Chiefillini
New member
I've been dosing my alk and calcium manually for years.
Would you recommend I buy a doser or a calcium reactor?
Would you recommend I buy a doser or a calcium reactor?
Doser vs Calcium Reactor
- Thread starter Chiefillini
- Start date
skunkmere
New member
with a doser you have complete control of calcium, alkalinity, and vinegar or magnesium. With a reactor you don't. kalk and calcium reactors dont dose cal and alk in the same proportion so you need to adjust more. also you need to keep you co2 tank filled and when you run out you need to run out to get more at the most inconvienient time, and the co2 drops your ph. cal reactors are really expensive compared to dosers.
Source: I ran calcium reactors, kalk reactors, kalk in ATO and dosers.
Source: I ran calcium reactors, kalk reactors, kalk in ATO and dosers.
Edward Smith
Active member
What size is your system and what do you keep?
jfuka78
New member
Ding ding ding, we have a winner.
skunkmere
New member
My experience with my calcium reactor is i needed to add calcium or alk every once in a while. so even though it was once a month or so it was still not complete IMO. the best day of my life was when i switched to the doser. I will go as far as to say i hate calcium reactors. way to many thing to adjust and watch out for, the feed pump gets clogged, the reator sponge gets clogged, need to calibrate the ph controller. BUT i have a 90G tank you guys got tanks that are double that. i would expect thats why you guys are such advocates for the calcium reactor. you would go through 2 part very quickly as apposed to a huge reactor. my gripe with the CR is really all the maintainence associated with it. not really the alk/cal ratio. all of the sudden i get a huge spike or a drop from no co2 or a clogged sponge. OR a clogged feed line. Not worth it IMO.
Calcium Reactors can be phenomenal if setup properly. If not, they can be disastrous and quite the PITA. As I stated earlier, a quality paristaltic pump should be used as the feed pump. This lets you control the effluent rate with precision and not have to worry about clogging associated with ball valves. If the pH is set properly within the reactor, you won't have to worry about clogging of the sponges either. Proper size is also very important. Most people in this hobby think bigger/ more expensive is better. Reactors are one of the items you're better off going smaller. If you buy one that is too large, no matter how slow you set your drip rate, you can negatively effect the pH of your display.
In their essence, Reactors are very simple with two points of adjustment. Effluent rate and CO2 bubble rate. Once they are tuned in proper, they are set and forget.
Oh, and great point about larger tanks being more cost efficient with Reactors, though I still feel the same about anything 75g and above.
I think Kalk also doses CA and ALK in the same proportions. 100% of the time. I thought calcium and Alk were used up in the same proportions. But I do notice that in my tank Alk does appear to be used up a little faster than the Ca. I thought I must be doing something wrong.
Anyone know why the Alk is used up faster than the Ca? Or perhaps a better stated is why corals consume bicarbonate at almost the same rate that they consume Ca?
Anyone know why the Alk is used up faster than the Ca? Or perhaps a better stated is why corals consume bicarbonate at almost the same rate that they consume Ca?
bryman
Aquascape Destroyer
I've been dosing two part for many years and recently switched over to a CA reactor. Reason I did was that I was using a ton every day and was getting tired of mixing jugs all the time. Also I wanted the additional supplements that come from ARM media.
So far I'm pretty happy. I noticed some better color and health probably due to the other good stuff in the media and absolute stability of running a reactor. There is a learning curve to get it dialed in, and at the beginning you have to keep a close eye on Alk and dose manually if needed.
Also you have to put out some serious cash to get good equipment or else it can be a major PITA. Common problems are CO2 regulators failing or inconsistent effluent flow which messes up your levels. I ended up adding a feed pump to the input and needle valve on the output to get a stable effluent rate. Even better would be a peristaltic pump on the input like someone else said. Expect a onetime cost of $700-$1000 to do it right.
So far I'm pretty happy. I noticed some better color and health probably due to the other good stuff in the media and absolute stability of running a reactor. There is a learning curve to get it dialed in, and at the beginning you have to keep a close eye on Alk and dose manually if needed.
Also you have to put out some serious cash to get good equipment or else it can be a major PITA. Common problems are CO2 regulators failing or inconsistent effluent flow which messes up your levels. I ended up adding a feed pump to the input and needle valve on the output to get a stable effluent rate. Even better would be a peristaltic pump on the input like someone else said. Expect a onetime cost of $700-$1000 to do it right.
gig
New member
this is right on, I recently made the switch and got a quality reactor, regulator and I am using the extra coarse ARM media. You also have to be careful of size, while a CR might be rated for a 200G mixed reef tank, that same reactor for a SPS tank might drop it to 100-125G rating. So I think some people go cheap get a CR for their 180G because it says it's rated for 200G and they have an SPS tank and the CR can't keep up.
Also, you don't want to go too big, but get a bigger co2 tank (instead of 5lb, get 10lb) and get a CR that is rated at least the size for your tank if not bigger. you don't have to change the media and/or the tank out as often.
my CR doesn't use sponges, it's reverse flow, so less clogging and maint. Also the feed is where I bought a real nice john guest fitting gate valve from Aqua Cave, so it's way more accurate than the $3 ball valves you get at HD or Lowes. Since the gate is before the CR, it wont get clogged up as it would on the output side and also doesn't put pressure on the CR itself, which can lead to leaking.
Chiefillini
New member
Ed,
My tank is a 90 gallon tank with the following:
torch, pipe organs, clovers, zoanthids, frogspawn, leathers.
My tank is a 90 gallon tank with the following:
torch, pipe organs, clovers, zoanthids, frogspawn, leathers.
Edward Smith
Active member
Jmho but....
You have a low calcium demand. You can completely meet you needs with a kalk reactor with very infrequent manual supplemental dosing. You will have to intermittently manually dose with Mg as well. Personally, I find kalk the easiest, cheapest and most stable approach. I have a two tanks (175g combined) with softies and LPS, just like you. In the last few years, I have to intermittently added Mg (4 times?) and even less often, add Alk (twice?). I've never had to add Ca++, as it is always in the 430 range.
Just my 2 cents.
You have a low calcium demand. You can completely meet you needs with a kalk reactor with very infrequent manual supplemental dosing. You will have to intermittently manually dose with Mg as well. Personally, I find kalk the easiest, cheapest and most stable approach. I have a two tanks (175g combined) with softies and LPS, just like you. In the last few years, I have to intermittently added Mg (4 times?) and even less often, add Alk (twice?). I've never had to add Ca++, as it is always in the 430 range.
Just my 2 cents.
Just recently cleaned and refilled my CA reactor after a year. It's pretty much set and forget. Get a pH controller so you don't have to mess with counting CO2 bubbles, just adjust your effluent. I use a 20lbs bottle so I only refill it once a year or maybe after 10 months. I've never dosed Mag or measured it. I just do water change every 3 weeks or a month. My SPS's grow with a decent rate.
bryman
Aquascape Destroyer
There's no way you need a calcium reactor, and dosers may even be unnecessary. Manual dosing once or twice a week or just weekly water changes may be enough for your livestock.
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