[ben]

ive had high kh problems which has caused colour fading and some patches on some of my sps. i did a couple of small water changes and now after a few days the kh is down to 9. it seems to drop about 1 point per day on its own.

the calcium just tested at 390.

im worried about putting the calcium reactor back on , as although the effluent was only comming out at 26, it was still causing my kh to rise.

i guess this means the tank isnt ready for a calcium reactor , unless i can run it slower?

what should my next step be?

cheers
ben

[gobyboy]

how long were you running the reactor for??

i have my solenoid running on a timer - so adjust it accordingly - kH too high give it less time etc

[ben]

reactor hasnt been on very long, couple of weeks mabye. the main problem is i dont use a solonoid and controller(cant afford it yet) . mabye ill just have to wait till i get one

[gobyboy]

I was dosing manually for a few months - does becomes a pita.
Get a solenoid you can then run on a timer to switch your co2 on and off - you don't necessarily need a ph controller - does make it easier though.
mine runs for about 1 hour a day seems to be enough for my little tank.

I guess you could run it as is for say an 1 hour to start and then measure your effluent and take it from there to see what your tanks CO2 needs are?

[ben]

ah, i didnt realise you could run a solonoid without a controller. ill look out for one

[chriss]

Yep, solenoid on a timer or assuming you can't slow down the flow/bubble rate try removing half or more of the media.

Chris

[ben]

i can manually slow the bubble rate , or the flow through the media, or both

[ben]

thanks m8, will that solenoid work with a single tmc guage?

[Simon Garratt]

Hi Ben.

Got your Pm.

basically you could for the time being run the reactor at a slower rate (this is the good thing about reactors, you cant run them too low)..my advice would be to just leave the flow rate the same but drop back on the gas slightly (to raise the internal pH) at some point you'll come to a balance between what the system needs and what you are putting in.


In the mean time though, i would get hold of some calcium Chloride (turbo calcium) to boost your Ca back into balance.. If you get it upto around 425ppm and let your DkH drop to 8.0 you will then be back in balance.


then its just a case of turning the reactor back on and tinkering with the gas input untill your stable...it should stay in balance from that point.


I doubt very much you have an Mg issue as your obviously not struggling to get the DkH up to start with, but its worth testing anyway so you know where you are.


I always say this with reactors.....Get everything in balance first at NSW using seperate addatives if needs be .....DkH 8.0, Mg 1350ppm, Ca 425ppm and then play with the reactor...If its set up so that its not over running, you wont send anything out of balance....(media type allowing) It will all just go up or down in relation, dependant on whether your are adding more, or less than the system is taking up.


Regards

Si.

[ben]

nice one, thanks si. i have some calcium chloride so ill test now and adjust accordingly. i also got the flow through the reactor slowed , but i also slowed the bubble rate. ill up that back to 1 bubble per second

[ben]

just tested
calcium 400
kh 8.6
mag 1110, i have been buffering mag , but its dropping faster than im used too, because of the larger % of sps than ive had before. i need to keep my eye on that

[ben]

yeh i have new sand so its probably that too

[Simon Garratt]

Very true about sand and Mg.

Its just about inevitable with any new substrate that you add to a system, that its surface will attract a certain amount of precipitation as the surface equalises at a chemical level to the water it is in. This is why i always soak new substrate that im adding to an existing system in old tank water for a couple of weeks first.

Regards

Si.

[ben]

hopefully it wont take long to stablize as i dont have a lot

[ben]

Andrew, on Aug 10 2008, 04:39 PM, said:

I can't see why it would'nt as they all work the same as far as i'm aware!

I've checked the spare ph controller that i've got and it's all working but would need a new ph probe, i'd prefer to sell it with the reactor but i'm sure we could do a deal if your interested!

thanks m8, but yeh you would be better off selling it all as a kit. we can have a chat on frag night

[ben]

i have the bubble now running at 1 per second and the same with the effluent outlet. however the kh is still very slowly rising.

when i add the solenoid , will turning the co2 off at night help with this?

[gobyboy]

imo...better to switch it of at night, as your ph will drop.
some people use kalk overnight and use the cr during the day.

Im sure you will get more input on this shortly.