Aqua Medic reactor 500 Manual Del Usuario página 7

Fig. 2: reactor
12. Connection hose
3. Adjustment
Before using the reactor 500, the rest of the CO
regulator regular has to be mounted on the pressure bottle station. As soon as the regulator and
the reactor have been mounted, the reactor can be adjusted.
1. Turn on circulation pump to start the water flow.
2. Open the main valve of the CO
3. The working pressure gauge of the regular is set to 1.5 bar (+/- 5 bar).
4. Open the needle valve of the regular slowly. Check the flow of the CO
counter.
5. The initial flow should be approx. 15 bubbles/minute.
6. The CO will flow into the reactor and be picked up in the water flow.
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7. Determine the CO
reading before starting the reactor. Raise the bubble count per minute daily until a reading of
7.0 – 7.4 (for fresh water aquaria) is reached. It may take some days until the proper CO
level is reached and maintained.
Check the pH value regularly and adjust the CO
The CO gas in the pressure bottle is 99.8% pure carbon dioxide. The remaining
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0.2% are nitrogen, oxygen and other insoluble gases. These impurities are collected
in the reactor and can decrease its efficiency. An air hole allows these gases to
escape automatically, when they reach a preset concentration. Because of this
safety exhaust, the reactor will work continuously without interruption.
Raising the carbonate hardness (alcalinity)
Aquarium water, fresh or salt water, should have a minimum carbonate hardness of
4 – 6 °KH (1.5 – 2 mmol/l). Below this limit, the pH of the water cannot be stabilized.
Biological processes produce permanently organic acids that reduce the carbonate
hardness. Filtration with peat or the use of other acids (phosphoric acid or hydrochloric
acid). If peat products are used for filtration, the carbonate hardness of the water
should be checked weekly. If the KH drops below 4° in fresh water or 6° in salt water,
it should be raised. We recommend the buffer tablets Aqua Medic aqua + KH.
pressure bottle.
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content in the water using a pH controller or a pH test. Take an initial pH
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Fig. 3: reactor mounting
13. Minimum water level
system has to be assembled: The pressure
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bubble count as required.
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bubbles on the bubble
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