Calcium Reactors are the best way to grow large acropora colonies?

Are Calcium Reactors the best way to grow huge, thriving healthy acropora colonies? Can 2 part match that kind of growth and maintain them? Any insight would help. Thank you in advance!
 
I would agree with this statement somewhat.

1 - it needs to be a well setup and tuned reactor. Ideally with a continuous duty pump and accurate co2 valve. A poorly setup calrx is a total PITA to keep stable

2 - you can get the same results with 2 part although some products may require more babysitting on the trace element side of things. With a good quality CALRX media I never needed to monkey around with any trace except for iodine which my system ate for breakfast.

In the long run a calrx would be cheaper on a larger system I would think.
 
I would agree with this statement somewhat.

1 - it needs to be a well setup and tuned reactor. Ideally with a continuous duty pump and accurate co2 valve. A poorly setup calrx is a total PITA to keep stable

2 - you can get the same results with 2 part although some products may require more babysitting on the trace element side of things. With a good quality CALRX media I never needed to monkey around with any trace except for iodine which my system ate for breakfast.

In the long run a calrx would be cheaper on a larger system I would think.

This pretty much sums it up.

In the past, people had a hard time dialing in the reactors because the valves weren't accurate enough (they weren't able to handle small changes) so hhey'd have to continuously fiddle with the setting which IMO defeats the purpose of something that is supposed to be "set-and-forget." Nowadays, my understanding (I don't have a CA reactor yet) is that the valves allow for minute adjustments.

I've had good luck with 2-part, but if you have a large tank or the tank consumes a lot of CA and Alk, then it makes more sense to look into a CA reactor.
 
Selling a six month old geo 6x12x2. The double chamber smaller one for 480. And a year old aqua Maxx 2 for 250. PM number for pics.
 
This pretty much sums it up.



In the past, people had a hard time dialing in the reactors because the valves weren't accurate enough (they weren't able to handle small changes) so hhey'd have to continuously fiddle with the setting which IMO defeats the purpose of something that is supposed to be "set-and-forget." Nowadays, my understanding (I don't have a CA reactor yet) is that the valves allow for minute adjustments.



I've had good luck with 2-part, but if you have a large tank or the tank consumes a lot of CA and Alk, then it makes more sense to look into a CA reactor.



Best thing I ever did was spend the coin on a masterflex feed pump. Love it so much I even bought a backup.
 
All of my SPS systems have been run on 2 part and I've had some good success. It might not be as cost effective on larger tanks but its really not bad when youre mixing your own or buying it from BRS.

I might try a reactor at some point since people are saying they're easier to dial in these days but Im in no hurry. Some of the nicest setups I've seen in person and even on Youtube are run with 2 part.

Just find what's easiest for you and stick with keeping your parameters stable. There's really no need to over complicate things :)
 
BRS has some good videos on youtube on this topic . . . think it also depends on how big of a tank you're running and overall demand. If demand is high and tank is large, reactor is hard to beat. If not, success can be found with dosing.
 
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Yea, 2 part typically means 3 part hehe.

I did 3-part for a while getting up to near 200 ml a day, but switching over to CaRX had a small learning curve and somewhat higher investment cost, but it's pretty nice not having to make gallon jugs all the time.

For additional coin and extra fun, you add an automated tester like Trident, KH Guardian, Alkatronic/Mastertronic, KH Director, Reefbot, Xepta Abex, etc... a good time for us reefers.

I had success with 3-part no issues, but that was with mixed reef. CaRX is full sps, so couldn't tell you the difference but either way works for sure.

Now with ICP testing, you can really test and add trace elements, which I'm just playing with Potassium for now. Reef Moonshiner FB group has free document that is pretty informative, but I don't use any of his products.
 
IMO, it depends on tank size. 120+ I'd get a reactor. For my little 80g though 2-part works just fine growing colonies. I haven't dosed Mag in years. My tank gets replenished from water changes. I do agree that Calcium reactors help with trace elements, but I keep mine up with regular water changes (more of a pain with larger tanks).


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IMO, it depends on tank size. 120+ I'd get a reactor. For my little 80g though 2-part works just fine growing colonies. I haven't dosed Mag in years. My tank gets replenished from water changes. I do agree that Calcium reactors help with trace elements, but I keep mine up with regular water changes (more of a pain with larger tanks).


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^^Ditto, 2 part and small weekly water changes work just fine for small to medium tanks.
 
The key here isn't that a calcium reactor is "better" than 2 part, it's about convenience, expense, etc. Both can do the same thing basically, maybe with trace elements dosing. It's basically a matter of how face calcium and alkalinity are depleted by your corals and whats your ability to put it back in. If you can do it, then anything works, even kalkwasser. The tricky part with 2 part is when you have huge demands you need either huge reservoirs of 2 part or you need to replace the water consistently, you also could have your salt levels go out of whack too if you do too much and with something like kalkwasser you have a limit of you can't dose more than what you lose in evaporation. If you are under that I'd dose Kalk all day long over anything, however kalk's limitations do come into play eventually unless you simply evaporate like crazy.
 
Not necessarily. I ran manual dosing for years.
CArx is more about the convenience and cost effectiveness of the dosing for me that's all...
 
Just thought i would add. I used to have a cal reactor and it worked but then my ph took a hit and i had to get a kalk reactor to raise the PH. now I only run a kalk reactor. and still growing acros.
 
I've ran a calcium reactor for years without any buffers. The main thing is to keep your alk, ca, and mg stable
And nutrients of course.
Running your lighting at night helps too if you have macro algae. O and good flow in your tank to help diffuse co2.
Some people run kalk to help with ph.
But I don't think that matters.
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