Been a long time since I’ve posted – no apologies – these things happen. Lets see. Since the last post I’ve done several things.
- Got the calcium reactor on line – sort of…. explain more in a second.
- To get the reactor dialed in, I got some more accurate testing sets, Hanna Checkers. Love them! More in a second there too.
- Related, but specifically I got a Salifert Mg test to see if Mg was why my alkalinity was always bumping the bottom of the range – sure enough – Mg was low. While I did dump in a whole bottle of Mg from Red Sea – it wasn’t until I got he Calcium reactor going that things started to look better.
- Replaced the filter cartridges in the RODI – again, sort of, the company didn’t bring the right sized DI cartridge, but they did add another tank, so I have about 20 gallons of RODI on hand at any given time.
- I also made an adaptor to the Bucket Head vacuum to be able to clean the sump easier. I can now vacuum it out and do a 5 gallon or so replacement pretty easily – which has been nice.
Regarding the Calcium Reactor – I did get that set up, but the regulator was blow, so the only way I can make the whole thing work is blast the medium down to about 6.3 and then left the feed pump push in tank water until the pH hits about 7.0 – not ideal since it is supposed to be “set and forget” but now I have the new regulator head and once I get that installed (hopefully this weekend) I’ll do a quick video to show how that whole system works.
I also need to move the effluent drip line into the skimmer. That way the air the skimmer is pulling in will drive off the excess CO2 from the system which will hopefully keep pH up. The pH has been fine, but I’ve kinda been managing it with Kalkwasser drips. I have the calcium reactor set up to turn on when pH hits 8.5 and shut off when the pH drops to 8.15. I’m hoping to get away from the whole Kalkwasser system all together, but at worst I’ll add it to the ATO and set the ATO to only run set bursts between set hours overnight so that it maintains a better pH. I think my toadstool was none too happy with pH being in the 7.9’s at one point – everything else seems pretty happy with it.
Calcium Reactor
The water tests after having the calcium reactor “set” or should I say, running, for the week is that Calcium is at 550ppm (possibly as high at 590 since I ran the test twice) and alkalinity is at 9.8 dKh (3.5meq).. Magnesium is at a beautiful 1320ppm. Not the calcium is a bit high, but I think once I can regulate the pH in the tank it should help since I can slow the rate of dissolving the media and increase the drip rate (more higher pH water into the reactor).
Hanna Checkers
Lets see – fish are looking great. Still have the ornery wrasse… but once I get the reactor set his days are looking limited in PRP. I want to get a clam and I would love to get a cleaner shrimp or two. So… that means the Wrasse has got to go. He decimated my peppermint shrimp population quite nicely and while they are supposed to be clam friendly – I’m having a hard time trusting it with what I assume will be a $200 purchase.
I saw that AI has come out with the “Hydra” as an upgrade to the “Vega” lights. I have the “Sol” so I’m two versions behind, but I’m pretty happy with them. Instead of adding any upgrade lights, I think I might add a T5HO bulb or two for color and softening the “curves” of the LEDS (sometimes called the disco-ball effect).
That’s about it, coming up on two years with the PRP in a couple of weeks here. Happy birthday 1 year was a bubble tip anemone I’m glad to say is still kicking. This year perhaps a clam?
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