DIY Small Calcium Reactor Media Experiment

evmibo

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Hello,
I am doing a little searching around for small calcium reactor media for my second calcium reactor chamber, and was looking into CaribSea ARM Reactor Media (small).

I go to a somewhat secluded beach (only accessible by boat) at least once a week for work and collected some small shell shards. I was wondering if I could use this. It's small enough. I would still clean it, I have it soaking in RODI now.

The largest concern is phosphates. I was thinking about picking up a freshwater phosphate test, and adding lanthanum chloride as needed. Not sure how long this would take... I find it interesting that CaribSea advertises that their product doesn't contain gastropods shells, which I guess contain the most phosphates? The vast majority of the shells I'd be using are gastropods shells.

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Hmm following!!
 
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evmibo

evmibo

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Just wanted to correct myself in that I believe it's mostly bivalve shells, with a decent amount of gastropod shells.

I'm open to any ideas and/or suggestions people might have, thanks.
 
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evmibo

evmibo

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I soaked it in rodi a 2-3 times and drained off the water each time. Working just fine, and never noticed a spike in phosphate either.
 

hybridazn

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I wouldn't put any type of shells in a carx reactor. They will leach phosphates as they break down from the co2. Rinsing in Rodi water won't nessessarily make any phosphates leach. I recommend just using whatever media you use in your main reactor to also put in your secondary chamber to act as the scrubber
 
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evmibo

evmibo

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@hybridazn

Too late. If I see a spike in phosphates I may change it out and just put more of the course TLF Reborn in there (that's what's in my main chamber). So far I haven't noticed anything that is alarming.

What's your opinion on the Caribsea media I linked in the first post? That's shells and seems to be a popular second chamber media for many reefers. I'm sure Caribsea cleans it more than rodi soaking though.
 

hybridazn

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@hybridazn

Too late. If I see a spike in phosphates I may change it out and just put more of the course TLF Reborn in there (that's what's in my main chamber). So far I haven't noticed anything that is alarming.

What's your opinion on the Caribsea media I linked in the first post? That's shells and seems to be a popular second chamber media for many reefers. I'm sure Caribsea cleans it more than rodi soaking though.

Not a fan of it. Even though it only leaches minimal phosphate, I'd rather use reborn that doesn't leach any due to any type of shells being in there.
 

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