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TO Calcium Reactor OR NOT, That is the question.

I am already dosing 50 ml of Alk and Cal, mainly supporting my Coraline algae, LOL, but, what happens when I can actually get SPS to grow. I already bought a CarbonDoser regulator, BUT, the question is, should I switch. Is it that much better? I am at the size tank where it makes sense and may actually be cheaper than 2-part. If I do decide to switch, which reactor brand name should I go with, Geo or Reef Octopus. I also plan on adding either a 4th Versa or a Kamoer pump as well.

I am pretty sure @The Camaro Show uses one and maybe @fishguy242 as well. Their may be a few others that follow along that may use one as well, not sure.
 

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TO Calcium Reactor OR NOT, That is the question.

I am already dosing 50 ml of Alk and Cal, mainly supporting my Coraline algae, LOL, but, what happens when I can actually get SPS to grow. I already bought a CarbonDoser regulator, BUT, the question is, should I switch. Is it that much better? I am at the size tank where it makes sense and may actually be cheaper than 2-part. If I do decide to switch, which reactor brand name should I go with, Geo or Reef Octopus. I also plan on adding either a 4th Versa or a Kamoer pump as well.

I am pretty sure @The Camaro Show uses one and maybe @fishguy242 as well. Their may be a few others that follow along that may use one as well, not sure.
Why not kalk to meet your evaporation level and raise pH? It's much cheaper long term.
 
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Why not kalk to meet your evaporation level and raise pH? It's much cheaper long term.
Kalk is inconsistent depending on how you use it, and I already have a PH between 8.3-8.6.

If for some reason adding a Cal reactor dropped my PH to below 8.0, then I would possibly add a Kalk reactor, but right now my PH is already high.
 

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Kalk is inconsistent depending on how you use it, and I already have a PH between 8.3-8.6.

If for some reason adding a Cal reactor dropped my PH to below 8.0, then I would possibly add a Kalk reactor, but right now my PH is already high.
I agree. The only way I would go is through a kalk reactor so it was always at max saturation.
 

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Sorry no automation here, always been ,ato and doser myself,
last year and a half has been liquid cal, and ARM & HAMMER ,baking soda,
not seeing any ill effects...o_O;Oldman
 

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TO Calcium Reactor OR NOT, That is the question.

I am already dosing 50 ml of Alk and Cal, mainly supporting my Coraline algae, LOL, but, what happens when I can actually get SPS to grow. I already bought a CarbonDoser regulator, BUT, the question is, should I switch. Is it that much better? I am at the size tank where it makes sense and may actually be cheaper than 2-part. If I do decide to switch, which reactor brand name should I go with, Geo or Reef Octopus. I also plan on adding either a 4th Versa or a Kamoer pump as well.

I am pretty sure @The Camaro Show uses one and maybe @fishguy242 as well. Their may be a few others that follow along that may use one as well, not sure.

I think about a calcium reactor often, because it's the first piece of equipment I purchased for my system. I have the same twintech that @SPR1968 runs. Fifteen months into the tank I still don't have it up and running, and it was a bit of a mistake to purchase it so early. The reason I was reluctant to set it up early was related to pH, and personally I think low pH early in a tank's life can slow it progress significantly. Perphaps @SPR1968 has a different perspective because I believe he elected to use it from the start.

My dosing volumes were going up substantially about 9 months into the tank and I considered adding the calcium reactor, but opted for a kalk reactor to maintain and bump up the pH at that time. I recalibrated my pH probe, and the pH was higher than what I had thought, and I check the calibration every couple months now.
A kalk reactor fwiw, doesn't maintain the solution at a fully saturated state even if there is kalk undissolved at the bottom, but it is certainly better than using kalk in an ATO. The kalk reactor works fine, but if space isn't an issue, the best way to use kalk would be to have a large container with fully saturated or at least a consistent concentration of kalk that gets dosed.

So my opinion is stay the course for now, let your sps start to grow, and when your consumption goes up you can add a calcium reactor to account for the volume of calcium and alkalinity that you're adding. I really like the idea of a calcium reactor, and hoping I can get it running in a couple months if things continue to grow.
 
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I think about a calcium reactor often, because it's the first piece of equipment I purchased for my system. I have the same twintech that @SPR1968 runs. Fifteen months into the tank I still don't have it up and running, and it was a bit of a mistake to purchase it so early. The reason I was reluctant to set it up early was related to pH, and personally I think low pH early in a tank's life can slow it progress significantly. Perphaps @SPR1968 has a different perspective because I believe he elected to use it from the start.

My dosing volumes were going up substantially about 9 months into the tank and I considered adding the calcium reactor, but opted for a kalk reactor to maintain and bump up the pH at that time. I recalibrated my pH probe, and the pH was higher than what I had thought, and I check the calibration every couple months now.
A kalk reactor fwiw, doesn't maintain the solution at a fully saturated state even if there is kalk undissolved at the bottom, but it is certainly better than using kalk in an ATO. The kalk reactor works fine, but if space isn't an issue, the best way to use kalk would be to have a large container with fully saturated or at least a consistent concentration of kalk that gets dosed.

So my opinion is stay the course for now, let your sps start to grow, and when your consumption goes up you can add a calcium reactor to account for the volume of calcium and alkalinity that you're adding. I really like the idea of a calcium reactor, and hoping I can get it running in a couple months if things continue to grow.
I am in no rush to change, I am just debating on starting to purchase the items needed. I already bought a CarbonDoser regulator. The other pieces I will purchase over time. I run a 8.2-8.3 PH on my GHL and 8.4-8.6 on my Apex.

I am dosing 50ml of 2-part now and its not enough. I am still having to make adjustments to raise Alk and Cal.
 
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Tested my tank the other day, guessing maybe the N03 and P04 were off causing me to loose my LRO Buzz Lightyear, but when I tested them, the N03 was at 23 and P04 was at .06. I started to increase my light setting to help with some areas that a few cheaper frags had browned out in, and shortly their after my Buzz Lightyear started to brown out. It was in a area that was getting 300 par, and I raised it to 330 over a 2 week period. Not sure why it did it, maybe it was because I redid my returns and didn't run carbon for almost 3 weeks until I hooked up the carbon reactor, and the glue and cleaner somehow effected the chemistry and killed it. It sticks, BUT, it is what it is. I had one brown out and another bleach out that was right next to it, go figure. The 2 BC Space Lasers are looking great, and they are right next to both of them in the frag rack.

So far the 8 of the 9 frags I purchased from FragHouse Corals are doing great. The 9th is steadily RTN'ing. I am trying to save it, but, thankfully it is one of the cheaper frags, though, I really did like it. I will likely buy another one in March when Brandon has another sale.

I jumped onto the @SBB Corals sale over the weekend, figure I would look and maybe buy a frag or 2...WELL...I ended up buying 6, LOL!!! Lets see how they do in my tank.

Time to get some SPS action going in this tank.
 

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Tested my tank the other day, guessing maybe the N03 and P04 were off causing me to loose my LRO Buzz Lightyear, but when I tested them, the N03 was at 23 and P04 was at .06. I started to increase my light setting to help with some areas that a few cheaper frags had browned out in, and shortly their after my Buzz Lightyear started to brown out. It was in a area that was getting 300 par, and I raised it to 330 over a 2 week period. Not sure why it did it, maybe it was because I redid my returns and didn't run carbon for almost 3 weeks until I hooked up the carbon reactor, and the glue and cleaner somehow effected the chemistry and killed it. It sticks, BUT, it is what it is. I had one brown out and another bleach out that was right next to it, go figure. The 2 BC Space Lasers are looking great, and they are right next to both of them in the frag rack.

So far the 8 of the 9 frags I purchased from FragHouse Corals are doing great. The 9th is steadily RTN'ing. I am trying to save it, but, thankfully it is one of the cheaper frags, though, I really did like it. I will likely buy another one in March when Brandon has another sale.

I jumped onto the @SBB Corals sale over the weekend, figure I would look and maybe buy a frag or 2...WELL...I ended up buying 6, LOL!!! Lets see how they do in my tank.

Time to get some SPS action going in this tank.
Can't wait to see how these look in your tank!!!!!!!!!!!
 

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@sdreef and @Billldg

Ok as I think you both know I’ve got the Deltec Twin Tech 1500 and have been running it for over 2 years

It’s a very expensive piece of equipment, but once you know how to set it up its very easy to use, and I mean very simple. You just press a button to increase/decrease the output with another matching press of a button.

If you use a good media you really just need to test alkalinity every week as the other elements are in line (I use Rowalith)

After 12 months I had to replace the feed pump, which they did free of charge so no issue there.

The problem I have, and I’ve been considering for some time, is it’s just so expensive now, and would I replace it if it failed, absolutely not. It’s currently around £1867 GBP I think I paid around £1300

It has one very big problem, the flow meter. You can’t remove it for cleaning and it gets jammed every so often, and although there is a way to clean it (its a secret and patented by me! Lol) it’s a pain in the bottom…

So my personal view having used it, it’s great when it’s working which is most of the time to be fare, but because of the cost, if it fails, I will either go back to simple dosing like I already do on my S650 with pharmaceutical grade cheap elements, or buy a Deltec basic calcium reactor but with something like a Kamoer FX STP feed pump, which I already have ready, and this is probably what I would do.

I would just say the Twin Tech is brilliant, and very easy to use, but for me personally it’s become to expensive. But anyone following my build or ‘knows me’ will also know that’s sometimes not an issue if it’s worth it. For me it’s just to much at the current price…
 
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@sdreef and @Billldg

Ok as I think you both know I’ve got the Deltec Twin Tech 1500 and have been running it for over 2 years

It’s a very expensive piece of equipment, but once you know how to set it up its very easy to use, and I mean very simple. You just press a button to increase/decrease the output with another matching press of a button.

If you use a good media you really just need to test alkalinity every week as the other elements are in line (I use Rowalith)

After 12 months I had to replace the feed pump, which they did free of charge so no issue there.

The problem I have, and I’ve been considering for some time, is it’s just so expensive now, and would I replace it if it failed, absolutely not. It’s currently around £1867 GBP I think I paid around £1300

It has one very big problem, the flow meter. You can’t remove it for cleaning and it gets jammed every so often, and although there is a way to clean it (its a secret and patented by me! Lol) it’s a pain in the bottom…

So my personal view having used it, it’s great when it’s working which is most of the time to be fare, but because of the cost, if it fails, I will either go back to simple dosing like I already do on my S650 with pharmaceutical grade cheap elements, or buy a Deltec basic calcium reactor but with something like a Kamoer FX STP feed pump, which I already have ready, and this is probably what I would do.

I would just say the Twin Tech is brilliant, and very easy to use, but for me personally it’s become to expensive. But anyone following my build or ‘knows me’ will also know that’s sometimes not an issue if it’s worth it. For me it’s just to much at the current price…
If I do go with a Calcium reactor, it will be with a Kamoer pump.
 

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@Billldg fwiw I plan to use a large trash can of kalkwasser mixed up and then dosed at a constant rate into the tank (have to watch I’m not overrunning evaporation with some water level sensors in sump) in addition to two part dosing with the BRS balling hybrid to fine tune. I had been considering a kalk stirrer like the Avast but BRS video stream recently talked me out of it and made me think a large trash can of kalk is the simplest most foolproof method with a nice pH boost. High pH unless extreme never sounds like a bad thing.
 
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Today I received my shipment from @SBB Corals. I was able to arrive just as UPS was dropping off. I floated them in the sump, but, as I was putting them in my sump, I noticed a few that had PE in the bad while shipping. This is ALWAYS a good thing.;)

I also noticed that the bags that the frags were shipped in contained more water than 99% of other vendors.

Then I dipped them in Bayer, and, several trays after to make sure no Bayer is introduced in the DT. I added them to the tank, and all I can say is WOW!!! The colors of the frags truly POPPED!!! The BK Chem Froot Loops...well...you will have to see it in person to believe it. The colors are beyond psychedelic!!!

Weed GIF
 
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I wasn't sure if I would be posting this weekend as my desktop took a dump. Thankfully, I did have another MB that is just as good, so I rebuilt my computer last night and plugged it in this morning. I had to go thru the Bios a little and reload the Bios initially. AS you can see, with me typing this, I was able to get it up and running again. I guess that just an excuse to build another hot rod computer, LOL!!!
 

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I wasn't sure if I would be posting this weekend as my desktop took a dump. Thankfully, I did have another MB that is just as good, so I rebuilt my computer last night and plugged it in this morning. I had to go thru the Bios a little and reload the Bios initially. AS you can see, with me typing this, I was able to get it up and running again. I guess that just an excuse to build another hot rod computer, LOL!!!
Good luck finding parts....
 
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Tested the tank again yesterday, N03 is a little high at 23.4. I had already turned back on my AWC. I was doing 1 gal a day. I upped it to 3 gals a day. I may need to finally hook up the Algae scrubber.
 
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I am a few pieces short of being able to install my Algae scrubber today. I ordered the parts, but, won't get them the end of the week. Until then I guess I am Gorilla crab hunting today...UGH!!! I know where its at, its just a matter of installing a eggcrate barrier around the rock it calls home and then getting it out.
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

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