How to Maintain a Calcium Reactor
- May 19, 2024
- Anshika Mishra
- 131 0 0
You'll do some minor maintenance throughout the year. One of them is checking the dosing pump. Over time, salt water is very hard on the tubing. Therefore, you need to replace it every four to five months. At the same time, you also need to recalibrate the pH probe inside of it.
For this article, however, we are talking about big maintenance. This means we are going to replace the CO2 stand, rinse out the media, freshen things up, and add some new media inside.
Cleaning Your Calcium Reactor
First, however, remove all the gears to see what you are dealing with. Start by draining the water out of the calcium reactor. Once done, begin rinsing all of your media. Pace the media on a strainer and all of it under the tad. You'll see a lot of sandy water coming off the media.
If you want to do a little extra good, you can always go to rinse it with RO/DI.
Once the rocks are out, you'll see the gunk accumulated at the bottom that you need to clean out. While at it, clean out the impeller as well.
Now that the calcium reactor has been cleaned up, it's time to add some new, fresh media. Fill the bottom with fresh media, pre-load a bunch of your old media, and top it off with some more new media.
You'll notice white rocks throughout. Those are magnesium, and if you have lower magnesium, you can use that to help along with the calcium reactor.
You want to leave some space at the top for the pH probe. It'll also have an intake that sucks into the circulation pump. The other important thing to ensure is you don't get any rocks, sand, or grit on your o-ring, so you can clean it when needed.
Before you put the lid on, and when you are retightening it, you want to work on the opposite side, like when you tighten a rim on a car. This ensures the lid fits in well.
The lid will also have an in and out opening on it. Ensure the in-opening is roughly above or close to where the recirculation pumps suck in.
Once you place it back, it's gonna take a while for the pimp and versa to refill this. In the meantime, recalibrate your pH probe. For the sake of completeness, go ahead and change the Versa tube as well.
In Conclusion
This is something you can do once a year. Make sure your CO2 tank is refilled, add your media, and flush up any buildup within the reactor.
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