[fish_who?]

Okay, I got this reactor back in Sept of last year for my upgrade to the 125. A week after I moved into my place (in Oct.), I hooked it up. I have had nothing but problems. First the reactor would suck up the media into the pump. It had a screen on the inside like the ones on the bulkheads, but the ARM media would pass through it. I fixed it by adding 3" of SuperCalc Gold (looks like rock salt and hard to melt) to the bottom so the ARM would not pass through. Seemed to work fine for a week, played with the effluent to get 6.5 and keep the PH up. After about 2 weeks of low PH, 7.5 at night, and barely hitting 8.0 by lights out, I killed it, and went back to KALK.
I decided to go back to it the beginning of FEB, and again more problems. PH seemed fine, running 8.1-8.23 during the day and 7.9 at night. I thought all was great, melted about an inch of media and everything looked great. Then I came home and all the water in the reactor was gone, and the pump had shut off (because of heat, not operating). I thought it just happened and it was fine. Then it happened again. I did some research and thought I needed a feed pump. I am running the dolphin DP560 for the main pump on the reactor. I put a small Rio on the reactor and it seemed fine again. It ran great, then the feed pump stopped and it drained. I soaked the pump and ran it again. It ran great for a while, but the media will not melt. I have been running it for almost a month, and have not seen the media melt. My effluent has been 6.4-6.56 (tested with calibrated Pinpoint monitor). The ARM media is supposed to be the easiest to melt, but no luck here. I tested my Calcium 2 weeks ago and it was 550, and not it is 320. My ALK was off the chart 2 weeks ago, and not it is 14. I don't know what is up. I need help with this; tell me what I am doing wrong.
Sorry so long -
Here is a pic of my reactor when it was first set up with the quiet one.

[newreefman1]

well 1st off, 14 is a very high alkalinity....calcium and alkalinity are a balanced combo..if your alk is off the chart, the calcium cannot raise up...and visa versa...

as for your pump....theres a in out feed pump that ron sells at octopuss gardens..rather inexpensive.....very low flow but I find it works well for my reactor which looks about the same size(korallin 1502).... go there if you know where it is and get one from him(youre in san diego eh )

Hopefully this will help...it takes a bit to "dial in" a reactor and it just takes patience.....if it helps, dose kalk with the reactor while your tuning it up..alot of reefers use kalk anyways as a reactor will stablize your calcium but not make it crazy high...and will keep your alkalinity vvery high..they should just call them alk boosters

hth

j

[golfish]

I'll have a go at em

1- I would try to get some typ of better screen to keep the media out of the pump. On my Geo reactor George uses what looks like one of those Geen Sctotch bright pads cut to fit.

2- You might try adding a second stage to the reactor. This will help with your PH. How do the critters look at the low PH. "If it aint broke"
Why not use klak and the reactor? I do

Here's what I would do. Forget about the ph of the effluent. Instead shoot for DKH. Try to get it around double what you want in the tank. If your looking for 14 in the tank (I'm thinking you meant DKH not ALK) then shout for 28-30 for your effluent. Set the drip rate to about 60mls per minute and let it fly for a few days to a week. I shoot for a 16 in my tank but I'll take anything down to a 12.

Low PH is something you'll have to live with. if the corlas and fish are happey then forget about it. I use a Nilsen reactor and calcium reactor. I like everything kalk does for a tank along with the higher PH. I add kalk 24/7

[mrok12]

Golfish,
I love kalk too. Where did you get the nilsen reactor?

MROK12

[golfish]

Geroge built mine (aka Geo)