What CA reactor media in your sps reef?

[Charlie Davidson]

Please tell me no!- I ordered some of the genx stuff today, thinking it was! ( I am only using this for 2nd stage) in a deltec knock-off) Rowalith works awsome.
I have had problems with ARM ( I think its crap) but some buddies swear its OK stuff.

 

[s10willy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7120006#post7120006 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Charlie Davidson

I have had problems with ARM ( I think its crap) ...

Charlie Davidson,

What kind of problems have you had with ARM?

 

[Rueg]

http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/product.detail/iid/12537/cid/3281

 

[Charlie Davidson]

Sorry, I had a few last night. ARM works fine for some people-- and worked fine for me in my downflow MRC RX. in my upflow RX (deltec knock off) , ARM is easy to turn to mush. I also did not dissolve properly causing a fine powder thruout the tank. My pumps also had to be cleaned much more often than now.

 

[JB NY]

I've used.

Geo Marine crushed coral
Knop Korallith
Shuran generic
ARM

I perfer ARM out of them all.

FWIW I used korallith for years and switched to ARM after the Hiller article found less PO4 in ARM. In all honesty I noticed little if any difference between the two. The biggest difference is the ARM is pre washed so I just dump it in the reactor. The Korallith is really dusty and needs to be washed a lot before it can be used.

 

[JB NY]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7122380#post7122380 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Charlie Davidson
ARM is easy to turn to mush. I also did not dissolve properly causing a fine powder thruout the tank. My pumps also had to be cleaned much more often than now.

What do you keep your tank alk at?

 

[Charlie Davidson]

9

 

[Ewan]

I have used ARM in the past with a pH of 6.8 in the chamber. It gave me a nice fine sludge to clean out every couple of months. Perhaps the big circulation pump on your MTC helps keep this from occuring in your reactor, Joe. From my experience with 2 reactor prior to the Schuran, I tend to think that recirculation pumps are generally undersized for Ca reactors.

I use the Schuran knock-off stuff from aquatic ecosystems, and I love it. When I top-off my reactor, there is absolutely no mess at all. I don't even need to rinse the reaction chamber.

The absence of mollusk shells keeps me happy too. I've never had detectable PO4 from my reactor (including my old setup /w ARM)

wakefreak33 - This is what Schuran refers to as 'coral sand'. No wonder we never hear about the beautiful beaches of Deutschland.

 

[iantoh]

hi there guys, i use Rowalith C+ media. does anyone else use that? was wondering if thats a good media to use, as locally, thats one of the recommended medias, along with ARM.

thanks,
ian

 

[JB NY]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7123807#post7123807 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Ewan
I have used ARM in the past with a pH of 6.8 in the chamber. It gave me a nice fine sludge to clean out every couple of months. Perhaps the big circulation pump on your MTC helps keep this from occuring in your reactor, Joe. From my experience with 2 reactor prior to the Schuran, I tend to think that recirculation pumps are generally undersized for Ca reactors.

I use the Schuran knock-off stuff from aquatic ecosystems, and I love it. When I top-off my reactor, there is absolutely no mess at all. I don't even need to rinse the reaction chamber.

That is one thing I liked about the shuran was no silt in the first chamber like I got with ARM. So no, the big circulation pump didn't help me there.

The weird thing with shuran (on my MTC reactor that is) is I kept having problems with keeping my effluent the same. I also had lots of problem with air getting in the first chamber. I have no idea why it happened. But I've not had any other problems like that when using other media. The one thing I noticed when using shuran over other medias is that the pressure in the first chamber (MTC has a pressure gage built into the first chamber) was only about 1 psi and with the other medias it was closer to 5-6 psi. I was thinking the large gaps in the media due to the size of it might be why there was so little pressure that built up in the chamber. I'll have to give it another shot the next time and see if I have better luck with the shuran type stuff.

 

[JB NY]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7123611#post7123611 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Charlie Davidson
9

That's strange I have had no problems with having to clean pumps often since I dropped my alk down to 8-9 dKH.

 

[fishypets]

Korallith here. Noticed much better the first week on some corals vs. ARM.

 

[Ewan]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7123917#post7123917 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JB NY
That's strange I have had no problems with having to clean pumps often since I dropped my alk down to 8-9 dKH.

Ditto. Once I lowered my alk to NSW levels, I also noticed that I had to throttle my reactor back a bit. Since my sump, heater, and pumps were no longer growing a calcium skeleton, my demand dropped.

-E

 

[Charlie Davidson]

I have to admit my eff. valve slowly shuts itself off so the PH in rx would drop over the weekends while I was away. ARM truned to mush but with rowalith it can drop with no problem! I have seen it at 6.2! water was just a little cloudy in RX, but clearded quickly when I got the eff. flow back right.
I too ran my alk 10-11 a few years ago! to be honest- I do not remember the thinking behind it!