Kalkwasser or CO2 absorbent for raising pH with calcium reactor

[Abhishek]

Hi ,

Having a sps only dominated reef tank means consumption f a lot of Alk , Ca and Mg.
Planning to move to calcium reactor for better stability and its really hard to overdose once tuned.
Now my pH stays between 8.05 - 8.2 during 24 hrs.
Since using calcium reactor will bring pH down, planning to use either kalkwasser or CO2 absorbent to raise it.
Traditionally, I have used kalkwasser in the past but always worried with kalk overdose and sometimes kalkwasser reducing longevity of ATO pump. Plus need to buy a new kalk reactor which isn't cheap.
Hence looking at CO2 absorbent with input into my Deltec skimmer .

What's your thought for people running calcium reactor?

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[Zero Nitrates]

Following

 

[Abhishek]

Anyone ?

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[RenoMark]

Abhishek,
I have been using a reactor for a while, but recently upgraded and at the same time been making an effort to bring up my pH to the 8.1 to 8.3 range. It had been bouncing from 7.85 at night to 8.0 in the day. I also have a refugium with macro algae lighted at night. And violating the 'don't change too many things at once' rule, I also moved to a constant water change, changing about 3 gallons a day. I have used a Kalk reactor for my top off for many years. And recently added a CO2 scrubber to my skimmer. I also vent it from the outside. I have seen a modest increase in pH, but less than I hoped. I am still playing around with things and trying to dial it in. I currently do not have a huge Calcium load, so my reactor is dialed back a bit - running a pH in that of 6.75. It has a secondary chamber and I drip it into ariated water in my refugium. Also, because of the way I am doing my water change (which happens in the day) it is less obvious how much top off is needed so I basically dose my top off at night with Kalk and I adjust this to maintain salinity. All this has me between 7.95 to 8.05. Not my target, but it should be noted that some people insist that is not bad when you run a reactor and have good Calcium and alk numbers (mine are c 460 and a 7.8 - which I think is good). Despite this, I am still trying to get my pH up without, messing with my alk. One thing I have now been playing with is using Kalk to increase the pH of the water change water. I use Reef Crystals, but it seems to drops a bit below 8.0 after it is mixed. My problem seems to be here, that I put some Kalk in it and raise the pH to 8.4 or so and by mid week (my water change water last about 10 days) it is back down again. I am trying to avoid raising my alk above 8. Challenges.

 

[Rich Kapoor]

I am in the process of setting up a calcium reactor (Geo612) myself...and i found a couple good options to minimize the pH drop.

1. Use a 2nd chamber filled with Calcium Media in your calcium reactor setup. Preferably small size media which increases surface area to absorb the unused CO2 gas in the water. My Geo612 is unfortunately a single chamber reactor. So I am going to use a spare BRS canister with 1/4 inch RO tubing (was previously used for DI resin) filled with tiny/small argonite media.
2. Direct the effluent tube output into the skimmer chamber of your sump. That will aerate the water and bleed out the excess CO2 gas. I am taking it 1 step further where I am pointing my effluent output about 1-2 inches from my skimmer pump intake.