Religious debate in Denmark about reactor vs balling

[gnizten]

Tom nice tank always love to see European tanks always well done. I say what ever works for your tank. But be able to adjust if one starts to see a problem.

Thanks, for your kind words... Funny thing is, that many Europeans thinks the same about many US tanks, its nice that we can share inspiration and knowledge, across the Atlantic...

I wish you all a merry Christmas, and a happy new year. :celeb3::celeb1:

Best reg.

Tom

 

[sirreal63]

Indeed, many advancements in the hobby have their genesis in anecdotal observations.

However, perceptions of color, more so than most other observations, are highly subjective, and something called "confirmation bias" is also at work with both sides - one tends to accept observations that support one's hypothesis, and reject observations that don't.

My guess is that there are far, far too many variations in the reef tanks using 2-part vs. Calcium Reactors to be able to draw any meaningful conclusions regarding the coloration of corals.

What is not in doubt is that a calcium reactor adds ionic species other than calcium and carbonate to the tanks water. Some of these are strontium, magnesium, lithium, and boron. Potentially, phosphate is added in small amounts as well. In theory, one could easily make up for the lack of trace elements being added in 2-part dosing with trace element supplements.

In practice, that's difficult because most of the bioactive trace elements in seawater are at such low concentrations that quantitation requires sophisticated techniques such as Inductively Coupled Argon Plasma (ICAP) analysis.

I would agree with this based on my experience, however, chemistry is not my forte. As far as Co2 being added from the CaRx, how is that different than Co2 from the home entering the aquarium? If Co2 were the key item then it would not matter if it came from the reactor or the enclosed space in the home and no difference would be discernible from using a reactor or balling. If there were a lack of Co2 in the home then it would be a possibility that the CaRx addition of Co2 could have an impact, but the amount released to the tank is small and outgassed quickly.

For even more fun in the discussion, consider Kalk, which many have anecdotally observed, has a very positive impact on coloration and growth, especially with Coralines. Over the years we have seen amazing tanks employing every method imaginable, which makes it difficult to declare a winner.

Given the variation from one tank to the next it would be hard to quantify one method over the other unless all other factors were equal, light, DOC levels, available natural food, water movement etc etc which also impact coloration and overall health. It is virtually impossible to create identical conditions in more than one tank to measure effectiveness of CaRx, Balling, Kalk or constant water changes to keep the alk, cal and mag stable.

I would be pleased for there to be a clearcut winner here, but the reality is there probably will not be, so as always, use the method that works best for you. :beer:

 

[prop-frags]

We have run both dosing and Ca Rx in our reef tanks over the years. Most of the reasons and benefits are already mentioned in this thread. It is my belief that the reason the four tanks saw observable improvement in coral growth and coloration by switching from dosing to Ca Rx is due to the additional trace elements being provided by the Ca Rx effluent. But more information about the water chemistry before and after the switch from dosing to Ca Rx is needed.

The question of the direct impacts of additional available CO2 to coral growth are not fully understood according to this and other articles:
Photosynthesis and the Reef Aquarium
This is an informative reference, and everyone interested in this topic should read it.

 

[FlyPenFly]

While a water sample difference is helpful, I think a better way to do it is with a control.

Frag N different SPS of nearly equal size. Use the same lighting setup, same levels of Ca/Mg/Alk same flow setup, same original water source, same tank positions on N number of tanks. The only difference would be some would use a Ca reactor, some would use balling, and some would use kalk. Measure growth rates via displacement and photograph corals under the same lighting and WB for coloration differences.

Otherwise it's just hearsay folklore like garlic.