Calcium ?

[kevinbeth]

I understand the benefit of having a dual chamber calcium reactor. My ? is at what point is it overkill? My 90 gallon tank that i've had for years is overrun with aptasia so im tearing it down and starting over. I built a custom stand/bookshelf with my dad and Chris at Fish Scales is going to build a tank for me. Its going to be a 125 tall 60x18x26. My last tank had a good bit of SPS and i never could keep my alk levels correct. This time I'm going to use a calcium reactor! Do i need the dual chamber or will a single chamber work fine? I have a coralife 500 new in a box that i inherited and was going to use that with a milw.. ph controller.

 

[markgsu]

Save your money, dose with Bulk Reef Supply 2 part! Seems to be working well for me, but I just started so we will see if there are any lasting effects down the road.

Sounds like an awesome build tho! Good luck thats going to be quite a project.

 

[kevinbeth]

No dosing this time, strictly automated! LOL

 

[markgsu]

Technically you could automate the two part with some dosing pumps. Not sure if that would save you anything, but it would give you all three (Mag, Calc, and Alk) with automated dosing.

Just some food for thought, this is actually what I plan to do.

 

[cr500_af]

Kevin, I'm sure you know this, but you're gonna save money in the long run by running a reactor if you have a high calcium demand (a lot of SPS).

If I understand it correctly, the second chamber's functioning is to let the pH come back up before the effluent re-enters the system. Since the second chamber doesn't get C02 injection, or require a probe... IMO you could always add a cheap media reactor with aragonite between your single chamber CA reactor's output and your sump if you find you need this function.

That might be a possibility if you want to save bucks on the reactor right now... hopefully somebody sharper than me will elaborate on this.