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stangchris

150g update 10/9/12

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So two part dosing was just becoming a lil too much for me. i was dosing too much and always forgot or did it at different times. i was also having problems with low PH(6.9-7.4) throught out the day. so after trying co2 scrubbers and other things i decided a Kalk reactor would be choice for my system.




i have a lot of SPS and LPS so a steady supply calcium and ph stability was what i was looking for. Picked up a nice big reactor from a buddy and gave it a try. so the reactor had 1/4 in fittings, as its suppose to be fed from a ro/di unit. i couldnt and also wouldnt recomend doing this as the risk isnt worth it. so i used a toms aqualifter pump, controled by my reefkeeper ATO, and it worked fine. this worked great for about a week, then i noticed my sump running low and the aqualifter wasnt pushing water in. after a email to manufacture, i found out the lil pump didnt have enough head pressure to keep up with my reactor.



what to do now, i aquired a box of ro/di gear from a reefer getting out of the hobby and in that box was a booster pump that i couldnt use wth my system(to small). it has 1/4 in fittngs and i could use mur-lok tubing, great!!!
this ended up working fine and having a pump that can run dry was one less thing to worry about.
So after a month of running Kalk(brightwell kalk+2) calc has held steady above 400ppm ph is holding at 7.8-8.0 and coral look very happy and thriving.



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Updated 10-09-2012 at 10:18 AM by stangchris

Categories
New Additions , ‎ Random Thoughts , ‎ Equipment

Comments

  1. Midnight's Avatar
    That is cool, I guess Marc is gonna have to sell pumps separate now for Kalk systems. Is that pump held in position by anything?
  2. stangchris's Avatar
    if you look closely there is a zip tie one on each side. these pumps have very lil vibration and low noise. I like them a lot for this big of a reactor and system. yes it's ghetto but I trust my acrylic guys work and there where very lil options. I am gettin the itch to rip it all out and clean the sump and rat nest of wires. really bugging me!
  3. melev's Avatar
    Chris, that quite the Frankenstein idea you went with, but boy did it work. I can't believe your pH was as low as you typed. How did anything survive? Can we see a full tank shot of the reef?
  4. michika's Avatar
    How much kalk powder are you going through?
  5. stangchris's Avatar
    ill take out the DSLR tonight and get a nice FTS, and yes it is very frankenstein but i really like how it worked out.

    @Michika.. i started out with about a 4 tbs the first week and have since added 2-3 a week. im very slowly tweaking amount as this is new to me. i go through 10 gallons of top every 4-5 days or so. forgot to mention the stir pump kicks on 6 times a day via my reefkeeper. also is ph goes above 8.3 i have an alarm that shuts off that ATO pump. working on a way to add a second pump to bypass when that happens and pump fresh water till ph drops, i know it can be done with reefkeeper just need another pump