Calcium Reactor or Dosing?

[vanbro1]

How do the reefers feel out there? In the process of several upgrades and I would like to move away from manually dosing calcium in my predominately SPS tank.

I am more interested in color than I am of growth

Let me know your thoughts and what has worked best for you

J

 

[pciscott]

What size is your tank? I like dosing and that is what I am doing now, but when my tank grows in it will transition to CA reactor or a combination of both. I have been having very good results with ESV products. A little more expensive than BRS, but much easier to replenish over mixing.

 

[vanbro1]

Im on a 70g DT and 40g sump - I am thinking that dosing is easier and much more easily tuned in since I am running an apex

 

[CW from the OC]

I'd dose a 70.

 

[pciscott]

Dose for sure, 180 or larger for CA reactor. I like the Profilux stand alone doser, the BM doser works well, but easy to forget to turn back to auto if you manually dose. Either of these options you do not need to use outlets on your Apex.

 

[vanbro1]

Thanks - now the question is what doser to use. I think I may still want to add it to the apex to write some if / then formulas to stop dosage if parameters swing. Any suggestions?

 

[jeffreylam1132]

Like Scott said, definitely a doser for sure since it's only a 70 gallon tank. Depending on budget, there are so many doser out there to choose. The one I'm currently using is the GHL standalone, hands down my favorite and one of the easiest to set up. Litermeter 3 are also great and very reliable. If you want a little bit cheaper, bubble magus or BRS doser. Had no experience on those, so not sure how reliable those are.

 

[kinggeorge818]

I just left using a calcium reactor for my 565 gallon\ 1,000 + total system volume...I'm now on dosing! I know it sounds crazy but I was having trouble dialing in my calcium and KH with my Geo Reef 1218 monster sized reactor with a digital aquarium plants carbon Doser.
Now I'm using a Bubble Magus Doser and BRS products and I don't mind if I'm paying a little more per year for stability and peace of mind. For a system my size I've got a lot to lose if things don't work.

 

[Pinoy4Reef]

I personally used to do a calcium reactor but moved to a doser. I have both the profilux and bubble magnus. Both do the jobs but one is greatly cheaper than the other. The reason for the switch was because of my regulator. Get a good one and you wont have any problems. Refilling the tank was a pain in the arse but I found that tuning after each exchange became difficult.

With the doser it was pretty easy transition for me. I basically just have to refill my EVS products every month or so. Its totally easy for me and I have better piece of mind knowing how much I put in. I always had trouble with fine tuning the calcium reactor.

Initial cost of a 7 - part bubble magnus is about the same price as a whole calcium reactor set up. but some factors you have to consider is time, willingness to make sure all parts are working properly, and cost.

If I could start over. I would have started with the doser. If your larger than 240 I would suggest calcium reactor but since your smaller then I would do doser. Plus with all the cool supplements like acro prower and daily dosing of potassium, iodine, mag, and others of the likes its just easier to use a doser.

 

[h20poloman2]

agree with all those saying dose for smaller tanks and use a CA reactor. I had good success using dosers controlled by an RKE on a 120g system and now I use a GEO 818 with aquarium plants regulator on my 248g sps dominant.

 

[vanbro1]

Thank you - very helpful info. So I am thinking BM T01. It seems a little overkill since I will be hooking it up to the apex. Does anyone have any suggestions on more simple dosing pumps? I think if I can get some cheaper I will dose mag, iodine, strontium as well.

 

[pandimus]

Bubble magus already had its own computer. Pick up a set of the brs dosers and control with your apex.

 

[pandimus]

Or eBay parasitic pumps. That's what I use.

 

[savethereef]

i have both a korallin Calcium reactor and a bubble magus dossier. I will be using the dosser as you have a better control over your parameters. But calcium reactor works great to don't get me wrong. Like someone else mentioned the dosser will run more $$$ on a large system but meh its worth it.