kalk drip vs kalk reactor

[somethingphishy]

what's the advantage of a kalk reactor compared to a kalk drip system. I cant see paying the extra $ to purchase one rather than buying a 30$ kent drip system. I guess if i had the money to spend i would go all the way and buy a calcium reactor. Anyone else feel the same or give me your opinion on using these on a larger system containing mixed corals lps,sps

 

[ErikS]

Drip = easy & cheap but requires daily(ish) upkeep.
Reactor = less 'futzing', just fill when needed.

Both work, your call.

 

[somethingphishy]

If going with a large drip container it seems you could go several days w/o maintance. I believe kent sells a five gallon drip. (As it is now on my smalll tank i drip approx. 1/2 to 3/4 a gallon of alk or calcium plus r/o water a day = less maintance). with a large drip system with out a strirrer what would be your only concern----the crust on top? how much would you need to drip in say a 100gallon system per day?

 

[ErikS]

how much would you need to drip in say a 100gallon system per day?

Depends on so much..........

- livestock, filled with SPS
- use kalk for 100% of evap, how much evap
- only sorce of CA/ALK boost?

If it were filled with SPS I doubt Kalk can keep up, moderate demands & total evap replaced?

I evap about 2 - 3 gallons/day, even with a 5gal dripper I'd have to mess with it often.

My only point is there are a ton of variables....one must decide what works best for them (i.e. personally I don't want to be adding something every day/other day.....but that's me).

 

[somethingphishy]

it would be better not to have and worry about doing something every day but for now i'm fine w/ it. keeps me on my toes.

Eventually upgrading to a larger tank would be more of a pain daily mainance with it/feeeding/ top off ect. I agree there are so many variables and have heard it's hard to dose kakl to keep a tank full of sps.

So do you lean to fact that it is better to have to do a lot of maintance drippin kalk -OR- eat the expence and purchase a calcium reactor to keep a tank w/ lots of sps?

thanks for the opinion since i'm not paying for it

 

[INNOVATOR]

I think the main benefit of a kalkwasser reactor is the ability to supersaturate CaOH2 and get more Ca/Alk out of any given volume of water. You could potentially do the same by dropping the pH of the kalkwasser with acid.