how to "feed' calcium reactor

[240reef]

I was wondering how everyone supplies water to their reactor. I know it is supposed to be very slow, but my slowest pump is MJ 606 (120 gph, I think)

[AZDesertRat]

MaxiJet 400 with a ball valve.

[240reef]

How slow should I run it? Faster or slower than a phosban reactor (60 gph)?

[AZDesertRat]

Probably slower or equal to a Phosban Reactor. It doesn't take much. I have a piece of 1/2" tubing slid over the end of the powerhead outlet which has a 1/2" male thread by 1/4" or maybe its 3/8" tubing adapter pushed tightly in the other end. I ran the 1/4 or 3/8" tubing over to the reactor and in to a ball valve which I have found stays all the way open. The flow is really controlled by the drip rate coming out of the reactor, the excess flow just pressurizes the reactor a little.

[tasos]

I was thinking to convert a phosban reactor to a calcium reactor with the A.R.M. CaribSea reactor media instead of phosban, to aid with the calcium levels a bit ,without any CO2 being added!.Is that too crazy idea?

[240reef]

Originally posted by tasos
I was thinking to convert a phosban reactor to a calcium reactor with the A.R.M. CaribSea reactor media instead of phosban, to aid with the calcium levels a bit ,without any CO2 being added!.Is that too crazy idea?

Yes the only way to dissolve the media it to use CO2 to lower your PH in the reactor. If your tank Ph droped enough to dissolve the media in a phosban reactor your sand would melt :)

I have thought of using a phosban reactor as a second stage to a co2 reactor.

[grim]

I feed my calcium reactor with a variable (high) flow rate peristatlic pump. On the output of the reactor I have a dwyer flow meter to verify my actual flowrate. There are absolutely no restrictions of any kind on the input or the output of the reactor (ball valves, needle valves, or other similar nonsense that don't hold stable rates).

Let me tell you, there is no joy like being able to dial your effluent flow rate from 50ml/min to 52ml/min with a dial. No lying on the floor, no counting drips, no filling up graduated cylinders while watching a stopwatch, etc.


jb

[AZDesertRat]

Grim,
You sound like a techno geek! Wish I could afford stuff like that. Doesn't get more precise than that.

[chuff]

I use a mini-jet 404. Flow rate is 104 gph. It works great for my Calcium Reactor.