Pros and Cons of Calcium Reactors

[Reef Pets]

I read a recent post on a hobbyist having a hard time keeping there ALK where it needs to be. I run into the same problem but really do not mind dosing. But, it would be nice to keep the Calcium and ALK at proper levels at all times. So, please let us know some pros and cons of having a reactor. Is it worth the investment or not all that great?? I have heard of them failing which makes it a little scary for me.

 

[Dejavu]

I dosed for 6 yrs and have had a reactor for two yrs now. I will never dose again, reactors are great! Alk and Ca are very stable. They can be a bit of a pain to tune in, but once you get it to where you want it, it's run pretty much without touching it. I don't use a pH controllor, which IMO is the problem with some setup you read about. If you don't tune it in manually you put all your turst in your pH probe. Probes can go bad and some time are forgoten and not calibrated. This can cause exceesive Co2 release, causing media to melt. IMO if you have a tank over 100gal a reactor is the only way to go.

 

[revhtree]

My biggest concern was that the reactor the setup, and dialing it in seemed very daunting. After going for it and adding one I wish i would have done it LONG ago. There is really nothing to it and I would never go without one again unless I just had a nano.

Go with a good brand like a GEO. It will make life easier trust me,.

 

[Poseidon]

I use both Ca and Kalk reactors, and I would not want to run a tank without them ever again, way easy, and VERY STABLE. My SPS is growing at rates I never thought possible, and I still have enough for coralline algae and Halimeda that just keeps right on growing....

 

[Cully]

I'm running a reactor as well. The only problem I've had is with the effluent tubing. I changed it out for a larger bore, clear air tubing. Once effluent gets plugged, CO2 pours into the chamber disolving media rapidly, what a mess. I keep a close eye on it. I need to run it with a controller to help avoid this problem.

Aside from that, it's a snap to tune and has EASILY paid for it's self in B-Ionic costs.

 

[Leroy]

I'm going to follow this thread since I just bought a used Koralin calcium reactor and an Aqua Controller Jr. without the serial port and the DC8. I've got my plate full between all 3 pieces of equipment to configure, set up and calibrate the probe. In process of building an effluent collector/cup for probe and calc drip attached to the refugiums sump chamber section. I'm reading that once it tuned in it's easy to maintain Ca and Alk. Any adjustments made then allow 24 hrs to test water paremeters for the changes made. I've been dependant on B-Ionic as my source of dosing which has kept my parameters in the proper test levels.

 

[JuniorMC8704]

calcium reactors are awesome (had a GEO 624, with Reef fanatic everything)

They are easy, and work flawlessly....until something goes wrong.

Unfortunately...when something goes wrong, it can be apocalyptic!

My effluent line clogged, and turned all my media into mush.

My solenoid turned off the CO2, but the co2 broke down enough to kill my whole tank if the line suddenly unclogged.

That was my last day of using a calcium reactor.

Also, let say your solenoid fails (and they do in time, or at least its not uncommon), and if you dont catch it right away, the same result can happen.

too scary for me...i know the majority have, and love them...maybe ill do another one someday.

For now, I'm using the Profilux dosing pumps. I will be using the fauna marin balling salts or just a 2 part with some trace elements dosed by the third pump.

 

[bigtex52]

True, JR. If you are running your CR through an aquarium controller, you can set alarm conditions to shut everything down and send a page or text message to notify you of an alarm condition. Mine is set to shut down if the pH of the reactor reaches 6.25. My feed pump and solenoid both flip to the off state. has worked pretty well so far. The weak link in the calcium reactor is the needle valve that regulates your effluent to the sump or tank. All it takes is a teeny tiny bit of media or trash to plug up the works. haven't come up with a long term solution for that yet. I just periodically open the valve wide and flush it out then crank it back down again. I wish I could find a cleanable micro inline filter that would work.

 

[JuniorMC8704]

its too bad they dont have HIGH volume dosing pumps that could handle that. That would be so nice to have that kind of pinpoint control.

 

[Cully]

calcium reactors are awesome (had a GEO 624, with Reef fanatic everything)

They are easy, and work flawlessly....until something goes wrong.

Unfortunately...when something goes wrong, it can be apocalyptic!

My effluent line clogged, and turned all my media into mush.

My solenoid turned off the CO2, but the co2 broke down enough to kill my whole tank if the line suddenly unclogged.

That was my last day of using a calcium reactor.

Also, let say your solenoid fails (and they do in time, or at least its not uncommon), and if you dont catch it right away, the same result can happen.

too scary for me...i know the majority have, and love them...maybe ill do another one someday.

For now, I'm using the Profilux dosing pumps. I will be using the fauna marin balling salts or just a 2 part with some trace elements dosed by the third pump.

I'm with you on this. Just cause you run one doesn't make things plug-n-play. You still have to check it everyday along with monitoring all of your tanks daily operations.

 

[Acroholic]

I haven't seen any cons of using a calcium reactor, outside of a couple small leaks during setup, and dialing in CO2 bubble count. Well worth any effort.
Dave

 

[Reef Pets]

This is all great information!! I have heard of them working for years without an issue. I have also heard of the issue that Junior had with his. This is what scares me a little bit. Just knowing that something can happen and kill the tank in no time, thats a lot of money down the drain. But, if it were to work without issues then that would be awesome. I am still up in the air on the decision. Again, great information!

 

[teesquare]

Has anyone tried setting up a second solenoid valve as a "fail safe"?
It just occurred to me that 2 of them wired in parallel - would decrease the opportunity of one solenoid failure causing a ph crash, and possible tank wipe out.

Having said this - I have run a Reef Concepts calcium reactor for 7 years, and had no problems.
But - I recognize the possibilty of such.
T

 

[Poseidon]

Hi teesquare, welcome to R2R!