Convince me on a calcium reactor setup

[abhishek@1985]

Hi,

Well I am about to start 70 gallon tank with around 20 gallon sump after 5 years . It will be sps dominant .
Had planned for 2 or 3 part or Aquaforest additives ..

However, the constant cost of buying 2 part / 3 part additives especially branded ones like Aquaforest ones and forgetting to refill the dosing containers are chore for me. I have experienced situations where I have forgotten to refill the containers in the past.

Now that I have sold my litermeters , want to attain stability using calcium reactors for my future build. I have never used one as I always deemed them to be so complicated , like a scientific experiment.

But now I plan to start embarking on them .. Please let me know your thoughts, what system should I be looking at for a 100 -120 gallon system, benefits and how to tune ..

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[cpllongjk]

Theyre not as complicated as you think. If you get a high quality regulator like the Aquarium Plants Carbon Doser then it makes setting up and dialing it in a breeze. Basically I set my desired pH range in my controller, 6.5-6.7, and then set up the co2 regulator to dose and keep it inbetween those values. If the pH goes too low then the co2 regulator shuts off and stops dosing co2 until the pH rises up to 6.7. If your pH never drops below 6.7 then increase the bubble size or increase the bubbles per second.

The super nice thing about using the controller with the digital co2 regulator is that all you really have to do is set your effluent drip rate. I have a smaller tank too, approx. 60 total gallons and I am only dripping 30-35 drops per minute of effluent. My corals are still frags and things are growing, when demand goes up, ill just increase the effluent drip rate a tad. Easy Peazy!

Hope this helps, honestly its one of the best investments I've made in a long time.

 

[cpllongjk]

As far as systems, go with the geo 612. It'll take care of your needs now and up to 200gallons.

 

[abhishek@1985]

Thanks @cpllongjk for the reply..
Could you please list down all the parts that you have as part of your calcium reactor system ?

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[moondoggy4]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2368618 you willed one of these

 

[moondoggy4]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2461771 and one of these

 

[cpllongjk]

Thanks @cpllongjk for the reply..
Could you please list down all the parts that you have as part of your calcium reactor system ?

Regards,
Abhishek

When I ordered my reactor setup I ordered:

$369 Geosreef 612
$42 Sicce 0.5 feed pump
$299 Aquarium Plants Carbon Doser CO2 Regulator
$100 5lb CO2 Tank (Tank Filled from local Welding Supply)
$25 8lbs Reborn Ca Media
$50 pH probe for CO2 monitoring of Ca Reactor

I already had my apex setup and just needed a pH probe. I've seen people do it without the 2nd probe. Honestly you don't need to monitor your tank's pH if you had to use just one probe I would prefer to use it on the Ca Reactor myself.

Some people will say that with setups smaller than 120ish gallons cannot justify the cost of a Ca reactor but I beg to differ. TBH the elements you add to the tank through the breakdown of old coral skeletons is too beneficial. I ran dosing pumps for years and this is my first experience with a Ca reactor setup. I've always dosed because of all the horror stories I've heard about tuning the reactor. I am so happy I took the plunge. I don't regret it at all and within 2-3 weeks of adding the reactor I have seen explosions of growth everywhere.

Make sure you drip the effluent at first because I followed the guide by GEO and my dKH rose from 9.0-11.0 in 24 hours after adding the reactor. I was lucky and glad I had no losses. I wish I would have dripped the effluent from the beginning. I guess lesson learned!

Good Luck and if you need any further help, PM me.

Jared