MattG
Premium Member
I use 1/2 a cup of carbon changed 2 times a month. This is more then probably needed on my 30 cube. I would say the same would work well for you on a 90. You want to change the carbon somewhat regularly as it will trap detritus and other crud even with an upflow design. I haven't seen any reactors that come with a pump. I use a small pump ~100 gph for mine and it works well.
Kalkwasser is a balanced supplement meaning it adds calcium and alkalinity in the appropriate proportions. The ph of saturated kalkwasser is 12.0+ so it needs to be added slowly. Tieing a kalkwasser reactor into a tunze osmolator works wonderfully. Kalkwasser is a weak supplement so it will not raise your calcium and alk to high levels. Its more of a maintenance item. Your tank will most likely consume ca/alk at the same pace or faster then the kalkwasser adds so no real worries about over dosing . The concern with over dosing is PH.
A controller can come into play in a few ways. If its an aquarium controller you can use it to turn the pump on the reactor on and off at set intervals. Whether or not you need this depends on the type of reactor you have. Some reactors use a small pump to mix the kalkwasser. These usually come on for 5 minutes a couple times a day to keep the topoff water fully saturated with kalkwasser. Using a controller in this instance has nothing to do with the amount of kalk dosed into your aquarium. The same thing can be accomplished with a simple timer. All it does is turn the pump on the reactor on and off to keep the kalkwasser saturated.
Some reactors (deltec and aquamedic) use a bar that rotates very slowly 24/7 slow enough to keep the kalkwasser powder from being dosed into the aquarium. These types do not use a timer
The other way you can use a controller is with a ph probe. You can put the probe into the aquarium and have it shut off the dosing if the ph gets to high. In this case if the ph gets to high the topoff unit will stop dosing kalkwasser and prevent a ph spike or course this will also shut off your topoff unit. Basically this is a back up for your auto topoff unit malfunctioning and over dosing kalk.
The controller doesn't decide the amount of kalk used. The amount of evaporated water does. Hopefully this is clear. If not just say what isnt and im sure we can straighten it out.
Kalkwasser is a balanced supplement meaning it adds calcium and alkalinity in the appropriate proportions. The ph of saturated kalkwasser is 12.0+ so it needs to be added slowly. Tieing a kalkwasser reactor into a tunze osmolator works wonderfully. Kalkwasser is a weak supplement so it will not raise your calcium and alk to high levels. Its more of a maintenance item. Your tank will most likely consume ca/alk at the same pace or faster then the kalkwasser adds so no real worries about over dosing . The concern with over dosing is PH.
A controller can come into play in a few ways. If its an aquarium controller you can use it to turn the pump on the reactor on and off at set intervals. Whether or not you need this depends on the type of reactor you have. Some reactors use a small pump to mix the kalkwasser. These usually come on for 5 minutes a couple times a day to keep the topoff water fully saturated with kalkwasser. Using a controller in this instance has nothing to do with the amount of kalk dosed into your aquarium. The same thing can be accomplished with a simple timer. All it does is turn the pump on the reactor on and off to keep the kalkwasser saturated.
Some reactors (deltec and aquamedic) use a bar that rotates very slowly 24/7 slow enough to keep the kalkwasser powder from being dosed into the aquarium. These types do not use a timer
The other way you can use a controller is with a ph probe. You can put the probe into the aquarium and have it shut off the dosing if the ph gets to high. In this case if the ph gets to high the topoff unit will stop dosing kalkwasser and prevent a ph spike or course this will also shut off your topoff unit. Basically this is a back up for your auto topoff unit malfunctioning and over dosing kalk.
The controller doesn't decide the amount of kalk used. The amount of evaporated water does. Hopefully this is clear. If not just say what isnt and im sure we can straighten it out.
Big thanks to my pal Bill for helping me on this.
