Tunze Osmolator ?

MRDHJ1

New member
O.k. so I need to get a auto top off going for my tank. iI am so over toping off every day and playing with the skimmer. I was looking around at the Tunze Osmolator 3155 and it looks like a good unit.My question is dose anyone use this and are know anything about them. Also I was looking at the Tunze calcium dispenser 5074 to go with it. Would that work decent instead of a calcium reactor. I would guesse it would probility not work as good as a reactor but it seems like it would do the job. Thanks any feed back would be great. P.S. the reason for getting the dispenser instead of a reactor is my budget or lack of one rigth now.
 
The osmolator is a pretty good ATO unit. I've had 2, but if you've got the $, go with the spectrapure.
As for the calcium dispenser, it's not comparable to a kalk stirrer, and not worth full retail. I've used it on 60g and 22g tanks. Anything larger and you'll need a real kalk reactor. I've got a used one that I planned on selling if you want it. You'll need new tubing though. $50, and I can bring it with me one of these days when I'm in the area.
 
Osmolator is hands down the best top off. It uses an optical eye to sense the drop in level in your sump rather than a float switch. This drastically reduces possibility of a failure because there are no moving parts. Plus, it has two built in failsafes... a circuit that automatically shuts off the pump after 10 minutes so that if any other problems occur, it doesn't stay on topping your tank off until the salinity is impacted and a high level switch that shuts off the pump if the first switch failed for any reason.

I haven't used the CA dispenser so I can't comment. There is nothing wrong with using additives to maintain calcium and alkalinity. But there becomes a time where it is still easier to have a reactor. It really depends on the size of your tank. Anything 90 gallons or less is usually small enough to use additives without a reactor and still maintain your levels.
 
jtarmitage Is kalk reactor the same as calcium reactor and how is the spectrapure work as a top off it looked just like ro filters. i minght not have looked to far at specture.
 
Corndog. I am using b-ionic right now, but I tend to get to busy and forget. I just want something that wont FORGET. Also could I just dose in the top off tank. I will be using a 30 gal. tank. IT would be cool if could just have to dose when had to refill tft.
 
Spectrapure top off units
The UPLLC is the top of the line, but the others are great as well.
My only negative about the Osmolator is the pump. It is not high quality, but it is cheap if it ever needs to be replaced.

A kalk reactor is different than a calcium reactor. A kalk reactor doses kalkwasser for calcium supplementation by putting calcium hydroxide in the reactor. As water flows into/through the reactor as the topoff is activated, it stirs the slurry and pushes the calcium saturated water into your system.
A calcium reactor uses CO2 to lower the ph in a chamber to break down aragonite to supplement CA and Alk. Both methods have been used by many people. Most use one or the other, but larger systems with higher CA demand typically use both.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12280474#post12280474 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MRDHJ1
Corndog. I am using b-ionic right now, but I tend to get to busy and forget. I just want something that wont FORGET. Also could I just dose in the top off tank. I will be using a 30 gal. tank. IT would be cool if could just have to dose when had to refill tft.

you could. like jeremy said, the osmo pump tends to fail after about a year when using more than water. most people use a kalk reactor inline with top off.

If kalk is your only calcium/alkalinity supplement, there is a down side that most people don't consider...most daily evaporation occurs during the day where as your pH drops at night. So you will be dosing kalk (which raises pH) during the day. then hardly any evaporation occurs at night (when you pH is already dropping) so you tend to have larger pH swings due to the imbalance. The ideal way to does kalk is with a dosing pump. You set it up so it doses your kalk at night to maintain more desirable pH levels and it is a consistant amount of kalk every day. On the flipside, there are a lot of people that use kalk inline with their topoff without problems. You'd need to buy/build a reactor though. You can usually find a used one for about $50-100 on CL or forums here.


I feel the least demending setup to be a calcium reactor but that is the largest investment upfront. Tom, Jeff & Mike all built theirs and they're pretty nice. You could probably make it for $150 or so. Then you'd need a co2 regulator (about $100), tank ($75-120 depending on size) and media (about $20). Most people will agree that a CA Rx is the best choice for set & forget though sometime difficult to set up initially. Lastly most people end up buying a CA Rx anyway so you might as well "bite the bullet" and get it over with.
 
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