So I went out of town for 3 days and upon my return I find that my dual chamber MRC calcium reactor is bone dry, no water in the bubble counter, and my co2 tank, which was 75% full, is now empty. What could've happened? I Did an immediate 30% h2o change to bring my "off the charts" alk and calc levels down. Plan on another 30% h2o change today. Corals are ok but not happy at all. Fish We're very reluctant to eat but are getting their energy back. Any ideas or suggestions?
What happened?
- Thread starter skyking
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what were the parameters when you first saw that? and what are they now? a lot of things can happen in those 3 days. Is the co2 tank leaking? I'm no expert on CR (I'm in the process of setting 1 up myself) so I don't know what is the real impact if the CR does not run for 3 days.
Parameters were all within range and tank is mature and for the most part stable. Ive been having difficulty lately maintaining a continuous bubble rate in the bubble counter. I put a call into the manufacturer of my Milwaukee Regulator and he walked me through some poorly written directions. I made the recommended adjustments and left on my trip only to return home to find the problems I listed above. Somehow while I was away all of my Co2 purged out and my once full MRC Calcium Reactor Chambers are now both empty. Where did that water go? I am assuming into my system because there were no leaks on the floor around the reactor (or anywhere else). But how? and Why? Nobody was in my home while I was away. I am not worried about the CR not running for 3 days. Im wondering what caused it to dump all the reactor water and Co2 into my tank.
Yeah. Using a Pinpoint controller on a Milwaukee Regulator. Looking back, I figured out 1 piece of the puzzle. While troubleshooting my regulator, I left the solenoid plugged into the wall, therefore bypassing the controller. BUT, according to Jeremy at Sea Atlanta, with the low bubble rate that I had dialed in, it would be impossible for my tank to empty as fast as it did whether it was on a controller or not. He believes the issue was due to simultaneous regulator failure and feed pump failure. Going to refill my Co2 tank and do some regulator troubleshooting now.
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Do you have a faulty feed pump? I had a similar issue with my reactor when I wasn't using a controller. Feed pump would turn on and off , but co2 would be constantly filing chambers. My reactor would slowly drain into the tank ( it was elevated) leaving maybe 4 inches of water in the chamber. It melt a good bit of media since the ph was getting lower and lower without any new water moving through it. Than pump would kick back on randomly and dump all that dissolve media into tank and repeat.
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In my inexperience I was using a maxi jet T_T. I used one at that I found on clist for 5 dollars
I too am using the maxi jet 1200 as recommended by MRC. I just got off the phone with Milwsukee instruments and sure enough looks like a regulator failure and feed pump failure. Mikwaukee instruments are replacing my regulator for me even though it's slightly passed it's warranty date. Great guys over there and great customer service. So thanks for the insight guys. Once the new regulator gets in I'll install everything again and post an update.
Update:
I received my new regulator and low and behold I'm having the same issue with this one as I did the last. With the first, I always had difficulty keeping a regular bubble count. Even when I disconnected all the tubing TO the CR and let the Co2 bubble straight to the air (No cap or tube on the bubble counter vial), the bubbles would gradually decrease from 1 per sec to 0. It took about 2 minutes for that to happen. Well, as I mentioned earlier in this post, the new Milwaukee regulator is doing the exact same thing. The guys at Milwaukee Instruments have given up on me. Any body else experience a similar situation?
I received my new regulator and low and behold I'm having the same issue with this one as I did the last. With the first, I always had difficulty keeping a regular bubble count. Even when I disconnected all the tubing TO the CR and let the Co2 bubble straight to the air (No cap or tube on the bubble counter vial), the bubbles would gradually decrease from 1 per sec to 0. It took about 2 minutes for that to happen. Well, as I mentioned earlier in this post, the new Milwaukee regulator is doing the exact same thing. The guys at Milwaukee Instruments have given up on me. Any body else experience a similar situation?
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How old is the tank? The valve could be malfunctioning.
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I meant on the co2 tank itself. I don't know if you refill yours or swap it every time it's empty. Like any high pressure tanks, the valve on it needs to be checked every so often.
