BRS dosing pump to feed a Calcium Reactor?

Smite

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#1
Just curious if this would be an alright pump to feed my calcium reactor. I know peristaltic pumps are used, but hospital grade where you can adjust the flow accurately. My thought is at 1ml a minute I would be able to adjust my pH in the reactor as needed.

What is everyones experience with the durability of these pumps? People seem to like them but this would be running 24/7.

I've been having border line large alk spikes in my system lately. I don't want to go 2 part yet since this reactor is 3/4 full after nearly a years use, lol.
 
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#2
I leave my cal reactor full stream then just adjust the pH depending on consumption of corals.
Some positives I've noticed going full stream is. One I don't ever deal with a blockage on the affluent. Two I don't get a build up of broken down media inside my reactor.
 
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#3
I was at MACNA at the spectrapure booth. They have a adjustable DC dosing pump used for their ATO. They said they can modified the pump for dosing purposes for your calcium reactor. Need to call them up first. The pump has 5 year warranty. Most dosing pumps on the market at that price will not run continuously and isnt adjustable like theirs.
It's called the spectrapure ultra precise ATO system .
https://reefs.com/2016/09/23/macna-2016-coverage-spectrapure-booth/
 

Smite

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#4
I leave my cal reactor full stream then just adjust the pH depending on consumption of corals.
Some positives I've noticed going full stream is. One I don't ever deal with a blockage on the affluent. Two I don't get a build up of broken down media inside my reactor.
This is similar to what I was doing. I'd set it to a steady flow barely turning to droplets before it hit the water. I think I'll try and add a gate valve in my return to create some more back pressure. I was just thinking it'd be easier to lock it in with a constant affluent flow rate.
 

Smite

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#7
I opened the gate valve alot that feeds my reactor and added a small RODI line ball valve to my effluent drip line. This seems to have added enough back pressure to the reactor. I haven't had to adjust it all week so hopefully that was my fix.
 
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#8
I have tried all manner of fixes for unreliable CARX effluent delivery. More or less backpressure, higher/lower flow rates through the reactor while modifying pH to suit my tanks needs, and I have always run into the issue of the line clogging over time and resulting in ALK fluctuations.

I am shopping now for a used Masterflex peristaltic pump (what a mess that is, there are like 50 variants) to deliver my effluent and be done with it. I will research the other pump mentioned above though.

Going rate for a masterflex (used) is like $300-400, and at that price most are in pretty tough shape.

Like mentioned above, a standard hobby grade peristaltic pump cannot handle continuous use.

I consider unreliable CARX effluent output to be my tanks biggest source of variation, and therefore my biggest problem.
 
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#9
[MENTION=7067]Smite[/MENTION] I just spoke with Spectrapure. Like Dattack said, they are coming out with that variable speed peristaltic pump for the purpose of metering flow from things like a calcium reactor, it is their new pump but without the inputs for level sensors (I was told). Jeremy at Spectrapure was very helpful and offered to sell me a unit. I am going to buy one and will report back on my findings.

If this product works, it will offer a ton of Calcium Reactor users a stable and reliable path to effluent delivery for a fraction of the cost of a masterflex. It could be a winner.
 
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#10
I have tried all manner of fixes for unreliable CARX effluent delivery. More or less backpressure, higher/lower flow rates through the reactor while modifying pH to suit my tanks needs, and I have always run into the issue of the line clogging over time and resulting in ALK fluctuations.

I am shopping now for a used Masterflex peristaltic pump (what a mess that is, there are like 50 variants) to deliver my effluent and be done with it. I will research the other pump mentioned above though.

Going rate for a masterflex (used) is like $300-400, and at that price most are in pretty tough shape.

Like mentioned above, a standard hobby grade peristaltic pump cannot handle continuous use.

I consider unreliable CARX effluent output to be my tanks biggest source of variation, and therefore my biggest problem.
Let me know if you'd like this Masterflex. $180 and it's yours. Was going to run it as remote water change but change of plan.

 

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