you need to know the efluent PH otherwise your media turns to mush read this it will help the beginning is the setup for a koralin but the rest of the article should give you a better understanding
First we want to connect the inlet line to the reactor using ¼?€? airline tubing (the refrigerator ice maker tubing works great here as well) and it goes to the reactor fitting (Eingang). This is how it gets water from the tank into the reactor. It can be done several different ways. One is to place the inlet higher then the reactor and allow gravity to ?€˜siphon?€™ feed the reactor. The only disadvantage to this is if your water level drops below the input tube when you do a water change you can loose siphon and you?€™ll have to restart the siphon. Second and the best way IMO is to feed the reactor via a pump. Either ?€˜T?€™ off from the return pump from the sump or use a small power head to feed the reactor.
Now that you have the input to the reactor plumbed in you need to install the output from the reactor back to the tank or sump. There are two output lines (both have a gate valve on them) one comes directly from the top of the reactor (called outlet #1 and marked ?€˜Ausgang?€™) and the other comes from the fitting just after where the pump output ties into the reactor (there is a single white fitting here with a gate valve attached this is outlet #2 marked ?€˜Entluftung?€™). You need to hook a ¼?€? airline up to outlet #2 and run it to where ever you have the ?€˜famous effluent drip cup?€™ installed. The preferred place for the drip cup is so it can allow effluent to drip into a high flow area of the tank or sump. I personally prefer it to drip into my skimmer compartment of the sump. You also need to have the cup where you can easily get to it for taking effluent samples for testing of dKH and also you?€™ll want to be able to get your PH probe into the cup for testing of the PH.
Outlet #1 will also need to drip into the tank or sump but its output is very low so it?€™s irrelevant as to where it drips at as long as its into the tank or sump water. I have my outlet #1 going just inside the stand and dripping into the side of the sump. Use the same ¼?€? airline tubing for this as well.
Now that you have all 3 lines connected to the aquarium and both gate valves are still in the closed positions we need to attach the CO2 system. If you have not done so at this point you need to ?€˜snap?€™ the bubble counter and check valve into their holders and connect the airline from the bubble counter to the white fitting on the reactor marked ?€œCO2?€?.
Attach the regulator to your now filled CO2 bottle (if you didn?€™t fill it yet, it can wait) making sure you use the nylon washer between the bottle and the regulator. Screw the regulator adjustment knob into the regulator just until it makes contact inside the regulator. Make sure the needle valve is fully closed and attach the ?€œCO2 Proof?€? tubing to the needle valve and run the other end to the check valve. You?€™ll notice on the check valve it has an arrow pointing in the direction of flow, flow is from the bottle to the reactor.
Now that you have everything hooked up (but not plugged in to power yet) you need to prime the system. Do this by opening both gate valves. If you opted to use a pump to feed the reactor plug in that pump now (but only that pump, not the Mag 5 on the reactor) and the reactor should start to fill up. If you opted to use the gravity feed making sure the inlet is submerged under water, you may have to close one of the gate valves and suck on the other line to start the siphon. After the siphon is started you can reopen the other gate valve.
Allow the reactor to fill completely with water, during the fill the bubble counter should fill as well. If the bubble counter does not fill with water during filling of the reactor do this:
If you use a pump to feed the reactor, unplug that pump so the reactor is at equal pressure rather then being pressurized by the pump. Take the fitting off the check valve that goes to the bubble counter, water should start to enter the bubble counter now and fill it. Don?€™t let the water drain back so it comes out the other end of the bubble counter and flow into the check valve (when you see the bubble counter get almost full, reconnect the check valve).
Ok now we have everything hooked up and the reactor is full of tank water. We now need to make sure the Mag 5 is evacuated of air and can pump water. First close outlet #2 and leave outlet #1 open. Plug in the Mag 5 pump and see if its pumping water or calvitating (not pumping water because its full of air). If its pumping water let it circulate and get all the air out of the reactor, it will be flushed out via the open gate valve at #1.
If its not pumping water and is trying to pump, lean the reactor over on its side and allow the air to evacuate the pump and water to enter, the pump should kick in and start to pump water at this point.
Again let the pump run until it evacuates all the air out of the reactor, you can pick the reactor up and gently ?€˜bump?€™ it down to dislodge any trapped air in the media. You can look inside the reactor at the very top and see if any air is trapped inside. If there is no air trapped inside your ready to proceed with setup, if it still has air, keep #1 open fully until all air is evacuated.
To setup the reactor initially we need to set a drip rate for the effluent out of the reactor and into the drip cup. We do this by closing both #1 and #2 gate valves and then opening #2 very slowly until the output into the drip cup starts to drip at a rate of about 40 drips/min. when you get the drip into the cup set at about 40 drips/min you?€™re ready to start adding CO2 to the reactor and start making some Ca and Alk for that beautiful reef tank you got up there.
To start off your CO2 bottle should be closed and the regulator is attached and tightened (with the nylon washer installed) and needle valve closed. Slowly open the main valve on the bottle and watch the gauge on the left side of the reactor (this is the bottle pressure) it should depending on the temp of the bottle read between 900 and 1100 psi and the right hand side should still be on 0 (because you haven?€™t screwed the regulator knob in any further then just touching right?)
Now you want to slowly screw the regulator adjustment knob in until the right hand gauge (working pressure) starts to climb up. Set it at 15 psi for now. The regulator may make some humming noise until it gets settled in (about 1-3 minuets) with a 15 psi working reading on the right hand gauge slowly open the needle valve a little at the time until you see a bubble in the bubble counter. You want to adjust for about 10 bubbles/min to start off.
Now you should have the reactor fully setup and operational. The effluent drip should be about 40 drips/min and the CO2 at 10 bubbles/min. give the reactor an hour to settle in with the new settings and get the CO2 levels inside the reactor stabilized.
After an hour dump out your effluent drip cup and prepare to start testing. While the drip cup fills up get your tank readings and record them on the sheet. Test the PH and the dKH of the tank. Right down the effluent drips/min and the CO2 bubbles/min as well. By the time you finish testing the tank water the effluent cup should be full again. Take a sample of the water from it and measure the dKH, and place your PH probe in it and test the PH as well.
The PH should be between 6.5 and 7.0 and the dKH should be above 25. If you are at these levels your good to go on the reactor if not here is what you need to do:
If PH is low, you need to either up the effluent DPM (drips/min), or decrease the CO2 BPM (bubbles/min).
If your dKH is not above 25 then your not getting enough CO2 into the reactor and you need to up the CO2 BMP. Depending on your media in the reactor it should be about 30-50 dKH.
Now that you have that all set its time to start daily testing of the tank to set the reactor to the demands of the system.
During the testing and setting up of the tank DO NOT add anything to the tank other then top off water daily. Doing so can throw off the tests and give you a false reading and prolong the reactor setup.
Test the dKH of the tank daily at about the same time every day (I myself do it twice a day when I?€™m setting up a new reactor). Write down the dKH level of the tank on the setup sheet. If you notice that your dKH level is dropping from one day to the next you need to increase the amount of Ca/Alk the reactor is adding to the system by increasing the effluent DPM and upping the CO2 BPM to keep the effluent dKH above 25. This usually takes a week or two to set depending on the tanks demands and how much you have to adjust daily.
After you get the reactor adjusted to the point that your dKH remains constant from one day to the next there are a few things you can do now. Your dKH should be between 8 and 13 at this time depending on your system. If its lower then you?€™d like you can increase the DPM and BPM to bring the dKH of the tank up but do so slowly, not more then 1 dKH per week. If your dKH is at a level your happy with (and it should be) you now need to test Ca and see what its levels are at. The preferred levels are between 350 and 450 ppm with most people preferring around 410 ppm. If your levels are low use ?€˜Turbo Ca?€™ to bring the Ca level up to desired levels. Do NOT use a 2 part buffer or anything that is going to boost dKH when doing so. You only want to add a Ca booster.
With your Ca levels at the desired settings you need to recheck your dKH of the tank and make sure its still stabilized from day to day. If it is, its time to sit back and watch your reactor take care of your tank while you enjoy watching rather then dosing. If your dKH drops after adding the Ca then you need to up your DPM and BMP again to keep it constant and then test Ca again.
If you find your having a hard time keeping Ca levels up but your dKH is remaining constant then your system most likely is low on Magnesium and needs to be supplemented.
You?€™ll notice that after a few months pass by the media in the reactor has dissolved and its level in the reactor has dropped down. This is how its supposed to work and is ok, but if you let it drop to low it can start to lessen the output of the reactor to the tank. You can tell this with your weekly testing of the water and you?€™ll start to notice a slight drop in dKH as weeks go by, this is an indication that you need to refill the media levels. It?€™s recommended that you change 100% of the media (empty the entire reactor and throw the media out and replace all of it with new) twice per year. Myself I use my testing to determine when the media has lost its usefulness. When it gets depleted it will start to drop dKH levels in the effluent and that?€™s when you need to change the media out 100%.
