Ca reactor advice/input

[leeweber85]

I came across this reactor for sale in the selling forums. If anybody knows anyhting about reactors, could you tell me if this is a good deal and if it would work well on a 125g mixed reef?

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=7903653

Pacific Coast CA-100

Comes with 5LB Co2 bottle
CO2 Regulator W/Solenoid
Bubble counter
Milwaukee PH meter model SMS 122
Probe MA911
A bottle and package of both PH 7.01 and 10.1
a reactor full of good media




Thanks,
Lee

 

[leeweber85]

asking price is $225 shipped

 

[Covey]

Now I love a good import when I can find them but it is my understanding that it doesn't have a recirc pump and is kinda of a wierd design. 95+% of CRs have recirc pumps. It wouldn't be to effiecent with the co2 or that powerful as far as output goes.

I'd keep looking or if you were looking for a low priced new CR you could look into a Coralife or build one.

 

[rc1214b]

It seems like a pretty decent setup to me, Can you ship a co2 tank though?

 

[Covey]

Not full but the refill is only around $13

 

[rc1214b]

Yeah after I thought about it I know you can by new tanks and have them shipped, The hardware like tank,reg,ph would add up pretty quick new. I looked online and it says the reactor itself with bubble counter is $288 new.

 

[Covey]

$150 over here
http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merc...Product_Code=PC-CA-100&Category_Code=creactor

 

[rc1214b]

my bad I was looking at a cr-100, now if it was this one it would be a much better deal

 

[leeweber85]

so far it's looking like its a "no-go" anyone else have an opinion?

I was thinking it looked like an awesome deal

 

[Atticus]

I think Jeff's CR3 is a great deal and local. All top of the line parts and set to run just add media. He has it listed in our forum.

 

[leeweber85]

I wish I could afford Jeffs, But I don't need anything that fancy.

If I were to go with the coralife, would it be best to get the 250 or 500?

 

[Covey]

Unless you think you will upgrade right away the 250 would be fine.

 

[Tank Razed]

I use the Coralife 500 on a ~200 gallon system and sometimes wish I had gone smaller. The reactor works great, but I go through a lot of CO2 to keep the ph down in the larger reactor chamber and it takes a little while longer to get it "dialed in". Once it is set-up, though, the Coralife reactor is great, IMO.

 

[leeweber85]

THanks for the Info, I can't seem to find much about these reactors.

I am new to reactors, does the PH probe go in the reactor, or in the tank?

 

[Tank Razed]

Most reactors have a spot to put the ph probe directly into the reactor (the coralife ones do). For the reactors that don't have a spot for the probe you will need to measure the ph of the water that exits the reactor to ensure your at the right level inside the reactor.

You want to monitor the ph in your tank to make sure that the reactor doesn't cause the ph in the tank to drop too much (especially on smaller tanks), so initially when you are setting up you need to keep an eye on both your tank ph and the ph of the reactor. I keep my probe in the reactor full time, and just occasionaly pull it out to check my tank ph.

 

[Tank Razed]

I couldn't find much info about these reactors when I got mine either, and Coralife has made some pretty crappy products in the past, so I was a little leary of them. But I decided to go for it because they are so much cheaper than other reactors.

I'm glad I did. A CA reactor is really a simple device, and the Coralife one is very well designed.

 

[leeweber85]

So I could get away using my Aqua Controller PH probe and not have to buy another ph monitor/controller?

 

[Covey]

If you have a AquaController your set. I run mine off the my AC jr. When I want to test the tank pH I just pull the probe out like Tank Razed said.