Kalk, calcium reactor, dosing pump?

[calhounreef]

Golden! Thank you

 

[redstang]

Acroholic;998850 wrote: The main difference, cost aside, between calcium reactors and dosing, and the factor that I think makes calcium reactors a good choice, is when you are dissolving media, you are dissolving and releasing not only bicarbonates and calcium, but also magnesium, and trace elements as they were laid down by the corals that originally took them up before they became reactor media, so you have all three: bicarbonate, calcium, and magnesium, and proper traces released in the proper proportions in a calcium reactor setup. It costs a bit more initially, but the cost evens out over a couple years. Manual dosing does not provide that in an all in one type setup, just bicarbonate and calcium.

I personally would not have any issues running a calcium reactor on a 60 gallon or even smaller setup, and don't think it means anything other than you want stability in your system. Manual or automated dosing is fine as well, but I prefer reactors for the above reasons.

Skriz;998858 wrote: Calcium reactor FTW!

It doses EVERYTHING in the correct ratios and is a breeze to control. For the best of the best, use both the calcium reactor and kalk. I've never seen such a potent combo; amazing growth and colouration.

Depending on how you spec your reactor, you should be good to go 6 months between servicing it. The longer I can go between services, the better. But that just could be because I'm a special type of lazy!!

Acroholic;998861 wrote: Once you have the reactor dialed in, you don't have to do a lot to it. Main thing is to ensure a consistent flow rate of about 60 ml/ min through the reactor (give or take), then use a bubble rate of one bubble CO2 per second (50-60 per minute), then set a reactor pH set point of 6.5 or so to start, then monitor your KH according to your goals and adjust the pH set point up or down accordingly. The above settings are not in stone, but are a good starting point and what is usually recommended by reactor manufacturers as starting points as well.

Main thing is to understand the relationship between pH set point and system KH. The lower the reactor set point, the more CO2 will be bubbled into the reactor, and the more bicarbonates, Ca and Mag will be released as the media is dissolved at a faster rate, the higher the reactor set point, the opposite happens.

For example, if you want to keep a system KH of 9, and at your above settings, over a couple weeks your KH goes down to 8, then you lower the pH set point of the reactor to 6.4 from 6.5, which bubbles more CO2 into the reactor, dissolving more media and releasing more bicarbonates, thereby raising the KH of the system. If your system KH rises to 10, then you might rIse the reactor pH set point to 6.6, which means less CO2 goes into the reactor, dissolving less media and releasing less bicarbonates, thereby lowering the KH of the system.

Flow rate (effluent rate) and bubble rate can be adjusted, but the ranges I gave for those should work for most systems. I have just found it easier to mess with one parameter at a time, and reactor set point works the best, IME. Also it is better for someone new to calcium reactors to only play with one variable until you get somet experience.

But definitely know what happens chemically to your reactor, the media, and your water column in general before setting up and starting operation of a calcium reactor.

Your reactor media dissolves very slowly, and generally you should not have to refill for a couple years, or until you deplete half the media. A lot really depends on the demand of your system. SPS systems show small demand whey you have tiny frags, of course, and demand increases as they grow. Far less demand from an LPS dominant system, IME.

Main thing IME is to monitor KH, as calcium and magnesium levels usually fall in line at a properly maintained in range KH level. I keep mine at 9, with a general range of 7-12 bring the range recommended by Randy Holmes Farley. The middle of that seems a good place to be.

Edit: Raj states servicing the reactor ever 6 months. Your mileage may vary with this. I go much longer thank Raj does, but I also dose Kalk, which probably decreases the rate I dissolve reactor media.

These. But especially Dave's first quote about adding everything at nature's natural mix. IMO it will be the quickest and easiest way for me to maintain stable parameters. Something which I've pretty much sucked at for 4 years now no matter how hard I tried. On the biocube it was water changes only and when your at times either as busy or lazy as I am and you slip on a water change here or there, it adds up over time, or subtracts depending on how you look at it. I was too new and naive the first couple of years to realize the downstream effects.

As I learned more I tried manually dosing but still could never keep things stable. Then I upgraded to the 60 cube and found out that all that water changes in the world and occasional manual dosing wasn't going to cut it so I started dosing kalk in my ATO. This has helped. I'm actually getting significant coralline algae growth for the first time in 6 months. My ph has become more stable, as has my alk and calcium but not as stable as I'd like.

The plan from the time I bought this tank was to get a calcium reactor. I'll be picking up a used one this Friday and I couldn't be happier.

Dave, I'll have to pick your brain about using kalk and a calcium reactor. Seems like that would be way overkill for a 60gal system but if it's beneficial I'm willing to continue to do it and tweak it. I have the tank and rock work that I've wanted for years but I'm not adding additional corals until I get more stability.

As far as cost goes, if you're willing to buy used you can save a ton either way. But even new, a good automated dosing system will likely cost you at least $200 and likely $300-$350 for everything to get started. Depending on system size, a good CR setup will run $500-600. Add in the relative ease of maintenance with a CR and I truly think a CR wins.

Good luck no matter which way though. They can all work.

 

[skriz]

Acroholic;998861 wrote: Once you have the reactor dialed in, you don't have to do a lot to it. Main thing is to ensure a consistent flow rate of about 60 ml/ min through the reactor (give or take), then use a bubble rate of one bubble CO2 per second (50-60 per minute), then set a reactor pH set point of 6.5 or so to start, then monitor your KH according to your goals and adjust the pH set point up or down accordingly. The above settings are not in stone, but are a good starting point and what is usually recommended by reactor manufacturers as starting points as well.

Main thing is to understand the relationship between pH set point and system KH. The lower the reactor set point, the more CO2 will be bubbled into the reactor, and the more bicarbonates, Ca and Mag will be released as the media is dissolved at a faster rate, the higher the reactor set point, the opposite happens.

For example, if you want to keep a system KH of 9, and at your above settings, over a couple weeks your KH goes down to 8, then you lower the pH set point of the reactor to 6.4 from 6.5, which bubbles more CO2 into the reactor, dissolving more media and releasing more bicarbonates, thereby raising the KH of the system. If your system KH rises to 10, then you might rIse the reactor pH set point to 6.6, which means less CO2 goes into the reactor, dissolving less media and releasing less bicarbonates, thereby lowering the KH of the system.

Flow rate (effluent rate) and bubble rate can be adjusted, but the ranges I gave for those should work for most systems. I have just found it easier to mess with one parameter at a time, and reactor set point works the best, IME. Also it is better for someone new to calcium reactors to only play with one variable until you get somet experience.

But definitely know what happens chemically to your reactor, the media, and your water column in general before setting up and starting operation of a calcium reactor.

Your reactor media dissolves very slowly, and generally you should not have to refill for a couple years, or until you deplete half the media. A lot really depends on the demand of your system. SPS systems show small demand whey you have tiny frags, of course, and demand increases as they grow. Far less demand from an LPS dominant system, IME.

Main thing IME is to monitor KH, as calcium and magnesium levels usually fall in line at a properly maintained in range KH level. I keep mine at 9, with a general range of 7-12 bring the range recommended by Randy Holmes Farley. The middle of that seems a good place to be.

Edit: Raj states servicing the reactor ever 6 months. Your mileage may vary with this. I go much longer thank Raj does, but I also dose Kalk, which probably decreases the rate I dissolve reactor media.

Yep.

I actually go waaaay longer than 6 months too
it's not uncommon to go 1-2 years without touching your reactor.

 

[redstang]

Skriz;998873 wrote: Yep.

I actually go waaaay longer than 6 months too
it's not uncommon to go 1-2 years without touching your reactor.

Music to my ears.

 

[calhounreef]

That's the kind of info I've been looking for! Thank you everyone

 

[wildernets]

Hardest thing for me is keeping the PH set point consistent. Moving to an electronic c02 regulator soon and that should fix that problem.