New Nilsen Reactor Released!

[mrc]

<span style="color: blue;">My Reef Creations</span> is proud to offer our new and improved Nilsen Reactor. The best and easiest to use Nilsen reactor on the market just got better! Now with an easy to read, backlit LCD display and , you not only have the cool factor, but also precision programming capabilities.

The new touchpad programmable interface allows you to set timing intervals to control when the mixing occurs and for the length of the mix. This allows you to get the right amount of kalkwasser mixed for your system. The interface is capable of programming to the second, so you have an infinite amount of different timing options!

The new Nilsen Reactors also feature an heavy-duty external pump; no more wimpy pumps! This allows for the most powerful and reliable mixing performance for years to come. It also makes for easy cleaning and maintenance. The water resistant plug ensures worry free operation.

We have been rigorously testing these units for months now and all components have proved worthy to carry the MRC name.


The new Nilsen Reactors are being offered in 3 sizes: the small, standard and large. All are overbuilt in the MRC manner to provide you with the quality and endurance your system deserves.

Pre-orders available Exclusively at http://www.aquariumspecialty.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=37_490_533">Aquarium Specialty</a>. Reserve yours today!



[IMG]http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f27/skriz007/MRC/Nilsenface_3772p.jpg alt="" />

 

[mrc]

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[sprayin70]

Beautiful!

 

[drnecropolis]

I would feel bad about using it and getting it all dirty..

 

[skriz]

DrNecropolis;289841 wrote: I would feel bad about using it and getting it all dirty..

Our favorite phone calls after a customer received their order: "I don't know if I should use it or frame it; it's beautiful"

The best part: they work BETTER than they look! :confused2:

 

[johnr2604]

Dangit, How did you know I have been tossing around putting a Nilsen reactor on my tank. Very nice looking product, I'm sure like other MRC stuff I have used it probably does a great job.

 

[skriz]

Thanks John. These units are awesome! They have a big time cool factor with the LCD toucpad and they work really well.

 

[molson]

What determines what model would be better for your setup? Tank size, total water volume? I didn't notice any references in the product descriptions.

 

[mrc]

molson;290033 wrote: What determines what model would be better for your setup? Tank size, total water volume? I didn't notice any references in the product descriptions.

Two things will determine which size unit will be better for your system:

1. System size
2. Frequency of maintenance

The larger units can hold more kalk, thus more kalkwasser solution. They are more suitable for larger tanks or tanks will a higher demand. Also, the more kalk the unit has, the less often you have to refil it. In most cases, the small and standard units are suitable.

The sizes are now listed on the website. Check it out.

 

[ericmcj31]

cool-looking reactor-I'm sure its quality is up there w/ the other MRC equipment-good job, guys!

 

[chymos45]

I'm really interested in the standard model, but am concerned about how I want to hook it up. The Aquarium Specialty site specifically states to NOT connect the Nilsen to an RO/DI unit. My current ATO consists of an RO/DI unit under a bathroom sink, then about 25 ft of tubing, connected to a float valve in my sump. I was hoping to simply connect the Nilsen in-line and let that be that. Concerns:
<ol>
<li>Will the pressure build up from the RO/DI unit wheh the float valve is closed do any damage to the Nilsen?</li>
<li>How much of an issue will build up/clogging be on the float valve?</li>
<li>Will conecting in-line like this void any warranties?</li>
</ol>My other thought was to connect the Nilsen to my drain line manifold and attempt to dial the flow down as much as I can. Concerns:

<ol>
<li>Because this is a drain manifold, there will be particulate in the water, which is a clog concern.</li>
<li>I don't think I can truly dial in a consistent drip rate, no matter what valve I use. Maybe use an aqualifter on a timer?</li>
</ol>
Perhaps there is a better way to accomplish what I want. All comments/suggestions welcome.

(sorry for such a LONG post)

 

[jmaneyapanda]

I would NOT plumb it as you mentioned. Actually, I would not plumb your ATO the way you have. If that float fails, you are going to kill your entire system, and flood your house. Thats a lot to put on a simple float valve.

Back to the original question, though, you dont want to put a lot of pressure onto the canister as such, It surely will start leaking at some point. I would just purchase a small aqualifter pump, or invest in a reservoir ATO.

 

[chymos45]

Thanks for the input.

Agree on the float valve failure, but I have a high bulkhead on the sump that is plumbed to drain in the case of over-filling. If the float sticks open, the sump fills to the emergency drain level, spills over, and drains away. Yes, there is a potential drop in salinity if this happens too long, but other than that, I think </em>I am safe (famous last words...).

Regarding the Aqualifter, I hear those are better used to DRAW rather than PUSH, but if I am concerned about build up, wouldn't it be better to push the water through the Nilsen?

 

[jmaneyapanda]

Its a matter of how you look at it. Essentially, you are gravity feeding the nilsen. As one end is open, it is only slightly "pressurized", so there would be a minimal "push" (especially considering the line size and water flow).

Not to obliterate the proverbial dead horse, but your setup is really concerning, ESPECIALLY with the overflow. I knwo you didnt expect that, but, at least with a flood, you know something is going wrong. If it just drains off, you salinity could be dropping right now, and there is no obvious attention to it. I would reconsider that setup, or add some redundancy in some solenoids at the least.

 

[chymos45]

All good points to ponder, and I do appreciate your concern for the potential valve failure. The emergency overflow would be hard to miss if it were put into use. The drain is visible and currently has an alarm hooked up to it. I do like the idea of some redundancy, but have yet to come up with a good solution. Still working on it though...

 

[derek_s]

I think maybe just a float valve redundancy might work. I'm assuming your FV is mechanical and not electrical?

An electrical one is easy, as you just put extra sensors in series, so if one fails, all pump activity is ceased. Also I find that regularly inspecting and cleaning mine has helped, as I do find crud on them.

A mechanical one is harder, but I'm sure it can be done.

Just a consideration, you might change your system to an electrical one with a Tunze Ozmolator or a JBJ ATO and then rewire the floats so that you can have several, providing redundancy. THis will also allow the ATO to be fed by an electrical pump, so you end up with the pressure needed to properly feed the Nielsen as well.

This is how my system is set up. THe only difference is that my ATO water feed is not directly hooked up to the RODI, but the rodi instead fills a bucket automatically (the bucket has float sensors). The pump (aqualifter type) picks up the water off the top of the bucket, but the hose is only just under teh water surface, so the entire contents of the bucket cannot be pumped into the tank. The pump will run dry in a failure event (but I think this does not damage lifter pumps), and in time the RODI will provide it with more water to over-pump, but the time it would take is delayed, so hopefully I could discover the problem before it got too out of hand.

The tank also has 2 redundant floats, and I wouldnt mind adding 1 more for 3 total.

 

[chymos45]

Yes, my FV is mechanical, but it sounds like I may need to seriously consider changing to electrical to provide the prudent redundancy as well as enough pressure to feed the Nilsen.

 

[derek_s]

JBJs are very affordable, like 100 bucks. They come with 2 sensors, but you can probably order spares from them, or get some from any other supplier of such parts.

The tunzed are double that, like 200, but use an infrared primary sensor. Very cool, but I think it is easier for me to use multiple float switches that I can wire in any config I want as opposed to having one nice IR sensor.

I just like the redundancy that you can easily get from the floats.

Just FYI, I also have my ATO running off of my controller, and it is set to turn off if the PH reaches .3 above the average ph. Since I have the ato running through a deltec kalk reactor, the controller would pick up a PH increase in the case of a over-fill failure, thus cutting power to the ATO.

This means that for me to have a flood failure due to a ato related problem these would need to happen:

1) Multiple float sensors would need to fail or get stuck, or ATO relay would need to get stuck
2) Controller would have to not detect an unusual PH spike, or fail to cut power to the ATO
3) Failures above would have to remain unnoticed for several hours, as the ATO reservoir would have to pump down and refill several times.

SO, my system has a multiple redundancy that I like, but it is very dependednt on gadgets.

While I'm not trying to say this is bullet proof, i have tried very hard to make it so since I am in an apartment, and I simply hate manually topping off and/or filling a ato reservoir all the time.

 

[derek_s]

I just realized all this is in a sponsor's thread. Maybe we can move it to its own thread? It is a really great topic.

 

[soarin']

Chymos45;309181 wrote: Thanks for the input.

Agree on the float valve failure, but I have a high bulkhead on the sump that is plumbed to drain in the case of over-filling. If the float sticks open, the sump fills to the emergency drain level, spills over, and drains away. Yes, there is a potential drop in salinity if this happens too long, but other than that, I think </em>I am safe (famous last words...).

That just sounds dangerous to me. A backup system should be testable every few months at least.

I usually see a fair number of people posting about floods because they never checked to be sure their backup system actually worked.

(I see that in IT as well -- I once helped a place that did weekly tape backups, had for years. However, the tape machine they were using for backup hadn't worked either, and they never bothered to check. I helped them set up a better system, so no big problems, fortunately).

Even if your hyposalinity backup system works - what happens when your float valve fails when you go on vacation?

I would make sure that you can at least test any system that you are depending on to keep your reef and your house system safe, and make sure the system has no single point of failure.