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Help with Calcium Reactor

Phyl

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Bring your mag up by no more than 100 points.

If you Ca drops again tomorrow you'll need to "turn up your reactor". I'd try Rich's link for figuring out what you need to increase. I would think you'd need to increase both your bubble count and your effluent a hair, but you don't want your reactor PH to drop below 6.8 if you're using ARM (read the container for specific PH range, I'm going by memory).
 
K

ken6217

Mott,

There is nothing wrong with your readings. And yes, The CA reactor is used to raise and lower your Ca and Alk. However it raises BOTH and not one individually. As long as your levels are all in the "normal" range you are fine. There really is no point anyway of trying to get your Ca up to 450 if it is 420 ppm. You won't be able to increase calcium indivdually unless you add a Ca supplement. This in turn will then drive your Alk down. It is not chemically possible to have high very high alk and ca at the same time. You should run your Ca reactor and monitor the Alk. The Ca will take care of itself. If you find that your Ph is too low, you can drip kalk as your top off water. Note though that this will also increase your Ca and Alk as well.
Ken
 
E

eholceker

NJRC Member
i bet you are using instant ocean salt? ;D Your Cal is always going to be around 1/3 of your magnesium. So if your mag is 1200 you should be able to keep your calcium stable at around 400. Anything higher will just precipitate out. Get your Mag up but do it slowly, then get your calcium and alk where you want it, and finally use the reactor to keep levels stable.
 
M

mott768

eholceker said:
i bet you are using instant ocean salt?   ;D 
Click to expand...

;D How'd you know LOL ..... I got the IO on special when I setup the tank, I only have a little left once that's gone I'm going back to reef crystals... I might even try the trop marin pro if I can get a good deal on it.
 
E

eholceker

NJRC Member
Instant Ocean salt is low on Cal and Mag but high on ALk. I had to switch over to reef crystals because I got tired of using buffers
 
M

mott768

Here's the latest

cal= 430
alk= 11.2
mag= 1230 adding B-ionic mag nightly to bring it up

PH in the reactor droped to 6.6 I am using ARM
 
Phyl

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Did you read the ARM container? I think that reactor ph is too low. Slow down the bubble count. You don't want to be adding to the alk at this point.
 
M

mott768

Slow down the bubbles for the co2 right? If I hook up a controller can I just set and forget that part? I do have a sms 122 controller but I use it to monitor the tanks PH.
 
Phyl

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
If you use the controller to monitor the ph then have it go on at 6.8 and off at 7. That should be all you need to do. Then you'll just need to dial in your effluent and make sure its where you need it after a few more days of testing.
 
M

mott768

This is really confusing ???

Here is tonight's readings

cal= 410 dropped
alk= 11.2 stay'd the same
mag= 1200 I have been adding B ionic mag the past couple of night about 30ppm last night it was 1230 added the same amount as the night before now today it dropped ???

PH in the reactor is 6.8

all I did last night is decrease the bubbles (co2) and added B ionic mag.
 
E

eholceker

NJRC Member
mag takes a real long time to jump up. It took me about 2 weeks to get it where I wanted. your levels seem fine to me right now. Cal at 410 is no problem. In fact that is real good. I cant remember where I saw it but there was a article that stated SPS growth was the same at a Cal level at 360 and as level at 420.
 
E

eholceker

NJRC Member
could have been a bad test on the original. 30 ml on a 125 wouldnt raise it at all. It took me a bottle and a half of the b-ionic mag to get it up.
 
M

mott768

I ment a drop from 1230 - 1200 seems like a lot, I have been adding a full 16oz cup the past few nights, first night the reading was 1200 added 16oz next night was 1230 added another 16oz then the following night I got 1200 tested twice to be sure. ???
 
M

mott768

Sorry for being a pain with this... I'm new to the world of reactors

Here is tonights readings

cal= 410
alk= 10.6
mag= 1290

ph in reactor = 6.9

What caused my alk to drop?
 
Phyl

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Those numbers look fine. Your alk dropped because you're no longer supersaturating the tank with CO2. If you can hold those numbers steady you'll be doing well.
 
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