Poll: Do you use Calcium Reactor or Dosing Pumps?

Which do you use?

  • Calcium Reactor

    Votes: 81 23.7%
  • Dosing Pump

    Votes: 196 57.3%
  • Neither

    Votes: 65 19.0%

  • Total voters
    342

acr0p0ra

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Which do you use, dosing pumps or calcium reactor? Have you used one then switched to the other? why?
 

_sludgefactory

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I would say most people do 2 part because it's easy and cheap. Calcium reactors are difficult and expensive.
 

prsnlty

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So when you say 2 part, do you mean with or without dosing pumps? I hear that dosing pumps keep the stability better but sometimes difficult to dial in.
 

prsnlty

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In my case I will need ca, mg and maybe alk. I say maybe because I rarely have a need for alk. Although it gets too high with a kalk reactor or as the reactor no longer has enough soluble kalk(and I miss this) it drops dramatically. Thus making the tank unstable. :(
 

Reef Pets

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I use a dosing pump. My main purpose for using them is stability. In the holding containers I only keep enough 2 part to last 2 days. If a pump were to go bad and was to stick on it would only raise my levels but there is not enough solution to destroy my system. I would notice if a pump was not turning on due to the small amount of solution kept in the containers. This is my way of safe proofing dosing pumps.
 

Reefnjunkie

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Ca Reactor with a controller, I've done dosing but for an SPS dominant tank its what I prefer. I'm convinced I get more out of dissolved coral skeletons than I did dosing and yes they are more expensive but what in this hobby is not :squigglemouth:
 

_sludgefactory

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With mag you only really need to dose it once a week so you don't necessarily need a dosing pump for it.
 

prsnlty

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With mag you only really need to dose it once a week so you don't necessarily need a dosing pump for it.

That's good to know :) Why are some people dosing K though a dosing pump? I would that would be a once a week thing as well like those that test for and dose strontinum.
 

Maikoa02

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Used a calcium reactor (knop first then upgraded to a geo) for 2 years. Would get it dialed in correctly and parameters would be steady. Within a few weeks alk starts to rise and if I didn't test every 4 days alk would rise to over 12 and start getting burnt tips and some sps start to rtn. Frustrated me like crazy cause I would lose some expensive frags. A friend suggested I borrow and try his profilux doser and I've never looked back. I stopped making my own chemicals and started using esv 2 part and magnesium. Levels have been stable for 4 years, easy to make adjustments if needed, and have grown frags to colonies with almost all 2-4 years old. In hindsight, if I had used an electronic regulator for the ca rx, I probably would have been able to keep parameters more steady and might not ever have made the switch to dosing.
 

buckroe07

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Peristaltic pump on a timer with a kalk reactor for me. Should I mark dosing pump? :)
 

_sludgefactory

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That's good to know :) Why are some people dosing K though a dosing pump? I would that would be a once a week thing as well like those that test for and dose strontinum.
I've heard it does good things not really sure what though. It's big with the Zeovit crowd. I try not to dose anything I don't/can't test for.
 

prsnlty

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I have a red sea coral colors pro test kit and suppliments. After testing I found my iron and k were quite low. I dose these by hand once a week if needed. My main reason to consider use of a dosing pump is stability of the main 3, ca, mg, alk. It seems to be the only reason that I have found why my tank doesn't support acros or millies for longer than a few months. Though I've wondered if they aren't getting enough food also. I only have a handful of fish in a 125g soon to be 180g.

Wish I could afford a profilux but may go with the one from fish street since it's affordable. Anyone have experience with the fish street dosing pump?
 

_sludgefactory

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I don't know man. I just dose kalk and mag and I have a bunch of acros. I don't potassium and iron are your problem with keeping acros.
 

_sludgefactory

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This isn't one of my best pics, but you get the idea. It's a 92 corner and i dose kalk in my ato. I dose a solution of Epsom salt whenever my mag drops below 1400. I use a few Zeovit supplements but that's about it.

uploadfromtaptalk1405870696568.jpg
 

prsnlty

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I don't believe that either. It was just a shot in the dark. Those numbers however were low so it didn't go to waste. I still believe it's a lack of consistent numbers with the ca, mg and alk. My BD is in Oct so I may by myself a doser ;) By then the 180 will be running and hopefully it'll work out. But I'm going to change up some foods for all and maybe add more fish in the meantime. I only have a y and pb tangs, pr of clowns, coral beauty and 6 line for fish.
 
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