PDA

View Full Version : Dosing Manual/Pumps or Calcium Reactor


FirstContact
02/09/2016, 03:21 PM
I am starting acros later this year. Do you prefer dosing or calcium reactors and why?

ca1ore
02/09/2016, 03:42 PM
I prefer a calcium reactor, though I do both (as well as kalk in the top-off water). Have just had more consistent success with a CaRx.

FirstContact
02/09/2016, 04:25 PM
I've used Randy's directions for alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium before. Much of my dosing seemed to come out of solution into precipitate; I felt like I was always cleaning the precipitate off of equipment to keep it functioning: pumps, power heads, auto top off optics...

I am leaning towards CaRx.

Anyone else have mixed experiences they would like to share?

TylerHaworth
02/09/2016, 05:06 PM
I dose 2-part because of simplicity. If you're getting precipitation make sure you're dosing slow'ish into high flow areas and not dosing both at the same time.

CaRx is something I haven't delved into yet, although it is in my future.

jamie1981
02/09/2016, 07:45 PM
CA reactor. Haven't had to touch mine for 6 months. Simpler and easier than dosing 2 part and more trace elements are added since your dissolving dead natural coral skeletons into solution.

Member No. 1
02/09/2016, 08:28 PM
Ca and Kalk reactors. Once dialed in, got to love stability.

FirstContact
02/09/2016, 08:43 PM
I normally run kalk in an ATO reactor, but I got rid of all my lps and soft corals when I switched my 46g out for my 120g. Would like to try an acro dominant tank. I know that kalkwasser won't be enough for acropora. I plan to use the kalkreactor to supplement a main approach of dosing or a calcium reactor. Aside from initial set up costs, are there any cons to choosing a calcium reactor set up over a three pump dosing pump.

SkullV
02/09/2016, 08:52 PM
I normally run kalk in an ATO reactor, but I got rid of all my lps and soft corals when I switched my 46g out for my 120g. Would like to try an acro dominant tank. I know that kalkwasser won't be enough for acropora. I plan to use the kalkreactor to supplement a main approach of dosing or a calcium reactor. Aside from initial set up costs, are there any cons to choosing a calcium reactor set up over a three pump dosing pump.

One of the nicest 180g acro dominant tanks I have ever seen got 100% of its cal/alk makeup through kalk and water changes. You can absolutely run a successful SPS tank using only kalk. A lot depends on your evap level since you can only top off so much water per day.

ca1ore
02/09/2016, 09:14 PM
That may well work in a low humidity environment like Arizona, but it absolutely won't work in Connecticut.

SkullV
02/09/2016, 10:24 PM
That may well work in a low humidity environment like Arizona, but it absolutely won't work in Connecticut.

It was in Chicago.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y222/NewSchool04/P1030897.jpg

Harry_Y
02/10/2016, 11:04 AM
CA Reactor is pretty much set and forget

Plus I would tend to believe it's cheaper in the long run

FirstContact
02/11/2016, 11:22 AM
Will the effluent from a calcium reactor fall out of solution into precipitate?

d2mini
02/11/2016, 02:41 PM
Once my tank starts to take off, Kalk is never enough for me. Not even close.
When I was dosing my 200g I was dumping in 300 ml of Alk every day!
Switched to a CaRx and never looked back. Love it. More expensive to set up but cheaper in the long run.
The beauty of calcium reactors is that they replace the minerals that your corals need, not only the major ions like Calcium and Magnesium and Strontium, but also the molybdenum, and even many other other trace ions, in the correct ionic proportion. It's dissolving Aragonite which is almost identical to coral skeleton, or you can dissolve actual coral skeleton. Two Little Fishies Reborn media is supposedly coral skeleton.
You wont get this from 2-Part.

FirstContact
02/11/2016, 03:45 PM
Thanks d2mini!

chercm
02/11/2016, 06:59 PM
Once my tank starts to take off, Kalk is never enough for me. Not even close.
When I was dosing my 200g I was dumping in 300 ml of Alk every day!
Switched to a CaRx and never looked back. Love it. More expensive to set up but cheaper in the long run.
The beauty of calcium reactors is that they replace the minerals that your corals need, not only the major ions like Calcium and Magnesium and Strontium, but also the molybdenum, and even many other other trace ions, in the correct ionic proportion. It's dissolving Aragonite which is almost identical to coral skeleton, or you can dissolve actual coral skeleton. Two Little Fishies Reborn media is supposedly coral skeleton.
You wont get this from 2-Part.

You mean by using Reborn media , I do not have to add magnesium media into the reactor ?

d2mini
02/11/2016, 07:20 PM
You mean by using Reborn media , I do not have to add magnesium media into the reactor ?

I'm not positive either way. Every tank is different.
I know that when I added a little mag media to my reactor with Reborn media, it shot up in my tank. Maybe I just added a little two much. I went for the recommended 10%.
I would say try without first. If your mag drops over time, next time you need to refill your reactor add maybe 5% zeomag or similar and see how it does.

From the TLF website, describing reborn as... "coarse aragonite media for calcium reactors, composed of fossil skeletons of reef building corals sustainably harvested from pristine sites in the Western Pacific. When dissolved, ReBorn replenishes calcium and carbonate alkalinity, strontium and trace elements."