Doser to Calcium Reactor: Was it worth it?

[Maacc]

I would heartily recommend the CaRx on a larger tank. It has been great on my 187.

 

[TripleDogDareYah]

I'm a big fan of calcium reactors... but my demand has outstripped what my reactor can do... so I'm back to dosing as well to help supplement.

I agree with one of the posters above that there is no way you can do a set it and forget it thing. These things need constant vigilance.

 

[salty joe]

I'm a big fan of calcium reactors... but my demand has outstripped what my reactor can do... so I'm back to dosing as well to help supplement.

.

Have you considered using kalk for topoff?

 

[Maacc]

Or a degassing reactor or 2 with fine media to bump what you are putting out?

 

[Bpb]

I’ll preface this by saying I do not use a reactor for the following reasons, nor have I ever owned one - However I am familiar with their use.

The whole “set of and forget it thing” doesn’t hold water to me. The demand in the tank changes over time. The amount of media in the reactor changes over time. If you haven’t touched your reactor for three months and things are going well, your corals are growing, your demand is increasing, and the amount of media in the reactor is decreasing. I fail to see how this can work for a period of 6-12 months without intervention.

Personally I am the type of person to not do things halfway, and as such I would never use a reactor without a controller (or at the very least a ph controller controlling the internal ph), an electronic regulator, and a quality peristaltic feed pump. Some guys say they just wing it by bubble count and a maxi-jet with a valve on it and it stays stable for months on end... I just don’t buy it.

If you don’t like mixing salts, I get that, but just mix larger batches. Mix a few gallons at a time, seal it up and when you need to, pour it into your smaller dosing containers once or twice a month. Put a tape line on the large container at the fluid level when you’re putting it in storage so when you come back in a few weeks and a little bit has evaporated you can add a bit of water back in to keep the concentration consistent.

With quality salts like ESV, Triton, Fauna Marin, Aquaforest, ATI etc the concern over lack of trace elements is unfounded.

At the end of the day they both have pluses and minuses, they both do the job... Kind of a Ford vs Chevy thing I guess.

Youre correct on the set and forget comment. I do have to go adjust the gas by literally a hair every couple weeks as coral grows and media dissolves. Hair turn of a knob is hardly maintenance

 

[TripleDogDareYah]

Have you considered using kalk for topoff?

I use a calcium reactor and I use a kalkwasser reactor. The kalk is on a doser. Tying it to topoff is inconsistent due to changes in evaporation. Thank you though for the suggestion. On top of all that, I do have to dose 2 part every now and then... stuff is just growing fast. It's a good thing.

 

[hatfielj]

I used dosing on my previous tank and though it can be convenient at first, as the tank matures it can become cumbersome in terms of refilling the containers, buying and mixing new solution, making sure you choose a correct ratio of alk and calcium, then there's the trace elements that you aren't replacing that need to be replaced either by water changes (not ideal in my opinion) or by buying more additives. For a small tank it can work well, but for larger systems and for systems with heavy SPS loads, a Ca Reactor is a must have.
My current ~250 gallon system is running a Ca Rx and I love it. It's maintenance free once it's dialed in. Agree you need a good CO2 regulator with an easy to adjust, micro needle valve. I'm using the Tunze regulator and it's great. You can make very fine adjustments to the bubble rate. Not all regulators have a good valve like that. Also you need a pH probe in the chamber to monitor your effluent pH. I target mine at 6.65. If I need to increase the amount of effluent going to the tank, I simply increase the effluent drip rate to the tank, then adjust the CO2 until I get my pH back to 6.65. I don't use a on/off switch anymore. If you have your drip rate properly dialed in, you don't need one.

 

[hatfielj]

I'm a big fan of calcium reactors... but my demand has outstripped what my reactor can do... so I'm back to dosing as well to help supplement.

I agree with one of the posters above that there is no way you can do a set it and forget it thing. These things need constant vigilance.

You just need a bigger reactor, pretty easy fix Also, not all reactors are created equal. Some are very efficient, others are not. The Koralin brand is very efficient and use much less media per tank size than others for instance.

 

[MRodrigues1991]

I’ll preface this by saying I do not use a reactor for the following reasons, nor have I ever owned one - However I am familiar with their use.

The whole “set of and forget it thing” doesn’t hold water to me. The demand in the tank changes over time. The amount of media in the reactor changes over time. If you haven’t touched your reactor for three months and things are going well, your corals are growing, your demand is increasing, and the amount of media in the reactor is decreasing. I fail to see how this can work for a period of 6-12 months without intervention.

Personally I am the type of person to not do things halfway, and as such I would never use a reactor without a controller (or at the very least a ph controller controlling the internal ph), an electronic regulator, and a quality peristaltic feed pump. Some guys say they just wing it by bubble count and a maxi-jet with a valve on it and it stays stable for months on end... I just don’t buy it.

If you don’t like mixing salts, I get that, but just mix larger batches. Mix a few gallons at a time, seal it up and when you need to, pour it into your smaller dosing containers once or twice a month. Put a tape line on the large container at the fluid level when you’re putting it in storage so when you come back in a few weeks and a little bit has evaporated you can add a bit of water back in to keep the concentration consistent.

With quality salts like ESV, Triton, Fauna Marin, Aquaforest, ATI etc the concern over lack of trace elements is unfounded.

At the end of the day they both have pluses and minuses, they both do the job... Kind of a Ford vs Chevy thing I guess.

Came here to say just that. I don't believe that either dosing or a calcium reactor is anymore or less hands off than the other. Both have to be tuned in and then as corals grow, adjusted. I find it much easier to adjust a doser through a controller rather than manually adjust a calcium reactor. I can literally calculate how much mroe i need to dose based on daily consumption while a calcium reactor is more feel and simply put guessing how much more effluent to let out, etc.

I will say upsides are the trace elements you may get from the reactor media plus the cost of having a big system on dosing.

I currently just started a system 180 gallons or so total; 150 gallon display and I think I am on the edge of justifying a CaRx for the cost. Just haven't justified that piece yet as I have a GHL doser already. Just need to decide what program/additives I will be dosing to try and get those trace elements in balance.

 

[TripleDogDareYah]

You just need a bigger reactor, pretty easy fix Also, not all reactors are created equal. Some are very efficient, others are not. The Koralin brand is very efficient and use much less media per tank size than others for instance.

You are correct. I have a decent 2 chamber MRC reactor... but it just isn't keeping up. Thanks. I'll look at the Koralin one. Not sure why it would be more efficient though.

 

[Abhishek]

What sort of consistency problems did you encounter with dosing?

Can’t answer for him but for me, a reactor just fits with my life better. The one thing on my tank I get lax about is refilling my topoff. I often top off manually. Is it perfect? No but it basically means I cannot rely on kalkwasser as my number one form of supplementing. My evaporation rate is too Inconsistent as well.

I also just didn’t like the regular maintenance involved in 2 part dosing and I seemed to have batch variation in chemicals, or the solutions wouldn’t hold their strength or something. I always had alkalinity fluctuations when I would change out the fluids. Either way the regular work involved became tiresome.

My reactor requires I tend to it annually maybe.

What @Bpb said .

I keep traveling and it has happened more than a few times that my dosing containers became empty causing alk swing .

Then there is the question of inconsistency in batches or I think it's more like human error on my part to prepare the solutions causing different strength solutions .
lastly dosing pumps getting stuck !!! That is one nightmare and has happened to me on a couple of dosers I have tried .

It's just my work schedule and other factors that make carx breeze for me .

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[Potatohead]

For me one of the big differences between reactor and two or three part methods is a frequently ignored "trace element" (according to the concentration in reef waters it is while its biological importance says it is a major element), it is phosphorus or phosphate. Most of the phosphate a SPS takes up is incorporated into the skeleton. A reactor provides a continuous flow of phosphate, normally in fact more than is needed by coral growth. However phosphate guarantees a continuous and fast growth. Two and three part methods do not supply phosphate and phosphate easily becomes the minimum factor in SPS tanks with two or three part dosing. If you keep that in mind you know much about the main difference between reactor and two or three part dosing.

Food...?

Youre correct on the set and forget comment. I do have to go adjust the gas by literally a hair every couple weeks as coral grows and media dissolves. Hair turn of a knob is hardly maintenance

That's fair. For me to adjust dosing on my GHL doser I just whip out my phone and I can adjust whatever I want in seconds.

 

[Rakie]

Lots of interesting information here, I'd love to hear more opinions.

 

[lbacha]

About to go from 100% 2 part to a hybrid kalk and 2 part solution. If the kalk is easy to dial in then it will be 100% kalk. I'm looking to boost my ph hence the kalk instead of dosing (dosing is really easy with my BRS dosers and apex)

 

[GoVols]

Would not trade my GEO 2-stage for the world.

But... If you struggle with low ph, (or not mechanically inclined) then an cal reactor's not the way to go.

Already tumble GFO, so phos. is not an concern.

They are costly upfront, but there's also "big money" for companies and retailers to keep selling you 2 part and or balling products over the long haul, too.

 

[ca1ore]

A mostly set-it-and-forget it CaRx can be done, but it is not an inexpensive proposition; and when maintenance is required it's a major undertaking. A good quality unit is a good place to start (the basics of mine are 20 years old) with a masterflex feed pump. Modular helps so a larger rubble chamber can be added as one inevitably gets bigger tanks.

 

[IKD]

Jury is still sort of out for me, but thought it might be worth me posting on the topic. I just down graded to two 120 gallon tanks from a 360 gallon that I dosed three part in. I do like three part, but I did have fluctuations, I would forget to fill the alk container when it ran dry for a few days and my alk would plummet, I know this is user error and not an issue with two part itself, but for me it was an issue. I also had a hard time keeping up with the elements, seemed I had to make adjustments to the dosage often, again, could be me and not the method. So when moving to these two new tanks I wanted one LPS tank and one SPS focused tank. I already own the Archon controller and dosing pumps, so that would be what I am using on the LPS tank (still need to set those dosers up, been doing it manually) but for the SPS tank I figured I would take the plunge. I also brew beer so I had an extra CO2 tank around so all I needed was an extra two pH probes, the reactor, feed pump, solenoid valve, regulator and media, okay, that still seems like a lot..... but I have always been curious and based on so many mixed reviews I had to try myself. I am not yet at set it and forget it, but its only been running for about a month. I still tinker with the effluent rate and the bubble count but these are simply turns of two knobs, not mixing salts in water and letting it settle out and setting it back up under the doser and then adjusting the time of each dose daily until dialed in. I simply make subtle adjustments, check the next few days with the Hanna checker, as you do with three part, and that's it. I did have great growth with three part and am not knocking it, but will say it is a little more involved than a reactor.

Three things I like more about the reactor are changes are made much more slowly, there isn't the risk of adding too much Alk solution in a day and coral bleaching from it. I guess in extreme cases this could happen with a reactor but it would take a significant change in chamber pH and effluent rate but with pH probes, solenoid and a controller you can reduce the risk. Also, I cant help but think there is more dissolving into the water than just Alk and Calcium, its everything that made that skeleton a skeleton. And the media is way more cost effective after the initial set up cost, maybe refill it annually and that's it.

I will say my coral has responded well to the reactor and the coralline algae seems more healthy, seems to be growing in thicker layers and deeper purples and pinks. I am still early in the process but set the two tanks up differently so I can get a feel for how they really compare. Hopefully after 6 months to a year I will be able to form a solid opinion, three part works for sure, especially if you address the other elements like potassium, strontium et cetra, but I am pretty optimistically excited about the reactor so far.

@rob G, This is a little old, but curious how your comparison between and 2-part and CaRx setups faired since this post.