calcium reactor question

[NYreefNoob]

no he means does the line leaving the reactor that goes into the effluent cup, is there a valve on the end of it to control the amount of water leaving the reactor

 

[Deep Dive Coral]

no, but I control the water leaving by controling the water going in. Should I change that?

 

[NYreefNoob]

yes the effluent tube should have a control on the end of it allowing only x amount of water to leave the reactor, i have a little 80 gph pump feeding mine

 

[Deep Dive Coral]

this might be the worse drawing ever but its the only way i can show my system. im confused on the way you are saying to put the valve. if you show or edit this pic at all that would be great.

by me adjusting the valve where it is i control how much water is entering the reactor and that controls how muck water leaves the reactor into the effluent cup. im very confused. i have it dripping into the effluent cup right now but that means that its dripping new water into the reactor.... im confused and hopefully you guys can help me out... thanks

 

[NYPDFrogman]

My set up is a little different
I have a small pump (80GPH) feeding my reactor from the skimmer portion of sump.
my reactor is fitted with a recirculating pump and a spraybar.
the water exiting the the reactor flows through a needle valve. this is where I control how much effluent leaves the reactor and enters the effluent cup which drips into the return portion of the sump.
it's important to drip out of the cup to aerate and bleed off the excess CO2.
From your diagram you really cant control dwell time( of the CO2) within the reactor

 

[Deep Dive Coral]

My set up is a little different
I have a small pump (80GPH) feeding my reactor from the skimmer portion of sump.
my reactor is fitted with a recirculating pump and a spraybar.
the water exiting the the reactor flows through a needle valve. this is where I control how much effluent leaves the reactor and enters the effluent cup which drips into the return portion of the sump.
it's important to drip out of the cup to aerate and bleed off the excess CO2.
From your diagram you really cant control dwell time( of the CO2) within the reactor

here is the reactor that i use. i will pick up another needle valve and put it inbetween the efluent cup and the reactor and have valves on both sides of the reactor. will that be better?

 

[NYPDFrogman]

there is no need to buy another needle valve simply put the one you have on the output.

do you feed it off your return pump?
if so u to some degree u will be recirculating your effluent back into the reactor

my suggestion is to feed the reactor with a dedicated pump with either tank water or sump water furthest from the return. put your effluent cup as close to the return as possible
I would adjust the PH of my effluent to around 7.00 and test water in a week and adjust from there