Calcium Reactor or 2 part dosing?

[bach2pilot]

I've finally got my system (90 gal w/ 30 gal refug) where I like it but I have one problem. I travel a lot and am routinely gone for a week (or more) at a time. My wife does a lot of things but daily dosing of B-ionic 2 part is NOT one of them. What do you guys recommend? Should I buy a high speed dosing pump like the Litremeter to dose 2 part or should I go with a calcium reactor? I mostly have LPS's (zooanthids and mushrooms) (because they are relatively easy), but I would like to "ramp up" to SPS's eventually (secondary consideration). The driving factor is stability and ease of use while I'm gone. Any recommendations you have would be very helpful...:D

[Randall_James]

how much CA are you using?

I think overall the 2 part is a bit easier and more stable to deal with. Add the dosing pump, set the rate of flow and you are just adding juice to the bottles from there out.

The reactors are almost as trouble free but C02 bottles, media containers, bubble rates, ph monitor (I think is a must) all add up to more complexity and space. Not near as easy to dial in but cheaper for the long run

[theatrus]

The Ca reactor is going to take some twiddling to setup right. It also has a much higher startup cost (reactor, bottle, regulator, etc). Its cheap to run once going though, since media is cheap and replaced very infrequently, and 10lb CO2 bottles last months and cost about $15 to get filled.

Two-part is easy to figure out since you're simply replacing manual dosing - its the same ml/day :) The LitreMeter is expensive though. Depending what 2-part you use that can be a significant cost too.

[bach2pilot]

I dose about 4-5 pumps of B-ionic MOST mornings. Are there any dosing pumps that are good but not as pricey as the Litremeter? I figured for the cost of a Litermeter with an extra pump (~450.00) I could get a calc reactor.
As for a calcium reactor - I'm not too concerned with setup or space-it's the daily tweaking after I get it established that I can't do...

[Agu]

For your livestock have you considered kalk and a dosing pump that tops off your system, that way you solve two issues at once.

[bach2pilot]

I used kalk for a few months and all my stuff slowly withered away. But that was with a plenum, now with my refugium my nitrates are zero - so maybe I should think about going back. You can top off all evap w/ kalk water can't you?