Best calcium reactor?

[picture the reef]

I am setting up a new 90 Gallon Eco-Wheel tank. I am wanting to add a calcium reactor but am not sure which one. I will eventually want to keep primarily Sps and a few Lps corals. My LFS is pushing the Aqua-Medic reactors, I like what I read about the Korallin reactors and also the Geo reactors. Is it advantageous to monitor the internal ph of the reactor( to judge the correct amount of co2 for the reactor. Right now I am confused! Please help.:eek2:

 

[Jeremy B.]

Hi,

I can not vouch much for the Aqua Medic reactors. We just started carrying them, but I have not had the chance to hook one up and check it out yet. The Geo, Precision Marine, and Korallin are all great system in my opinion. I would rate the PM and Geo a little above the Korallin just from a "setup" point of view. The PM is extremely "set it and forget it". The Geo require just a bit of tinkering at first, but settles in nicely, while the Korallin seems to require the most fiddling with. One thing I like about the PM over the other two is the flow direction in the reactor, where the water flows from the top down, the others are bottom - up. I think the top down provides better water movement through the reactor, causing it dissolve more efficiently. In the end you probably can not go wrong with any of them, and will definitely be happy with whatever choice you make.

The ph is the main factor on how fast/slow the media dissolves. I have used Geo Marine crushed coral, Knop Koralith, and CaribSea ARM. I like the ARM the best, as it melts at a higher ph (around 6.8-7.0) The others need to get the ph down around 6.5 - 6.8 to melt efficiently.

Thanks,
Jeremy

 

[picture the reef]

reactor question???

reactor question???

Jeremy, thank you for the reply. The Eco-Wheel uses a connection for the calcium reactor off of one of the flow lines. This is kind of hard to explain but if you will go to Aquatic Engineers web site you will see what I am refering to. My question is will this be enough flow for the reactor of will I need an additional pump? The Aqua-Medic reactor has a provision for a ph probe to be placed internally in the reactor. Does the PM or the Geo reactor have this provision? Thanks for helping to clear up some of the confusion on this subject. Looking forward to your reply!

 

[Jeremy B.]

Hi,

Sorry it has taken so long to reply, I have been down the last day and a half with a touch of the flu. That EcoWhell should be enough to push through the reactor. You really dont need a whole lot to get through it. The Geo and PM do not have the area to stick a probe in. What a lot of people do is run their effluent through a cup first, that can overflow down into the sump. You can just stick a probe in the cup if you do this.

 

[picture the reef]

Jeremy, Sorry to hear you've been ill. Hope you're on the road to recovery. There is no way to use the cup idea with the Eco-Wheel setup because there is no sump. Is it really necessary to monitor the internal ph of the effluent? If so any other ideas on how to accomplish this? I feel it would definitely make is easier to initially dial in the reactor and keep an eye on things down the road. Let me know if you have any other suggestions.

 

[Jeremy B.]

I personally have never constantly monitored the effluent ph, only checked it occassionally during setup. I do not think it is an absolute must IMO. You could constantly monitor your tank ph, and manually check the effluent every now and then.