Calcium Reactor opinion

Tonynlo

New member
Is this reactor any good?
http://www.aquariumplants.com/product_p/pr4026.htm

In this hobby, anything that is within my budget is normally a piece of garbage and I end up re purchasing it later on... Any suggestions? I like this one because its nearly a complete package and I have absolutely no idea what I should be searching for. Does the co2 tank size matter?
 
that seems like a whole lot of stuff and money just to boost Ca lol..Do you dose limewater or two part ??
 
that seems like a whole lot of stuff and money just to boost Ca lol..Do you dose limewater or two part ??

I am dosing kalk in a drip. I just dont trust it. I would prefer something better that I didn't feel like I needed to make sure wasn't malfunctioning every couple of hours. I was reading that calcium reactors will save money over time.
 
I am dosing kalk in a drip. I just dont trust it. I would prefer something better that I didn't feel like I needed to make sure wasn't malfunctioning every couple of hours. I was reading that calcium reactors will save money over time.

Calcium reactors can kill a tank just as fast as kalk drip! Reliability isn't linked to the substance you're dosing, it's linked to your implementation, i.e. HOW you're dosing it. If kalk is meeting your needs but makes you nervous, then let's talk about how to improve the reliability of your kalk setup instead of dumping a bunch of money to switch. :)
 
What would you recommend? I plan to add a fair amount of SPS over the next year or so and from what I have been reading a calcium reactor was the most reliable way to go. I run a RKL with PH monitoring probe and from what I have read on the DA site, they are great to run with a reactor. Help!!! I just don't want to buy the wrong thing... again. I did that too much already and that is the reason I am asking before I purchase. :)
 
Supplementation method is a very personal choice and it's hard to suggest a single "best" method, much less even generalize, without being at least a little inaccurate. I'd suggest reading up - if you go in the Chemistry forum, I think there's a sticky there with links to online articles about the different methods, which will help you understand the differences.

Kalk can handle a tank stuffed with SPS, the only real limiting factor is evaporation. Some people find they're not evaporating enough to give them enough of a kalk dose, since you typically don't want to dose more kalk solution than the volume you're losing through evaporation.

2-part gives you higher resolution of control (i.e. you can adjust Ca and alkalinity separately, as opposed to Ca reactors and kalk where you can't). It's not linked to evaporation. A potential drawback is that you either have to manually dose the solutions each day, or buy dosing pumps.

With kalk or 2-part, you've essentially got direct control - you're literally dosing the stuff you want in your tank.

A Ca reactor is essentially indirect control - you control flow rate and CO2 feed rate to a reactor that "generates" the stuff you're trying to dose (Ca, alkalinity, trace elements). Hence to some people there's an added level of complexity, because you have to understand how adjustments to flow rate and CO2 dosing rate translate into changes in the tank. Ca reactors are also arguably the most expensive (up front). "lifetime" costs are hard to compare between the three because there can be huge variability in raw material costs and dosing rates.

I'm typically a big fan of dosing kalk - you've gotta dose topoff water to replace evaporation anyways, and it's simple to configure an ATO to dose kalk instead of plain water, killing two birds with one stone. Of course, you need to design the system carefully so it can't nuke the tank.

On my current tank build, I'm switching to 2-part, because I don't anticipate a typical evaporation rate, so I'm anticipating that kalk wouldn't keep up with demand.
 
Does the co2 tank size matter?
no.

However, smaller CO2 tanks are easier to move around and cheaper to fill.
The reaction chamber matters more than the CO2 tank size ;)

What size aquarium do you have?
Calcium reactors are generally recommended for heavily stocked reef aquariums of 180 gallons and up.
 
90 gallon with 30 gallon sump. Any suggestions on a reliable ATO that I can add kalk to? I dont really like dosing pumps and want something reliable. Not sure about ato.com's suff. I would like to incorporate the RKL SL1 module if possible. Anything better?
 
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90 gallon with 30 gallon sump. Any suggestions on a reliable ATO that I can add kalk to? I dont really like dosing pumps and want something reliable. Not sure about ato.com's suff. I would like to incorporate the RKL SL1 module if possible. Anything better?

I use a Tsunami AT-1
http://www.aquacave.com/detail.aspx?ID=254
5 gallon water jug (only because thats what fits under my stand)
air-line tubing connected to a aqua lifter pump..

One end of the airline tubing in the jug then to the pump,then more air-line tubing coming from the pump to a little ball-valve to drip in the sump..

Making sure the tubing in the jug stays about a 2" from the bottom(dont want kalk sludge getting into the sump)

you can get it pretty close to match evaporation with the lime-water drip,but I do not want to get the drip more that 1 drip per second,so i still need to add RO water every couple days..

You also do want a Ph monitor for piece of mind,it would be pretty hard to nuke my tank with Kalk with my system,the ball-valve will only let it drip one per second wile the ato is tripped on anyway..
 
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