most effluent chambers are tall cylinders and i can't comment on CK's chamber but from what i've read on here, he is pretty reputable and the principle is the same, just give the effluent time to blow off that CO2 in another chamber.....i keep over 90% sps in my tank with no ill effects from a low ph, my alk is always 10dkh and cal is 475ppm with minor tweaking every 3-4 weeks because of growth.

 

[Alex]

bob,i've had one of these for years. they work great for what it's supposed to do.

the effluent from the reactor drips into the chamber so that your ph probe from the controller reads what the ph coming from the reactor is at, then it drips into your sump.In order to get rid of excess co2 I have it dripping into the sump close to my skimmer intake, other people have it going to their refugium so that the alge can take it up. the effleunt that collects lets me know the ph value of the drip,my controller is set to 6.5, if the ph value of the efflunt goes below that the controller shuts off the co2 tank thus allowing the ph to go up again. hope this helps. by the way, your values should stabilize once setup.

 

[Custom King]

Thanks Alex!!!

Thanks Alex

Nicely stated! I just might start to refer all questions about the effluent cup to you :lol2: By the way, yours along with your other stuff was shipped out yesterday.

Thanks :fish:

 

[Bob 1000]

Thanks all, but I still don't have a definite answer on how this effluent cup will work on the size of my system or does it not matter...

 

[Alex]

bottom line, it collects effluent from the calcium reactor so that you can check the exact ph in the reactor chamber,just in case you need to change it because of the media dissolving point.

jeff, got the items today thanks.

 

[Bob 1000]

Okay thanks... My ph is up now mysteriously ... PH is 8.15.... calcium is 450 and Alk is 4.11...
I think it might on the way to being tuned... When I get the reactor from custom king hopefully this will help a little more... The cup I'm using now might be doing the trick... I'll write back tomorrow to see if it stays stable... By the way My light were just turned on during the first test and they are still on...

 

[ClosetFishGeek]

Is the reactor you are getting a single chamber or duel chamber design ? Duel chamber always help scrub out sum more co2... have a mtc reactor and the affluent is around 7.2-7.3 range which is not so bad...In addition i also run kalkwasser as well and a reverse photo period for my refuge. I run a rock solid ph of 8.3-8.32, Absoluetely, love my calcium reactor and would never go back to 2 part.

 

[Bob 1000]

Well I have since remembered how I use to keep my ph high... I also have done away with the use of a kalkwasser reactor... My tank will be the start of the future(maybe)... I use the rock I make for ph maintaining and one peace is good for 7 to 8 month's..
Get rid of the kalkwasser reactor and get some of my rock to sit in your top off water and a piece for your tank... But only if your calcium reactor is able to sustain the levels that you want in your tank... Oh yeah, if your using chaeto get rid of that too my seagrass is the way to go for nutrient export.. Chaeto takes to long to grow and seagrass looks nicer..
Happy Reefing..