I did my normal weekly tests on both tanks, mainly alkalinity in the large system, all is well in the S650 which is dosed by normal foundation elements from a Kamoer 4 channel doser which has been faultless for 6 years
The large system is run by a Deltec Twintech 1500 super duper calcium reactor, you know the type that costs about £1850
Alkalinity was at 4.8 and I was wondering why one of the montipora corals was going a little white!
So I immediately added some normal alkalinity powder in a liquid form, about 1 litre (a rough guess from calculating what’s used in the S650) and went to investigate
As I suspected the stupid flow meter in the Twintech had got stuck again. This is a cheap piece of plastic with a impeller inside that rotates and the unit then counts the dosage. But you can’t access it to clean it, it’s a sealed unit. Furthermore it doesn’t alert you that it’s stopped, it just caries on regardless but nothing is coming out of the reactor.
The only way I can tell if it’s working, is the output hose is in the return section of the sump, along with an Apex pH probe. When is adds effluent the pH drops and the probe picks it up. That’s it, otherwise you don’t know
When it works it’s brilliant, but……
I won’t be replacing it, if and when it fails or I get fed up with it, I’ll go back to normal dosing with a Kamoer, and some large containers!