Calcium reactor Low maint?

[radecatur]

Those of you who use a calcium reactor, are they low maintenance once setup and tuned?

I've setup my tank to be as low maintenance as possible. Apex, AWC, ULN, etc.
Currently i have my tank running on a 3 part doser, but im wondering if it would be easier to adjust a reactor instead of the individual dosing. I'm not going through a ton of additives, so im not sure there would be a cost savings there. Im using 1.06 DKH per day and about 7 ppm of calcium.

Can you wise sages of all things calcium reactors share your thoughts and wisdom?

Thanks

 

[tkeracer619]

Check out this thread I posted some years back. It's ballooned into very large thread with many people now successfully running the setup. The first few posts still hold true.

This is ime the best way to setup a low maintenance reactor.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2368618

 

[slief]

Check out this thread I posted some years back. It's ballooned into very large thread with many people now successfully running the setup. The first few posts still hold true.

This is ime the best way to setup a low maintenance reactor.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2368618

+1!!!

I use a Masterflex feed pump and a good regulator and my Geo 818 calcium reactor is virtually no maintenance. I just replaced my 20 pound Co2 bottle yesterday after 2 years. I've added media once in that time. It's set it and forget it and only needs flow rate adjustments to compensate for increased alk consumption. For that I just push a button on the Masterflex to increase the flow as needed. It's infinitely less maintenance than dosing since I never really touch the reactor. Having run calcium reactors on and off for many years, the Masterflex has proven to be the best solution to making a calcium reactor set it forget it that I have ever seen or imagined! It eliminates all the issues that calcium reactors are prone to having.

 

[ca1ore]

Depends a bit on what you'd consider 'low maintenance'? Adding a masterflex pump (mine is a much more basic model than the one pictured above) removes a lot of the headaches. Once you get it dialed in, it's really just keeping an eye on things, and replacing the media periodically. I'm going on 18 months with my 20 lb Co2 cylinder, so swapping is likely sooner rather than later, but that only takes a few minutes. I have a heavy requirement, so push mine pretty hard such that the media needs replacing every 6 months or so. I use that as an opportunity to clean it out as well. Get a bucket head shop vac to ease that process. Takes an hour, maybe 2, to remove, clean and replace the media. That's about it.

 

[radecatur]

Thanks for the replies. It cleared some things up. I still have a ton of reading in the other thread to do though.

Depends a bit on what you'd consider 'low maintenance'? < SNIP >< SNIP > the media needs replacing every 6 months or so. I use that as an opportunity to clean it out as well. Get a bucket head shop vac to ease that process. Takes an hour, maybe 2, to remove, clean and replace the media. That's about it.

That's low enough for me. That really does beat mixing additives every month and refilling containers ever 7-9 days. Not that the process is intensive, but like all of us, i have a life. I've forgotten to check and refill the reservoirs and had alk plummet on me.

 

[gcarroll]

I don't find calcium reactors as hard as all these new breed of hobbyists using dosing pumps, digital co2 regulators and ph probes. I heard to tune a reactor the old fashioned way. Here is a good article that will teach you a lot about understanding calcium reactors.
http://reef.diesyst.com/crarticle/crarticle.htm

To me this article is like the calcium reactor bible. The feed pump idea in the article works! I used it for about 8 years and it worked flawlessly.

Personally I like a calcium reactor with an up flow design. Anyone who has had one with a down flow design can tell you that cleaning the reactor before refilling is a must. With an up flow reactor, this isn't an issue. The second thing I look for is a reactor without thumb screws. I hate those boogers! Screw on tops only for me.

 

[scuzy]

Masterflex on a carx is set and forget. Only thing is to check CO2 level and calcium media.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[tkeracer619]

It's not about a carx being hard. It's about increasing the stability and reliability of the entire system. There is no fiddling with the above setup and there is no adjustment for various reasons common to a traditional setup.

There are still many people who get around via horse and buggy just fine and others decided to put engines in those buggies. Both get you to where you're going

That carx link gcarroll linked is a great read. Definitely a go to of mine as well.

 

[golfish]

If you use good valves and solenoids, and you know what your doing, I have found them to be very easy to run. You got to have GOOD equipment. If a CA reactor fails its usually a big fail.
I'm going to try and not use a CA reactor and protein skimmer on my new try.

Greg, is good to hear from you. I hope things are well.

 

[radecatur]

So while researching almost all day I've come to the conclusion that the 7523-60 might be allusive for the next few months. So i started looking at other options and i ran across this guy that can be picked up new for about 290....

http://stenner.com/products/pumps/econ-ld-series#boxtab4
They have 2 versions:
1.3 - 70 ml's an hour
and a 3.2 - 240 ml's an hour.

The question is which one is better suited?

 

[bshow24]

In addition to the above about the Stenner pumps, are you using the pump to pull water through? Or are you using it as a feed for the reactor?

 

[soulpatch]

In addition to the above about the Stenner pumps, are you using the pump to pull water through? Or are you using it as a feed for the reactor?

I use the spectrapure ultra precise pump as a feed pump with no needle valve for reactor exit as the pump handles how much comes in and goes out. Every x ml it pumps in is also pumped out...

 

[africangrey]

I use the spectrapure ultra precise pump as a feed pump with no needle valve for reactor exit as the pump handles how much comes in and goes out. Every x ml it pumps in is also pumped out...

Too bad Spectrapure pump is out of stock with no ETA in sight.

 

[soulpatch]

Yeah I bought in when they released it. I think it has been out of stock for the past month but I have been talking to the one guy there as mine had to go in for a look over as it had a slight issue and they are attempting to crank up the production.

 

[jda]

Once setup and tuned, all that you have to do is take them offline and replace the media every six months or year. Could not be any easier than that. CaRx cannot really crash a tank, either... they are really not all that effective at raising or lowering levels and can take many weeks to do either, so you get time to catch anything out of whack. The AWC, anything controlled with an Apex, ATO, etc. can crash tanks and have more risk but people trust them which makes a CaRx a no-brainer.

 

[tkeracer619]

If I had a buck for every time someone said "my dosing pump didn't shut off"...

 

[Potatohead]

If I had a buck for every time someone said "my dosing pump didn't shut off"...

They should have bought better dosing pumps I guess.

 

[tkeracer619]

They should have bought better dosing pumps I guess.

Most people use a dosing pump controlled by a reef controller. IME that is risky.

The Profilux 2 is probably the safest consumer dosing pump setup available simply due to the stepper motors but I know one guy who's original Profilux doser just kept on going dumping the entire calcium container.

I don't see any of the manufacturers advertising parallel control loops and explaining how they prevent run away pumps. The influx of cheap dosers is certain to eventually start causing issues given enough time.

 

[jda]

They should have bought better dosing pumps I guess.

It is not that easy. Any hobby grade pump can fail. Any hobby grade controller (all of them) can fail - a few of the locals have had their Apex fail recently and all of the "on" circuits stayed one... one was for kalk and the other was for a titanium heater... both tanks crashed. A few pro grade pumps might fail, but they are FAR less common.

People would be better off with a twenty year old kangaroo on a light timer than on a hobby grade controller, but that is not cool for today.

Even if you wanted to use a hobby grade controller to control PH in a calcium reactor (and you do not need to at all), the worst thing that would happen if it stuck on is that you might melt your media, but the tank would be fine.

 

[Potatohead]

Most people use a dosing pump controlled by a reef controller. IME that is risky.

The Profilux 2 is probably the safest consumer dosing pump setup available simply due to the stepper motors but I know one guy who's original Profilux doser just kept on going dumping the entire calcium container.

I don't see any of the manufacturers advertising parallel control loops and explaining how they prevent run away pumps. The influx of cheap dosers is certain to eventually start causing issues given enough time.

It is not that easy. Any hobby grade pump can fail. Any hobby grade controller (all of them) can fail - a few of the locals have had their Apex fail recently and all of the "on" circuits stayed one... one was for kalk and the other was for a titanium heater... both tanks crashed. A few pro grade pumps might fail, but they are FAR less common.

People would be better off with a twenty year old kangaroo on a light timer than on a hobby grade controller, but that is not cool for today.

Even if you wanted to use a hobby grade controller to control PH in a calcium reactor (and you do not need to at all), the worst thing that would happen if it stuck on is that you might melt your media, but the tank would be fine.

Anything can fail, period - I think we can all agree on that. All we can do is mitigate as much risk as possible. I do not own a controller, partially for the reasons stated above. All I am saying is if you buy quality equipment and provide redundancy, that's all you can really do. If you buy a Jebao doser instead of a GHL and it wipes out your tank, I don't feel that's a fault of dosing, just like running a cheap regulator and not being able to maintain proper ph in your reactor is not a fault of running a reactor.