CHEAP: Coralife Calcium Reactor 250

[®eefer]

Has anyone here used the Coralife Calcium Reactor 250? Seems like a pretty good deal at about $125-$150. Just wondering if it's a total piece of junk before I purchase one. Is there a better one for the price?

 

[elephen]

Lets just say you get what you pay for

 

[BLockamon]

I just got one from ReefTek for my church's tank. It's a really nice one (much better than the Coralife) for a decent price. Right now I'm having one built by Aquatic Systems Design, they are slightly cheaper and look like they do good work.

I've seen the Coralife in person. I wouldn't say its a complete piece of junk, but the construction doesn't impress. It is small, which might be of benefit if you have a really tight space.

 

[wife no likey]

I'm very happy with mine. Was previously dosing about 60ml of b-ionic daily. I'm running it nowhere near capacity and it hasn't given us any problems.

Pete

 

[samvanrf]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6985964#post6985964 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by pennilessreefer
I'm very happy with mine. Was previously dosing about 60ml of b-ionic daily. I'm running it nowhere near capacity and it hasn't given us any problems.

Pete

Pete, I am thinking about getting one from Marine Depot but saw this review. Did you have to do the mods too?

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Good, But Needs A Few Mods by Nicholas
I could not even get any effluent out of this thing until I did two mods. 1-It needs a feed pump. An aqualifter seems just fine.2-You need to use a piece of 3/4" PVC and egg crate to raise up the foam

Rate Review: 4
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Thanks,

Sam

 

[wife no likey]

I'm running at about 50bpm w/ about 100ml/min or so. Haven't had a problem w/ effluent output, but I have the reactor down near the floor and the input tube is about 2 ft above. When firing it up, you need to have the pump primed to get the flow to start.

 

[samvanrf]

Thanks Pete, is the 250 good enough for 150G tank with SPS and clams or should I go with the 500

Sam

 

[samvanrf]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6985964#post6985964 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by pennilessreefer
I'm very happy with mine. Was previously dosing about 60ml of b-ionic daily. I'm running it nowhere near capacity and it hasn't given us any problems.

Pete

I am running for 2 days but so far can't get the CA and ALK up. How long did it take for you to start seeing that?

CA = 380
ALK = 7.0
Mag = 1200
Salinity = 1.024

CR PH = 6.5-6.7
CR drip rate = 138 per minute
CO2 rate = 15 per minute

 

[mr. pluto]

samvanrf, if those are your levels you are good to go on your alk. use baking soda to raise alk a bit if u want it higher, calc. can be raised a bit w/ turbo calcium if desired
everything looks good overall

 

[samvanrf]

I thought CR is supposed to raise both CA and ALK for me. My goal is 420 CA and 9 dKH Alk

 

[samvanrf]

Here is the link http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-05/sh/feature/index.php that says:

A calcium reactor may be described as a 'balanced' calcium / alkalinity additive. Basically, this means that it adds calcium and alkalinity to the tank in the same ratio as is used by our corals during the process of calcification

 

[mr. pluto]

no,use it only to maintain levels

 

[samvanrf]

That explains it. Thanks

 

[samvanrf]

FYI, I raised ALK from 7.0 to 7.7 in 8 hours by increasing CO2 bubble count