Hey guys,
I've got a 180 gallon tank that stocked literally a handful of SPS frags. None are larger than a couple inches. There is a ton of coraline growth however.
The issue is my Avast Calcium Reactor. Despite the fairly low load, I've had a near impossible time using the reactor to maintain my Alk levels. Alk is constantly dropping by 0.1-0.2DKH a day and despite tweaking the settings on my reactor, nothing seems to change. Before I go and add a large batch of corals, I want to make sure I have the reactor working properly.
My reactor setup is as follows:
-Avast Marine Calcium Reactor with secondary chamber
-Seachem 'Large' media
-PH Probe monitored by my Apex
-Kamoer FX-STP 2 feed pump
-Quality dual-stage CO2 regulator with a Swagelok needle valve.
My current settings are 35ml/min and 6.77 PH (measured between the main chamber and the secondary). I finally got around to measuring the effluent and it came out as a measly 12.8 DKH! No wonder my tank keeps dropping. Where should I be making changes? Raising the flow rate seems to drop the effluent DKH and I worry about melting the media if I start going lower with the PH. I just don't know where to start...
I've got a 180 gallon tank that stocked literally a handful of SPS frags. None are larger than a couple inches. There is a ton of coraline growth however.
The issue is my Avast Calcium Reactor. Despite the fairly low load, I've had a near impossible time using the reactor to maintain my Alk levels. Alk is constantly dropping by 0.1-0.2DKH a day and despite tweaking the settings on my reactor, nothing seems to change. Before I go and add a large batch of corals, I want to make sure I have the reactor working properly.
My reactor setup is as follows:
-Avast Marine Calcium Reactor with secondary chamber
-Seachem 'Large' media
-PH Probe monitored by my Apex
-Kamoer FX-STP 2 feed pump
-Quality dual-stage CO2 regulator with a Swagelok needle valve.
My current settings are 35ml/min and 6.77 PH (measured between the main chamber and the secondary). I finally got around to measuring the effluent and it came out as a measly 12.8 DKH! No wonder my tank keeps dropping. Where should I be making changes? Raising the flow rate seems to drop the effluent DKH and I worry about melting the media if I start going lower with the PH. I just don't know where to start...