Do I really need/want a calcium reactor?

[alikat]

I have a 55 g tall that has fish, anemone, zoas, mushrooms, a frogspawn, xenia, goniopora, and colt coral. Do I really want or need a calcium reactor?

 

[victor626nj]

you dont need one at all you dont have anything in your tank that has a high calcium demand

 

[cameron]

Kalkwasser in the top off will probably be more than enough.

 

[skriz]

waste of money unless you were going to keep sps or clams.

 

[mkinna1]

some of you might disagree but i have a 100 gallon and do water changes regularly and i dont have one I have been keeping clams for 11 months and 4 sps for about 5 months tons of lps and zoas

 

[alikat]

Cameron;97761 wrote: Kalkwasser in the top off will probably be more than enough.

I've never used Kalkwasser. I used to supplement with Ocean's Blend calcium. Would Kalkwasser be better?

Sorry. I know absolutely nothing about calcium supplements. When I had my saltwater aquarium in college, we didn't do that.

 

[victor626nj]

if you want to keep everything in line i would use tropicmarin salt it is a little more than other salts but it helps keep everything in line especially sice you dont have any hard corals

 

[skriz]

mkinna1;97786 wrote: some of you might disagree but i have a 100 gallon and do water changes regularly and i dont have one I have been keeping clams for 11 months and 4 sps for about 5 months tons of lps and zoas

That's fine as long as you do regular water changes. plus, it depends on the size and growth rate you want for the clams and sps. Just because something survives, doesn't mean that it is thriving and happy. But, 4 sps is not much in a 100g, so your demand may not be that bad.

AliKat;97787 wrote: I've never used Kalkwasser. I used to supplement with Ocean's Blend calcium. Would Kalkwasser be better?

Sorry. I know absolutely nothing about calcium supplements. When I had my saltwater aquarium in college, we didn't do that.

Kalk would be cheaper. You can get mrs. wages picking lime from walmart for $3 and make a lot of kalk.

 

[jetchris]

i dose by hand every other day with pool calcium and baking soda as an alkalinity buffer. If you choose to do this do your research on pool calcium. Its basically the same as Kent Turbo calcium, but there are certain brands "pool calcium" to buy. PM me if you want more info.

 

[dakota9]

Your tank is not significantly different than mine..

My tank doesn't require hardly any calcium. I've gone two months without dosing calcium, check the calcium level and its only down to 380.

A calcium reactor in unskilled hands would be dangerous. I use Ocean's Bleand Two Part.... Well, what I mean is I HAVE it, but rarely ever need to use the calcum, and never use the alk part because my water changes keeps the alk where it needs to be.

A calk reactor would be more trouble than its worth to you..

 

[cameron]

AliKat;97787 wrote: I've never used Kalkwasser. I used to supplement with Ocean's Blend calcium. Would Kalkwasser be better?

Sorry. I know absolutely nothing about calcium supplements. When I had my saltwater aquarium in college, we didn't do that.

Kalkwasser (or as someone suggested Ms Wages Pickling Lime available at most Krogers for cheap) is really easy and is balanced so you don't need to dose alk buffer and calcium supplement seperately. Kalkwasser is also has a very high pH so it can keep your pH up as well if you are having a pH problem. You simply add 2 teaspoons per gallon to your top off, mix and then let the crap settle to the bottom (called slurry). The only two considerations for Kalkwasser is to watch the pH and lesson the amount of kalkwasser in your top off if your pH begins to climb past the 8.3-8.4 range. The second consideration is to not dose the slurry. I basically leave a couple inches at the bottom of my top off chamber alone so the slurry can sit at the bottom.

The best part is you can fill up your top off, mix up the mixture (I use a small pump), let settle and you are good until your next topoff fill up.